Listening to my local radio traffic report is a painful reminder of the importance of white space. “What’s white space?” you ask.  In the design world we use the term white space to refer to the empty space around a graphic, text or other design element. Effectively it’s the space where your eyes take a breather and your brain has time to digest what it just encountered.

Back to the traffic report.  I know the station is determined to make everything entertaining or cool, but they’ve gone too far.  In addition to the woman reporting traffic you also hear MUSIC and CAR HORNS in the background.  Car horns, in a traffic report, really?  Guess what I do every single time I hear the traffic report? I look all over trying to figure who I just cut off.  As a result I never hear the traffic report, and I can’t be the only one.

Your Web site is no different.  If visitors are bombarded with text, images, calls to action and a host of other distractions, they aren’t getting your message. That’s because without white space, it’s difficult or even impossible to visually sort and prioritize what’s on the page.

Here’s an example of excellent use of white space in design from the 37signals site.

Take a look at your Web site.  Are you asking too much of your visitors? Are there too many words, too many calls to action?  Next time you are considering a redesign (maybe that should be now) think about what adding white space can do for you.