The Fear of White Space in Presentations
How often have you been set a target for your presentation? Fifteen minutes and only two slides? Sometimes, only one slide. The main problem isn’t the time restriction but the slide count. It forces you to cram as much information as possible into a limited space.
Showing twenty slides rather than two does not incur extra print costs. However, in some organizations, these restrictions occur because of established patterns. I would highly encourage you to push back.
In the old days, newspapers often had to fill every inch. They used a justified typeface to cram everything onto the page. They intended to save print costs and generate busy news excitement.
Amateur designers need to pay more attention to the importance of space in design. It goes against their instinct.
Fear of having blank space
Why do we try and cram everything in? Are we trying to get through more material in the allotted time? Are we trying to impress with how much we know about a subject?
People often fill every area with text, images, or other elements.
If you're trying to convey information, you see nothing when you look at everything.
What emotion do you want to extract from your audience? Do you want them to feel overwhelmed? Because that’s what a busy slide does.
Zen design
Negative or white space is empty space in a design that achieves balance and good composition. It can be white or a color.
Negative space is not truly empty or invisible. Space is real because it adds weight and structure to a layout.
Empty space is far from wasted; it conveys elegance and clarity. It is an underestimated design superpower that allows content to breathe, making the overall design more compelling.
Good design balances the yin and yang of negative and positive space. Feng shui is the art of moving through space, helping guide the viewer's eye through the flow of the design.
Components of spatial design
Arrange visuals and type harmoniously in space to avoid a cluttered, unappealing, and confusing message:
- Spread content over more slides.
- Headers and footers are for documents, not presentations.
- Avoid visually jarring backgrounds that assault the eye. A blank background is preferable to something distracting that makes the message hard to read.
- Pay attention to the layout of visuals and typography in space. Train your eyes to see areas where space has been cheated.
- Allow good-sized margins, column spacing and leave areas empty. Margins and gutters provide essential white space that keeps elements separate and text-readable.
- Follow layout rules with your negative space.
Negative space is one of the best tools in your design toolbox. Use it to separate, isolate, and draw attention to important content.
Give your audience a respite from visual overload by making presentations, not documents, which you can share later.
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