The emtpy vessel
White space creates an empty vessel that allows one’s attention to settle in and focus.
Take Google. They have to have had a great deal of self-discipline to resist the temptation of increasing the demands for attention on their home page for short-term gain.
Remember when Yahoo! was really, really simple? After the dot-com crash of 2000, they caved in and added more and more stuff. That was when I switched to Google.
Apple is another example. Lots and lots of white space. Your attention can easily focus on the one, simple message. It feels clean, clear, high. It respects your attention.
And Craigslist. Craig turned down numerous requests to buy him out for lots of money. Because he felt he had a commitment to provide something to the community—a space they could make their own, that was free of the annoying barrage of advertising almost everywhere else. The design is very 1995—practically no design at all. A blank slate for you to fill with whatever you want.
Designers are always telling us to use white space. So are public speaking instructors and marketing coaches. The mind wants to fill up every space with as much stuff as possible, and sees this as the best option. And when we encounter a space that is already filled up, the habitual reaction is to shout louder.
It dilutes the message and clutters the mind. Something in our mind wants to fill up every space in our lives—with thoughts, with drama, with clutter that makes us feel busy.
People become obsessed with being busy, and miss the main point of their lives (whatever it may be).
Public speakers who speak slowly, simply, and clearly give off an air of power, while those who try to rush through their speech sound weak.
Realize the difference between creating white space around what you have to say, and not having enough to say. Clarify your main point, and cut out everything.
Respect other people’s attention (and your own), and make something good.
