Negative space is the composition
Nothing on the page is not empty. It is the part that decides where the eye rests.
4 min readComposition
Look at the gaps
Beginner compositions are arrangements of objects. Mature compositions are arrangements of gaps. Once you can see the white shapes as shapes, you can compose them.
Unequal beats equal
Equal margins on all four sides feel like a default. Give one edge twice the air and the page acquires a direction.
Air is not waste
Space is the cheapest way to signal confidence. Crowding signals that everything is equally urgent, which readers correctly interpret as nothing being urgent.
Space is the cheapest way to signal confidence.
—Try this
Take a poster you have made and double the outer margin. Do not scale anything else. Decide honestly which version you would rather sign.