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Using Empty Space to Increase Visual Appeal

Have you ever walked into someone’s living room and just wanted to melt into the sofa and stay forever? Fatigue aside, it probably had to do with a feeling of spaciousness and comfort that accompanies a well-designed space. Ironically, it’s often not the stuff in the room that gives you the feeling of spaciousness; instead, it’s what’s not in the room. Leaving empty space is the best way to increase the visual and sensual appeal of a room. By point of contrast, think of walking into a cluttered living room — we often feel uncomfortable and look for a way out.

That’s because empty space is associated with lightness, comfort, relaxation, luxury, and cleanliness. And if it works for living rooms, it works for labels too. Utilizing empty space in your label design is a sure way to increase its attractiveness and make looking at it or reading it a pleasure.

Property Value

It goes without saying that bigger spaces generally cost more. Property values are organized in such a way that the more space you want, the more you’ve got to pay (of course!) and this has also conditioned us to think of spacious things as more valuable, rarified and distinctive.

But here’s a little bit of complication: absolute space and relative space are different. Sometimes small rooms can feel quite large. And the same goes for two-dimensional design space. Creating a design that feels spacious brings with it all the associations we have with space itself: value and distinction.

Many luxury consumer items make ingenious use of space to emphasize their exclusive qualities. The company that has been particularly known for using empty space is Apple. Check out their product label designs and even their TV commercials and you’ll notice an abundance of empty space. It’s this space that emphasizes the luxuriousness of their products and keeps us associating Apple with quality and distinction.

iphone
Apple’s advertising designs and packaging use empty space to create a sense of luxury.

 

 

Light Colors Are More Spacious

color To further complicate things, our perception of space is influenced greatly by color. Light colors give the impression of space, both in 3D interior design and in 2D label design. Paint a room white or a light tone and it will feel bigger. Paint it dark green and you’ll feel like you’re in a box that keeps getting smaller. The same goes for label design. Light colors and whites give the impression of space and emphasize quality and luxury items. Splashes of intense color make a huge impact and emphasize boldness.

It’s not that every design should be white-on-white, but when thinking about the overall impact you want to make, one consideration should certainly be whether your use of color is preventing the design from feeling roomy.

It’s Not Tetris

When you’re beginning a label design you probably have a lot of design elements that need to make it into the final version. These might include: the brand, an attention grabbing picture or illustration, the barcode, a blurb about the product, warnings, and, in certain cases, ingredients, directions for use, nutrition facts, or other required information.

tetris

It’s easy to get lost in the abundance of these elements and begin to fit them together like you’re back in grade school playing Tetris. But this is a sure way to create a design that feels cluttered and messy. These Tetris designs are uncomfortable to read and often encourage would-be consumers to pass the product by, going for something that speaks simply and effortlessly. So when you are arranging design elements, be sure to keep an eye on the empty space between. It’s one of the important elements like all the others, even if less immediately noticeable.

We’ll Print Your Beautiful, Custom Label Designs

Remember that once you get your design looking great, you can contact Leapin’ Lizard Labels for high quality printing that shows off your labels exactly as you dreamed. Get in touch today for impeccable, and economical, custom label printing.

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