There’s this popular quote attributed to Coco Chanel, “Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off”. Don’t worry, I’m not about to start giving you fashion advice! Instead, I want you to apply this idea to the visual design of your training resources. Don’t be afraid of white space in your presentations!

Before we dive into the reasons why I want you to embrace white space, drop down to the comments and tell me about your approach to graphic design. Do you jump in and do the dirty work yourself, do you give the work to a designer you love or is the visual component of your presentation a collaboration between you and your team?

Whether you work with a fantastic artist or do it all on your own, the idea of using white space in your presentations (or really any learning resource) is a simple but powerful tactic in visual design that you can implement in instructional design.

Check out my explanation and quick tips to help you harness the power of white space to maximize the effectiveness of your slide and document layouts.

Embrace White Space in Your Visual Design

What is White Space Anyway?

White space is just what it sounds like, it’s the area within your presentation that is just empty space. White space is the gap you leave between images and text, the amount of space on any screen without blocks of color, images or anything that draws the eye away from the content.

While I’ll always refer to it as white space, it doesn’t actually have to be white. It could be any neutral, uninterrupted background color.

Whether we’re talking about a slide deck, the layout of an LMS or even paper or pdf documentation that you create to go along with your training, white space should be as purposeful as your color choices and image or text placement.

If you’ve been ignoring white space in your presentations, it’s time to start paying attention!

Why is white space important?

To answer that question, let’s use a visual. Both of these images pull helpful information from my last blog on how to prioritize training requests.

In this slide, the four main tips are all on one screen. I’ve used some fun colors to keep the presentation exciting, great right? Well, maybe not. As a learner, how do you feel when you look at that slide? Are you eager to learn or a bit distracted? Does the combination of the text and background color make you feel interested or irritated?

Here I’ve taken a different approach with my slides. What’s your reaction to this image? Still feeling irritated by the color scheme or overwhelmed at the information? If you prefer this image to the one above, what is it you like?

Let’s look at some specific reasons why white space is an important consideration in the visual design of your learning resources. We’ll use those two images to help illustrate these points, so feel free to scroll up and take another look. As a side note, I prefer much larger scale images, but I wanted to make a point about white space so I used a small image here.

• It provides a more balanced environment.

Comparing the two images above, you probably realized that the second image provides a nice balance of text, images, and white space. In the first image, all the content was crammed into one slide with no page breaks.

By simply separating each bullet point by slide (like you see in the second image), I’m still able to use some color and an image, but the balance is much better.

• It invites the learner in.

One of the first things your audience is going to notice is the visual aspect of your course, and if they have a negative reaction, that can become an obstacle to their comprehension.

A positive reaction, on the other hand, is obviously more inviting (it also means your learner is more likely to buy-in to the training).

• It directs attention.

White space can be used to draw the learner’s gaze in the right direction and to signify importance. An image or text box surrounded by white space is naturally going to stand out more than one that’s buried amongst other graphics or too much text.

In the second image above, one of the important tips was presented on its own slide. The absence of extra text on that slide means I’m focusing just on that short piece of information. Doesn’t it also make that tip feel more important?

• It makes the learners feel at ease.

I asked how you felt about each of the two images above for a reason. If you weren’t getting happy vibes from the first image, imagine an entire presentation styled similarly. A jam-packed slide deck is going to stress out the learner. If you haven’t carefully thought out text and image placement, your content could be lost as your audience is trying to figure out where to look first. And, if the feeling isn’t enough, there is some neuroscience behind the importance of spacing. A quick Google search will pull up tons of articles on the topic. Here is one article I enjoyed reading: How Neuroscience Beats PowerPoint Coma.

Similarly, certain colors actually evoke different emotions in an audience (this knowledge is used in marketing strategies as well as graphic design). Using colors that are too bright or too dark could accidentally trigger negative emotions in your audience!

White space, on the other hand, provides the learner with a sense of calm. When a slide deck has been designed purposefully to take advantage of blank space, the learner can focus on content. This, combined with all the factors above, leads to the last, most important benefit of white space.

• It improves comprehension!

If you’ve been holding on to your love of colors, fun fonts and images up until this point, hopefully, this last reason is enough to convince you to embrace a cleaner canvas.

When your learner is better able to focus on content without distractions using learning resources that are visually appealing without being overwhelming, they will naturally gain a better understanding of the lesson. With the success of your course tied to how well your audience understands then applies the content, this should be a no-brainer!

4 Quick Tips for Using White Space to Enhance eLearning

1. Don’t try to squeeze as much information as possible on a slide. When in doubt, separate bullet points or ideas to give them each their own slide.

2. Intentionally use white space around a really important idea. This is when the white space is asymmetrical or in an unexpected place and it really draws attention to important content.

3. Passive white space (the space that occurs naturally between lines of text, columns or images) is a great option when you can’t get around a text-heavy portion of the training. If you have to quote a three-paragraph compliance item, for example, you’ll use passive white space in your line spacing or in how you align that text box on the screen.

4. Like that old quote from Coco Chanel, take one thing off. Before you finalize slides or any other learning resource, go back through and see if there’s anything else you can do without.

Extra Resources

If you’re tackling a lot of the layout design in your courses solo, this might be a lot to take in! Chances are, you don’t have any professional graphic design training and are just learning as you go and that’s totally fine!

For the instructional designers that wear many hats (and even for those of you who work with trusted artists and just want some extra information on best practices), there are a few great resources you can check out.

If you haven’t already, read my blog Visual Design Can Be Learned. I include some helpful tips for beginners. Simple things like learning basic vocabulary, ideas for finding artistic inspiration to use in your design work and how to source high-quality images.

In that blog, I mention my favorite book on visual design. Garr Reynolds’ “Presentation Zen” is full of examples and inspiration that will bring your tired Powerpoints back to life.

Another book you might be interested in if you’re ready to take your visual design skills to the next level is “Slideology”. Nancy Duarte provides instruction for creating your own diagrams and graphics and incorporating them into your presentations in meaningful ways.

So, what’s your plan for using white space to up your visual impact in your projects this year? Hop over to my Facebook page and share some ways you can implement this new knowledge in your next project!

JOIN OUR PROFESSIONAL NETWORK OF IDCers!