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Legal Marketing: White space can be your best friend

Guest post by: Tom Matte

Article Overview: Well placed white space helps readers know what to read first, allows them to rest from time to time, and even gives your materials a touch of elegance. Think about the most memorable ads and collateral materials you’ve seen over the years. Most people generally mention ads produced by companies like Apple and Volkswagen. You know what sets them apart, other than creative headlines? Their generous and intelligent use of white space.

Legal Marketing: White space can be your best friend

Well-placed white space helps readers know what to read first, allows them to rest from time to time, and even gives your materials a touch of elegance.

Think about the most memorable ads and collateral materials you’ve seen over the years. Most people generally mention ads produced by companies like Appleand Volkswagen. You know what sets them apart, other than creative headlines? Their generous and intelligent use of white space.

In my many years of working with clients, this topic has come up frequently. In fact, other than hearing, “Can we make the logo bigger?” the most heard request is usually to fill in white space. I understand why this happens. We are programmed to get as much as we can out of space we have in nearly every other area of our lives. But I’d like to share some of my thoughts on why leaving some well-placed white space will make your collateral, ads and Website much stronger.

It’s cleaner. We’ve all walked into an office where there are files everywhere, books falling off the shelf, chairs full of various items and no order to anything at all. How do you feel in that sort of environment? Nervous, looking for any excuse to leave? Well, it works the same with Websites and collateral. If you jam every single space full of content, it makes it difficult for visitors to know what to read and how to navigate. Some well-placed white space makes your site feel more tidy, and in turn, visitors don’t mind hanging out for a while.

It helps with navigation. I’ve talked here before about how very few people read Websites anymore; we scan. But if you don’t give the eye a place to rest, or provide a good flow of information, people won’t even do that. By adding white space and breaking up your graphics and copy, you help guide readers through your Web page or collateral materials. If done right, you can ultimately lead them to your call to action too.

It adds a feeling of elegance. High end brands have been using white space if their marketing materials for years. It just looks cleaner and classier. It’s hard to look elegant when your brochure or Website is simply cluttered looking. Let’s go back to that messy office. Who will you trust more to handle a challenging issue for you? The person with crap all over his office, who has to shove stuff out of the way before you can take a seat, or the person with a tidy and well-organized space. People make subconscious judgements about your firm at first glance. By making your materials look clean, you automatically create a feeling of trust and competence for your law firm brand.

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Article Tags: advertising, design, legal marketing, tom matte, white space



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