Typography

White Space

White space (also called negative space), refers to any space free of text. It acts as subtle and invisible punctuation that enables us to read more easily the text on a page and understand the meaning of that text.

White space enables objects in it to exist. It reduces the amount of text we see at one time. The balance between negative and positive space, the use of white space, is key to aesthetic visual composition. When we discuss the white space between characters, words, and lines of words, we use the terms kerning, tracking, and leading rather than white space.