1st November 2016

Posted By: Chantelle Mills

Back in my university days the lecturers would often repeat these three words of wisdom “less is more.” This can be applied to most things in life but when it comes to design I think less is always more. These three words of wisdom would normally be followed by “don’t be afraid of white space.” During my first year of university I quickly learnt that white space could enhance a design and not every area of the art board needed to be filled with content.

Good design and advertising should be simple and uncomplicated, the more a design has going on the less chance the audience have of taking in the message. It’s fussy, your eyes are drawn everywhere, normally less attractive and takes more time to read; therefore it takes longer for you to get the message across. That’s if you’re lucky enough to keep the readers attention before they decide to give up.

Someone once told me you have five seconds for a design to catch a person’s attention and keep them interested. Now I don’t now how true that figure is but I firmly believe that you only have a short period of time to hook the consumer in before they get bored. I try to follow this hook and slowly reel them in approach in all my designs.

Giving your design space allows you concentrate on getting your message across in a visually pleasing way. You avoid potential consumers getting confused by what your flyer, packaging, adverts etc are trying to say. If you’re complicating your message there is a high chance your message and even your brand are not being received the way you want them to. By following the three words of wisdom ‘less is more’ not only do you get the message across faster and clearer but it also forces you as a business to really sit down and think about what you want to say and what you are trying to achieve.

On that note, I will leave you with the following quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry “Perfection is Achieved Not When There Is Nothing More to Add, But When There Is Nothing Left to Take Away.”