Finding White Space

“Whitespace,” or “negative space” is the space between elements in a composition. More specifically, the space between major elements in a composition is “macro whitespace.” Micro whitespace, is—yes, you’ve guessed it—the space between smaller elements: between list items, between a caption and an image, or between words and letters. The itty-bitty stuff.”

Macro and micro whitespace in the architectural and interior design business is uncluttered space that is defined by objects, the space within our personal environments that allow for optimum efficiency of use. As graphic design whitespace influences the readability and feel of a business card, for example, so too does the effectiveness and feel of your personal environment  influence, through the powerful connection between space and behavior, your performance, life and sense of well-being.

One must wonder, of course, whether the absence or presence of whitespace in one’s home, office, or classroom (as just three examples) has anything to do with the whitespace within one’s life, the space/time to do absolutely nothing if one chooses.

Do you, for example, have effective whitespace in your personal environments to take some whitespace-time to pause and reflect on life’s many challenges? the right amount of space and ‘silence’ between the ‘notes’ of your life?, the ‘pause that refreshes‘?

At my son’s recent parent/teacher monthly group meeting, the topic of whitespace was briefly explored, all of us parents agreeing there seemed to be more whitespace in our remembered childhoods and for our parents than there is in this frenzied life we and our children currently live.

The focus of our parent/teacher evening was to share what a typical day or week was like in our lives, and what anchored our disparate daily activities. Many of us said it was dinner time, for some it was school time around which everything else revolved, some pointed to sports (for my family it is my son’s hockey practices and games), some mentioned reading to each other, some musical instruments. The anchor was unique to each family.  Some families even had multiple anchors.

Afterwords, while reflecting on the evening’s discussion – the long drive home often serving as a time to think,  it occurred to me that the common anchor missing for all of us, and perhaps the most important anchor, is the whitespace within our lives to sit and do nothing, to pause in silence, to reflect and receive the blessings of nothingness.

Years ago, while slaving over a college design project with a looming deadline, my professor attempted to redirect my supposed daydreaming towards what all students were suppose to be doing – what all others were doing, ‘WORKING’ on the project. Remaining in silence for a few seconds, I challenged him with something close to: “I am working… in silence, taking the critical pause, the space between the notes, to reflect upon the project, seeking the best solution, by tuning in to the music I am composing, the architecture we’ve been taught to see as frozen music.”

So, perhaps what is so desperately needed in these challenging and uncertain times is the effective anchor and use of whitespace – the silence that brings a bit of harmony into the equation and, by extension, better life choices, a more resilient way of living on this finite planet of ours.