Took me 3 years to realize my design teacher was right about white space

My college professor Mrs. Chen kept telling me to add more breathing room to my posters. I thought she just wanted less work to grade. Then last month I redesigned a menu for a small cafe in Portland and I removed about 40% of the elements. The owner said it was the first menu that people actually stopped to read. Has anyone else had a teacher give advice that took years to click?

2 comments

2 Comments

faithrodriguez7h ago

lol "less work to grade" is exactly what I thought when my graphic design professor said the same thing. I spent like 2 years cramming every font and photo I could find into my layouts because I thought more stuff = more value. Then I did a flyer for a food truck and cut like half the text and pictures and suddenly people actually looked at it instead of just walking by. It took me way too long to realize that white space is basically the silent MVP of good design.

max38855m ago

Hold on @faithrodriguez, white space gives it breathing room...