Filling the White Space

In marketing we use the term white space. This is to describe the untapped area surrounding a brand, promotion, or program. We have goals to take advantage of this white space and utilize it to reach a consumer with a message. Varied vehicles are used to "fill" this space with messaging and communication tactics to create a unique touchpoint and initiate a consumer response to engage with the brand/etc. we are promoting. The key here is to utilize this space in a clear effective way and not simply to fill it.

In design we use the term white space to mean the areas which have remained free from any sort of art or communication. This actually serves as area for your eye to rest and take in what is not white space. As a designer, this is a valued area as we are often instructed by clients to fill this space with more messaging. It takes a unique client to allow for white space as designers are often asked to add more words, the dreaded "communication burst", or even to make the logo bigger (visit: http://www.underconsideration.com/MaketheLogoBigger.mp3 for some designer humor).

In both of these cases, when there is white space, we are programmed to fill it. I believe this is true with our daily lives. We seem to have lost the ability to allow for white space. We reach for our Smart Phones first thing in the morning. Or when there is a lull in the work day, we are checking in on Facebook, Twitter or some online news source. At home, the television is flipped on. We even consider commercials our own personal white space and switch to another channel to fill it—which is ironic, cause there have been a lot of folks creating and paying for these commercials to fill this space. I don't even think I can take a walk without ear buds.

So today, we struggle as to what to do with our own personal white space. And how do we fill it. Clearly there are some great uses of technology and social media outlets to gather information, connect, educate ourselves, but its almost as if our personal whites space has turned into another design term for white space—negative space. We are conditioned to fill it. But with what?

We are busy. We work. We play. We teach. We communicate. We relax. But do we seek opportunities to create white space, or do we just try to fill it. And if white space is created, what do we do with it.

Psalm 46:10 reads:

"Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

If this is true, I suggest that we learn how to create and use this white space to "Be still". Because if God WILL be exalted among the nations and WILL be exalted in the earth. Perhaps it is in our best interest to spend some time being still and knowing that He is God.

This is a hard one for me. I am busy, and like to be entertained. This requires discipline. I gotta work on this one. I am a white space filler.