Using white space in presentation design

White space or negative space isn’t wasted space - it’s what makes your content shine.

Think of it like:
🗂️ A well-organised desk vs. a cluttered one
🎶 A music pause that makes the next note hit harder
📖 Margins in a book that make reading easier

I’m a big fan of ‘less is more’ when it comes to text in presentations - letting your visuals do the communicating. But we can also use one of the key visual hierarchy principles of spacing. Space can separate or connect elements in your design layout.

Here’s why white space is your best friend in presentation design:

• Better slide layouts - give your elements breathing room

• Better comprehension - less clutter means your audience absorbs key points faster

• Better storytelling - if your content is consistently laid out, using hierarchy and grouping, your audience will clearly see how elements are related

• Directs attention - use emptiness to draw attention to what’s important. For example, filling an entire slide with an image will draw attention to only the title and the image.

• Clearer typography - when working with a text-heavy slide, using whitespace in line spacing and letter spacing can make text easier to digest.

So next time you’re tempted to fill each slide, pause. Less is often more.