White space can change how a design is perceived. Website Development

Hello. This isKototsuki Design.

When you’re creating a website or thinking about a redesign, do you ever find yourself thinking something like this?

“Since we’re going to the trouble of building it, I want to include everything—our company’s strengths, our services, our track record, and even the CEO’s vision!”

I understand that feeling all too well.

When there’s “empty space” on the screen, it feels like a waste, and you can’t help but want to fill it with text and banners.

But how do users feel when they see a site crammed full of information? They’ll likely think, “There’s too much text—I don’t feel like reading it,” or “I still don’t know what this company is trying to say,” and end up closing the page.

In this post, I’ll explain why “packing in too much information” backfires in web design. I’ll also discuss the very important characteristics of “white space”—which is often mistaken for mere “empty space.”

Why “Overcrowding” Prevents Your Message from Getting Across

“More information ≠ a better website.” In fact, when a site is overloaded with information, the message fails to get across at all.

This is because the viewer’s gaze gets lost.

The human brain unconsciously searches for “where to start reading” and “what’s most important” the moment it sees a screen. However, when information is packed in without any gaps, everything jumps out at the eye with equal intensity, and any sense of “priority” completely disappears.

Imagine a supermarket flyer. Information is crammed together, strongly stimulating the desire to buy. This is an excellent design for “selling.” However, conveying a “brand philosophy” requires a different approach.

What’s needed to help users recognize information as distinct groups and prevent their gaze from getting lost? That’s “white space.”

Side Note: The Essence of “High-Quality Information” as Defined by Google

When I suggest “let’s pare down the information” in design projects, I often hear concerns like this: “Doesn’t Google value comprehensive coverage of information? Won’t our search rankings (SEO) drop if we cut it down?”

To put it simply, there’s no need to worry. If we examine Google’s official definition of “high-quality content,” it becomes clear just how logical our emphasis on “white space design” really is.

1. Sites That Don’t Put Users First Won’t Be Rated Highly

Google has introduced a system called “Helpful Content” and explicitly prioritizes “content created for people, not for search engines.” Sites that simply cram in keywords and pack information without any breathing room run the risk of being judged by Google as “detrimental to user experience.”

2. E-E-A-T: Trust Is Born from “Readability”

Google uses “E-E-A-T” (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) as its evaluation criteria. Among these, “Trustworthiness” isn’t guaranteed by the accuracy of the information alone. An interface that allows users to instantly understand “who is communicating, for what purpose, and how” enhances a site’s credibility on its own. Conversely, sites with excessive visual clutter that cause the user’s gaze to wander will lead the brain to judge them as “not trustworthy”—regardless of how valuable the content may be—resulting in users leaving the site.

3. Metrics: “Time on Site” and “Satisfaction”

Google closely monitors how users behave after visiting a site. Sites with no white space—where simply reading the content is exhausting—will prompt users to hit the “Back” button immediately. A high rate of these “bounce rates” sends a negative signal to Google, indicating that “this site failed to solve the user’s problem.”

In other words, “designing with white space and grouping information to make it easy to read” is not merely a matter of aesthetics; it’s the standard approach to getting Google to recognize the site as “valuable and high-quality.”

 White Space Defines a Brand’s “Personality”

White space isn’t just about making content “easy to read.” In fact, it’s also a key factor in determining the “distance” and “warmth” between a brand and its users.

The way white space is used clearly reflects a company’s “personality.”

For example, a design with generous white space creates a sense of “ease” and “calm,” conveying a sense of luxury and refined confidence. It’s a dignified stance that deliberately maintains a slight distance from the user.

Conversely, a design that minimizes white space and increases density creates a sense of “vitality” and “passion,” evoking a feeling of approachability that brings the brand much closer to the user.

We fine-tune this “brand temperature” by adjusting the ratio of font sizes (the “jump rate”) and controlling white space down to the pixel.

“At what distance and with what warmth do we want to engage our customers?” When that stance seeps into the white space, a sense of “authenticity” emerges—one that speaks for itself without words.

White Space as Design

In other words, white space in good design is not a gap that happened by chance. It is an expression of a strong will to “leave space intentionally.”

“I want to convey this, so I’m deliberately leaving nothing around it.”

“Since this information isn’t needed right now, I’ve chosen not to display it.”

In this way, it involves prioritizing content and having the courage to let go of what isn’t essential. Designing white space is, in essence, nothing less than “designing corporate communication.”

White space is, after all, just one part of the design; it is only when it works in tandem with font size, color, and the tone of photographs that a brand’s “distinctive character” truly emerges. However, the most important and fundamental foundation of this is the “control of white space.”

Why Is It So Difficult to Achieve Beautiful White Space?

So why is the world flooded with “sites that lack beautiful white space and are overloaded with information”? There are three main reasons.

The first is “client psychology,” as mentioned earlier. When a client requests, “Since we have the space, why not add this banner too?”, the production team often fails to logically explain “why this space is left empty (white space as a functional element)” and ends up adding more information simply because the client asked.

Second is the “limitations of template structures.” When creating a site by simply plugging photos and text into a pre-designed framework, it’s impossible to make subtle adjustments—such as deciding, “To express this brand’s unique vision, let’s make the white space here wider than usual.” As a result, the site ends up with the same “run-of-the-mill spacing” found everywhere else.

The third factor is the impact of “device evolution.”
Websites from a few years ago were designed to fit much smaller monitor sizes than today’s.Because information had to be crammed into a limited screen width, there were “physical constraints” that made it necessary to cut back on white space. It’s not uncommon for websites that have continued to be updated using the original designs from that era—or those designed according to outdated standards—to feel “cramped and cluttered” when viewed on today’s large monitors; this is often a remnant of that era.

That’s why an environment that doesn’t restrict expression is necessary

To bring the “beautiful white space (the brand’s warmth)” designed on the design screen to life on the website, the implementation environment is also crucial. We primarily use two different tools depending on the project’s objectives.

Comparing the characteristics of each helps clarify the ideal form of the website we’re aiming for.

The current version of WordPress has made significant strides in “block”-based editing. It offers the intuitive feel of stacking blocks, allowing administrators to flexibly make adjustments on the spot—for example, adding a little extra white space wherever they see fit.

On the other hand, for brand websites where you want to meticulously craft a company’s “identity” without even a millimeter of deviation, a “headless CMS” like microCMS truly shines. Since there are absolutely no system-imposed constraints, it’s possible to implement the “meaningful white space” and “subtle letter spacing” we’ve designed exactly as intended—100% in line with the design vision.

Rather than adapting the design to “what the system can do,” we adapt the system to “the experience we want to convey.” Regardless of which tool we use, what matters most is creating an environment that delivers the “design of white space” to users without compromising it.

Summary | White Space Is Design for Communication

It’s easy to “add something” because “something feels missing.” However, if there’s something you truly want to convey to the recipient, you need the courage to “subtract.”

Creating white space isn’t simply about cutting out text. It’s “a design that ensures the message you most want to convey reaches the audience you most want to reach.”

If you’re looking at your company’s website right now and thinking, “There’s a lot written here, but I feel like it’s not really conveying what makes us great,” it may not be that you’re lacking information—it might be that you’re lacking “white space.”

Why not start by organizing the information you’ve crammed in and re-examining “what you really want to show”?