Whitespace / print & web

PRINT: BAD

The above examples are print advertisements that could benefit from the use of whitespace.  I found that print advertisements commonly fill all of the space, probably because the client or business feels they are getting their moneys worth for inches paid for. Solid colors and images covering entire backgrounds inhibit good use white space.

PRINT: GOOD
The examples of good use of whitespace were all three from editorial publications, The Des Moines Register, National Geographic and Rolling Stone Magazine.  The first two use white space surrounding images and text organized on a grid.  The third example is a good use of solid image background, and still using negative space to allow for the title to stand out.

WEB: BAD
For starters, the first two web examples aren't using whitespace appropriately with the text.  Organizing blocks of text into chunks or making the line length shorter so the reader can scan the information more easily would help.  The last example is a haitian news source that has flashing information and no separation of content whatsoever. It's probably one of the worst sites I have seen.

WEB: GOOD
The examples of websites using whitespace well were all centered with concise headers and grid systems organizing the info. There is white space around the information that makes it easy to identify what each section contains.