Finding White Space in 2020
Photo by Toben Dilworth
It’s been a year since I’ve gotten on an airplane, the longest period of time in my life when I haven’t traveled. I’d gone home to Thailand to attend a joyful family wedding and to spend time with my widowed mom. I got a brief taste of travel when I spent this past Thanksgiving week driving from San Francisco to Bend Oregon, and back again. It’s been the longest and farthest I’ve gone in the last year. It’s felt like a giant sigh of relief from the constriction of 2020 and my soul marinated in the white space.
White space in design is any section of a piece that is unused; or space around an object. If you look at a magazine layout, white space is the space between the words and pictures. It’s not something you typically pay a lot of attention to. We often focus on the content of the words and pictures. As designers, we’re told to “make it pop,” “make it bigger,” “make it stand out more” around the logo or button call to action. Yet the magic of white space is that it gives the content room to breathe. Rather than making the logo bigger, if you leave more white space around it, the logo will stand out more and feel bigger.
Being vs Doing
Similarly, in our lives, we often focus on all the things we need to do. We have long to-do lists, billable hours, milestones, OKRs (objectives/key results), SMART goals (specific/measurable/achievable/relevant/time-bound), and our own 3 or 5 year plans. I know this world too well, having spent 22 years working in technology across design firms, startups and large corporations. Self worth and success is based on all the things we do.
Yet the truly meaningful things in life are neither linear nor measurable. More things matter than what we do. In a company, we thrive in relationships with our colleagues, we move within a company culture, we identify with the meaning which our company adds to the world, and we feel a sense of belonging when our opinions are heard. These are all states of being. They’re based on our existence and are subconscious rather than the more active doing. The design process & creativity are states of being. The way that we “be” makes us better in our doing.
And white space enables this being.
What’s your default mode on this balance beam?
Finding White Space
I often find white space through the creativity of making things. Yet last week’s road trip made me realize that I also get my white space from other sources.
I find white space in adventure and travel. Historically that’s been on airplanes. My father worked for Thai Airways and I grew up on planes. They feel familiar and I’ve always had a fascination with the liminal space outside of place and time. You’re insulated in this metal capsule and have time to reflect. You can magically jump the international date line and gain an extra day. This last week, I found white space in driving on a road trip. There is freedom and openness in driving towards a destination, unconcerned about time or stops. I am free to explore the cuteness of feeding baby Alpacas, taste the world’s best salmon jerky, stop at a breathtaking viewpoint, or briefly admire bizarre dinosaur statues by the side of the road. I highly value adventure. Experiencing that value during the travel constraints of 2020 is a huge source of fresh air.
I find white space in nature. I’m a surfer. When I’m out of the water for more than a week, I get cranky. I need the ocean and outdoors. Each day this past week I’ve been dumbfounded by the beauty of the natural world whether it’s viewing Crater Lake covered in snow or hiking above the peaks of Smith Rock, the birthplace of American rock climbing. Water in nature moves me the most. Both the discovery of secret waterfalls as well as finding one of the most breath-taking coastal scenes I’ve ever encountered — Natural Bridges at Oregon’s Samuel Boardman State Scenic Corridor. My white space is being fully present, fully alive while walking over a treacherous crossing in solitude, my heart racing as I listen to the roiling waves below.
Crossing the Natural Bridges in coastal Oregon
I find white space in rituals and traditions. Last week was Thanksgiving in the United States. It’s normally a time to gather with family and friends over a sumptuous meal. It wasn’t possible this year, another casualty of the pandemic. Yet beyond the in-person connection and breaking of bread is the genuine sense of gratitude. We ate our Thanksgiving meal in a tiny house on the outskirts of Bend. We were thankful for each other, for family, and for countless other things that have happened this year. I connected remotely with many friends and family members. I don’t think this slowing down and break from a regular pattern would have happened without the white space created by 2020.
White Space is Freedom from Default Mode
Back in March at the start of it all, I wrote an article — COVID-19: the gift of time and space. There was a lot of naivete as I wrote it, failing to recognize that only the most elite of us had the freedom of time and space. Others are struggling to make ends meet, first responders fighting a war, or people simply too exhausted with the business of survival to think of anything else.
Today, it’s been eight months since the start of shelter-in-place. We’ve adjusted our lives and existed through the waves of fear and frustration. As we look back at 2020, this year has given us a gift, which is the freedom from default mode. Nothing was controllable — plans, health, safety, a contentious U.S. election — everything went out the window.
And through these eight months, we found glimpses of white space. White space is the absence of content & busy-ness. It’s the spaces inbetween. The emotions and creativity for what feeds your soul. As we’re trapped in our houses, some of us have more time. As we curtail the number of people we physically visit, we have more time to connect with friends & family from all around the world.
We can choose to be, and to have more white space, even within the chaos of 2020. And this can be the spirit of 2021.
The White Space Manifesto
White space gives room to breathe
White space is the path of ease and flow
White space cures the need to hold busy-ness as a badge of honor
White space is creativity
White space gives us the wisdom for better performance
Fiercely protect & nourish your white space!
Where might you consider adding more white space in your work and life?