When you delve out to make a logo, what are the things you start wondering about? Design, colors, graphics, outlay, texture, shapes, fonts, they are all integral parts of the logo design process, but is there something missing in there that is important?

Yes, something is missing, but the highly surprising part is that its beauty lies in being ”missing” all the time. “Negative Space” or more simply put the space leftover in between the different design elements after the process is completed, is one of the most important design components that can make a logo look infinitely great.

Negative space is quite different from the subliminal design elements in that it’s the nothingness here where the brilliance needs to lie. The Amazon logo has an arrow showing the connection from “A-Z’ which signifies that it houses all types of good for consumers and a happy smile. The connection is the subliminal message while the smile arises from the perfect optimization of Negative Space.

The negative space can be used simultaneously in two very different yet equally effective ways:

To Help Increase the Focus:

Take out a family photograph from around 30-40 years back, a time when digital cameras were not in the groove and Polaroid ruled the world. The photograph might have blurred out a bit at some places and remained sharp and stoic at the others. The human eye would automatically zoom in on the clear ones and leave out the blurred part, thereby increasing the amount of focus the clear parts get.

Negative space serves on the same premise. When you want to keep it insanely simple and not make it gaudy so that it repels people off, you let the negative space engulf the visual you have created, enhancing the effect against the nothingness behind its color and lines.

In minimalistic designs, the use of negative space is highly influential as the design itself is so subtle, that it requires the negative space to support it to make a nice impact. Logos are no different.

A lot of firms require smaller and more intricate logos that look a bit more edgy and nifty. Tech firms rule the roost with such designs as they intend to represent the quality and smoothness of experience they inhibit.

The designer and the firm who wants the logo needs to understand here that the negative space is just as important as the main element of design in the overall graphic to make for a better and much more attention grabbing logo.

Playing in together with the Design:

It takes a master or matter of perfect communication to come with a logo design inspiration that perfectly assimilates the design with its negative space to create a complete logo, where each one has its part in portraying the meaning behind the logo.

See this logo design for instance:

The logo represents a brand named Anthony Lane and the logo works on the premise of using negative space to use both initial letters from the two words in the design. The “L” from Lane is portrayed in the negative space that arises in the Letter “A”, take anyone away and the design appears incomplete and irrelevant.

Using the negative space in a logo boils down to acknowledging the space that exists and then panning out a strategy to involve other elements by slightly tweaking this space to create another image altogether. Powerful logos like these stand a far better chance of serving your purpose of branding than other conventional ones as they portray that the brand made an effort to portray itself in not only the best manner but also with a hugely ingenious design.

Missing is not always bad, it’s down to the perception of the people involved in the logo design process on how they incorporate the negative space into their initiatives to make for a compelling and powerful logo.