Making Space

We've all experienced a creative block - that hashtag struggle to be inspired or enthusiastic about a piece of work. It's pressure, and pressure is paralyzing. When there are projects to complete and bills to pay, creative block can be a serious snowball of problem.

I'm reading along with Kadie and the Drop Cap Book Club. In our current read, Greg McKeown's Essentialism, McKeown highlights the need to make space in our lives as a way to prevent the block. Instead of obsessively tackling a task and driving it into the ground, McKeown encourages us to create space. We do by "constantly adjusting and adapting our field of vision in unencumbered thought," allowing ourselves the space (physically, emotionally) to explore different possibilities - even if they're not the final result. We can't hammer away towards one solution, we have to allow room for a chocolate box full of possibilities. As Mr. Gump put it, "You never know what you're gonna get."

McKeown's "make space" mantra can also be applied to good design. The empty or open space around an object that gives the focal point contrast and definition is called negative space or white space. It is the breathing room which can determine how appealing something looks. When someone looks at a piece designed with well-composed negative space, the viewer can effortlessly (key word: effortlessly) evaluate and appreciate the design. Designs with negative space are usually very simple. (Isn't in funny how the simplest things are enough to satisfy us when we're given enough breathing room?)

The key to negative space is that the viewer doesn't have to work too hard. You've heard it - work smarter, not harder. It's 2018 and we will take any shortcut. (Think: Ctrl Z, Alexa, Express Toll Roads, 5-year Master's programs, Fast Pass) As we [humans] become more reliant on faster, better, more efficient results, we will also depend on more S P A C E.

A balance of space is healthy our lives and essential for design.

So begin by taking a deep breath. Feel the SPACE.

Aaand shavasana,

Your Spiritual Design Therapist

Meredith CummingsMarch 4, 2018