On our school branding blog, we talk a lot about lettering, mascots, fonts, ambiance—the meat and potatoes that would make up things like championship banners and customized outdoor padding. That stuff is obviously important – without it, rebranding a school would be next to impossible. However, there’s one part of a well-branded item that often flies by the wayside for many districts: the places on the gym wall pads, conference banners and the like where nothing except background color exists, called negative space.

Negative space has nothing to do with a sullen attitude! In fact, it’s an important part of any well-designed and branded product. It might seem a little strange that the place where the main graphics are not helps to make an appealing item, but we at SportsGraphics make use of this concept every day in our school branding ideas.

But just why is negative space so important? How can empty areas contribute to a decidedly non-empty whole? We explain it all below.

Negative Space Shows What’s Important

Banners and other branded materials catch the eye – that’s a big part of what makes them so powerful. One tried-and-true way to catch the eye is to have a defined and detailed focal point, like the image of a mascot, with something less visually stimulating surrounding it. This contrast created between negative space and a given graphic or font pulls a person’s attention into what matters – the branded material.

Using negative space effectively ensures that:

●        Your branded materials aren’t too visually cluttered. Effective images are clear and punchy. Without proper use of negative space, observers will have to squint to interpret any kind of branded material at all.

●        You’re keeping things short and to-the-point. When it comes to things like championship banners and bleacher covers, nobody wants to stand there and read a novel of text printed upon them. Save the rightful at-length bragging for the trophy case! Keeping negative space in mind helps cut down on the tendency to rely too heavily on text in designs.

●        You’re showing off your school colors properly. Seeing as the negative space used in school branding often is one of a district’s colors, it helps to balance out a frequently more monochromatic mascot or font and thus ensure that each hue is equally memorable.

Get Start-to-Finish School Branding Help From SportsGraphics

From concept to execution, we’re your one-stop-shop for all of your school branding needs. Give our Clarion office a call today at 1-800-257-6405.