White space or as some might call it, negative space, is an area that is left empty. White space has a special importance in visual design but exists in many other areas with different uses and values. Programmers utilize white space regularly in programming and some are even exposed to it while collaborating with designers, but what are their thoughts and ideas of this concept? In this paper I aim to look closer at white space from the viewpoint of a programmer.

Not everyone is a designer but many people work closely with designers or contribute to the process of producing things that are professionally designed. Programmers are such a group of people. In addition to that designers and programmers have in common the importance they place on layout for the sake of legibility. This study aims to investigate the opinions and ideas that programmers have concerning the topic of white space; one of the key building blocks of a layout. Interviews were conducted with six European male programmers about their thoughts on white space, their habits surrounding it, and the similarities and differences between code and visual layout. 

Two main attitudes were identified during the interviews. First, the difference of thought of consistency of white space in code and in visual layouts. In code white space is supposed to be used in a uniform way consistently throughout a document while in a visual layout white space has its strength in creating focus by having more or less of it present. The second difference is between how they were described to give value. In code the focus was explained to be more utility based and in a visual layout more cognitive benefits were detailed. For being a concept rarely thought of by programmers it is explained to be one of the pillars of coding practices and a focus on it provides value considering the benefits of its use.

After spending years working closely with programmers as a designer I was curious to research the attitudes and ideas that programmers have about design. After an extensive exploration into potential topics I finally landed on the concept of white space. It gave me deepened insights into programmers view of their own space and the design space they work in as well as a deepened understanding for the power I myself hold as a designer.

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