Right there in that empty space.

I readily admit, I am having a blast reading "Charlotte's Web" to R. "Mom, mom, are we reading a chapter tonight?" The excitement about reading thrills me. So, a child's path to reading starts with picture books -- it's all about the pictures. They look at a bright, colorful picture, parent says the word, they learn to say the word...but it's all about the picture. They progress to books with storylines, still driven by pictures. They start to memorize the story, using the pictures as prompts.

For our clients, we as graphic designers look for that balance between text and images to create a particular story as well. Time and time again, we educate the uneducated in the use of "white space" -- ahhh, that lovely part of a page. But, hey, if a client is paying for the paper and the press to print on it, well, there's room right here for another picture or blurb about so-and-so getting an award, right?!

"Charlotte's Web" is not full of pictures. It's the start of the pleasure of reading and being able to visualize it yourself, use your imagination to fill in the details. Every so often, the publisher has thrown in a line drawing, and R really enjoys when one comes up. "Is there another picture?" No, not yet. "But they could have put one, right there, right there in that empty space."

With any luck we can turn this "bad client" around before it's too late...