Spacing

“The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together.” — Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars (1981)

I was always the weird creative kid that stared off into space. I would see dancing elephants in the clouds, Tetris shapes in the dots of the ceiling and faces in my coffee stains. Surprisingly, I've never struggled with good grades as a student but classes rarely kept my attention for long. Even now, I often book clients for shorter stints so that I can experience real breaks away from the super intense design work.

My most valuable time is the empty space between projects and it's in that space where I've grown the most. I'm able to decompress, sit, and ponder about the future a bit or catch up with the past. Spacing is also a concept as a designer that I bring up quite a bit with younger designers. I believe that it's a key differentiator between good and great interfaces. You can make something feel and look like a million bucks just by finding the perfect space between elements.

Negative space is key to great architecture like the Pantheon in Rome. What's so memorable about that building isn't just it's iconic concrete dome with a single circular cut out or it's function as place to hear the decree from the emperor–it's the experience of standing in it's unique negative space. It feels as if merely existing in the building connects you to the divine. To the gods high above and all around.

The core human experience is within the negative space of buildings. That's the space that must be considered the most aside from beautiful visuals and heady ideals. In design, "spacing" isn't an afterthought–it's the secret ingredient.

For the past decade, I was forged in the fires of amazing and awful user tests as a professional interface designer. My name is Freddie Iboy and the interfaces I’ve made have been used by millions of people across the world in dozens of languages from Tinder's playful swipe, Zenly's social mapping, Framer's enabling of beautiful designs for the web, and all the dozens of great clients I've had back to back in the past few years.

If you're a designer at any level in all adjacent fields, from fresh students to hardened professionals, these are the essays for you. We're all chasing the simplicity and sophistication from the elders before us and adding one more perspective to your tool box will only help you improve more.

If you're interested in what designers do and think about day to day then these essays are also for you. I'll delve deep into design case studies from across fields. Deep dives into trends and industry analysis particularly about the UI that touches every field out there. And personal workflows and concepts like color, typography, and to that elusive perfect space between elements. Selfishly, it's also an opportunity for me to recommend one more great place where each week readers can come away feeling so much smarter and more ready for our uncertain future.

Everything that I’ve learned and stolen from some of the best in the world is yours for the taking. “Spacing” is the place where every gap, every pause, is a chance to learn and be creative as hell.

This is Spacing.