Some things are just named wrong. Take negative space, for example. No surprise nobody but the trained designer cares to use it with intention or doesn’t rush to fill in every last bit of it.

Negative space allows things to exist. It enables focus and creates rhythm. It can connect things in meaningful ways and doesn’t even care to be noticed. There is no such thing as too much negative space except than in the eyes of the committee.

If we really had to go with the positive/negative metaphor to name it—how unimaginative—it would have been more accurate to call it positive space. At least I wouldn’t have to explain why you need it so often.

The notes I handle no better than many pianists. But the pauses between the notes – ah, that is where the art resides.

—Artur Schnabel