Horror vacui
is Latin for the "fear of empty space." Its origins date back to Aristotle. His observation stated that nature had a natural fear of emptiness. This reference was later utilized by Mario Praz, an Italian art critic. He described the design ideas of the Victorian era as suffocating and overwhelming. In modern applications and websites, this concept manifests itself as a fear of white space. Individuals with this fear have a strong desire to fill these voids with objects or information. Horror vacui is the opposite of the minimalist movement.
Research has shown an inverse relationship between value perception and horror vacui. Value perception is the worth a product/service has in the mind of a consumer. The premise for this theory is that horror vacui appeals to poor, less-educated consumers. Rich consumers are accustomed to having more; therefore, they expect less. Simply stated, as the number of objects increases, the value decreases. This can be found in clothing storefronts, billboards, and much more. The figures below demonstrate the correlation between space and price.
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| Low Cost |
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| High Cost |
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| Lost Cost |
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| High Cost |
Google battled the issue of horror vacui early in its design. During its initial user acceptance testing, users felt uneasy about the open design of Google's interface. Google stood resolute on its concepts and helped pioneer the Web 2.0 movement. Unfortunately, not all companies have this level of initiative. In these situations the onus is on designers and developers. How can this be accomplished? Educating decision makers can be a powerful tool. Additionally, the
3 Second Rule is an excellent reference point. This rule states that an idea initially has three seconds to influence a user. Too much text or graphics diminishes this opportunity.
Final Thoughts
Horror vacui isn't meant to drive design to minimalism. With every design a happy medium exists. Although the BMW car billboard has less content, it still conveys the necessary message. Elegant design is not reserved to simple content. Apple's
iOS6 web page is an example of distributing sizable content effectively. The possibilities are endless.
