Why is there so much WHITE SPACE

Isn’t the first step to recovery admitting you have a problem? OK, I admit it then – I am powerless over television! But what if I don’t want to recover? What if I’m content with my addiction? I guess if I’m not hurting anyone… And plus, I can’t live without my friends at Seattle Grace, or the survivors of ill-fated Oceanic 815, or my favorite ex-CTU agent!

People often ask how I have the time to watch so much television. It’s easy. I have no children, a dog that sleeps 22 hours a day and needs very little exercise or attention, and a husband that works second shift. All this equals me having complete control over the remote control five nights a week! If I had to share the remote… well, let’s just say it could get ugly. It could get “my Sox vs. his Yanks in the playoffs” ugly. {{{shivers}}}

And nothing sets off a good old-fashioned panic attack like an unexpected night off during the week or talk of him moving to first shift. If it’s a night when I’m recording multiple shows at once, I break out into a cold sweat! What if he wants to watch something else? Which show can I go without?  Is it airing at an alternate time?  Can I watch it online? {{{wrings hands nervously}}} Should I just watch on another TV? On the one hand, I need to watch my shows… but on the other hand, I really should spend time with my husband. Decisions… decisions… Pfffft!

If you know me at all, you know that I have a very close relationship with my television and an even tighter bond with my TiVo. If either ever decided to leave me, I’m really not sure I would have the will to go on. Seriously. I’m honestly surprised that my TiVo has stayed with me this long. The torture I inflict on it starts in mid-September and doesn’t let up until sometime in May, yet it never complains. Some evenings I’m pretty sure I see smoke billowing out of the TiVo, but it never lets me down. Well, almost never. There are those times when it gets so full, it has to barf out a program or two. But thankfully, it’s almost always a show my husband has recorded. Phew.

Sorry, I digress… My blog plan is simple.  I plan to talk about TV and how it makes me happy.  I plan to discuss my favorite shows and maybe, I’ll even throw in a post here and there that actually has some valid information in it.  Now that the new fall season has started… stay tuned!

~Stacy Johnson

Getting this blog going was no small feat. We even had to do an internal poll to pick a name… but here we are nonetheless and ready to get started with our random musings on the advertising business, branding, media, interactive, and whatever else distracts or engages our marketing minds on the clock or off.

Ultimately we decided that there were enough of us with opinions, insights, quirky stories, lessons learned and the desire to share them that we simply had to start a blog to provide an outlet for our thoughts. So three days a week, you will hear from a cross-section of CD&M staff with an seemingly endless variety of musings on life and work.

So why the title? Simply because it very well may be the question we are most asked by clients. Sometimes they don’t actually ask the question, but they let us know through hints, related questions, a look or even body language. It’s that familiar temptation (to fill in the breathing room with more images, headlines or copy) that comes over them even if they understand and like the use of proper white space. Given that we don’t plan to tie the blog down to one topic, theme or category, which is very reflective of our diverse personalities and passions, the one thing we all have in common in some way is the effective use and management of white space. There’s only so much of it to be had and only so much that will be seen. And all the activities and life happenings we encounter color our perspective on fillling it in.

– Kim Stiver