Here is an excerpt from an article written by Matthew E. May for Harvard Business Review and the HBR Blog Network. To read the complete article, check out the wealth of free resources, obtain subscription information, and receive HBR email alerts, please click here.

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The white circles you see in the grid below don’t really exist, nor do the white diagonal lines you see connecting them. Yet they are the most interesting part of the illustration. Even if you try to ignore the white space, your brain will override the order:

As any visual artist will tell you, the white space is just as important as the drawing. In music, too, the pauses matter just as much as the sound. And yet in business, we rush to fill any empty space with noise — a new offer, more features, another conference call.

But when we respect the white space — or when we intentionally create by removing just the right thing in just the right way — we allow others to fill the void, adding their own interpretation and impact. In fact, I’d argue that some of the most engaging ideas have something purposefully missing. Limiting information engages the imagination.

It’s a lesson I’ve seen taught especially well by comic illustrators. The addictive magic of comics is not contained within the illustrated panels, they argue; rather, it is the white space between the frames that holds the secret. Comic illustrators call it the “gutter.” It’s here that the reader is drawn in and engaged, because it is here that the story is left open to interpretation. In that space is where our brain takes two separate images and transforms them into a single idea.

Designers of Toyota’s youth brand Scion essentially used this strategy in creating the fast-selling and highly profitable xB model, a small and boxy vehicle made intentionally spare by leaving out hundreds of standard features in order to appeal to the Gen Y buyers who wanted to make a personal statement by customizing their cars with trendy options. As an advisor to Toyota at the time, I saw anecdotal evidence of buyers investing an amount nearly equal to the then-$15,000 purchase price to outfit their xB with flat panel screens, carbon fiber interior elements, and high-end audio equipment. Scion helped Toyota capture a new customer segment and secure its future. But it was never about the car. It was about what was left out of it.

Apple’s 2007 launch of the first iPhone used a similar approach. If you recall, the iPhone was hailed as the most hyped hi-tech gizmo in history. Now, to hype something means to push it heavily through marketing, media and merchandising. That’s not what Apple did. Steve Jobs demonstrated it just once—at Macworld 2007. He gave a masterful presentation there that January, but the iPhone didn’t go on sale until June.

In between? Radio silence: no publicity, no promotions, no leaks to press, no price discounts, no prototypes to reviewers, no advertising blitz, no preordering. There was essentially an embargo on official information with only the Jobs demo online to reference until just before the on sale date. The bloggers and Apple loyalists took over, interpreted and extrapolated, completed the picture as it were, and the iPhone “tipped” before it ever went on sale, with over 20 million people expressing an intent to buy.

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Here is a direct link to the complete article.

Matthew E. May is the author of The Laws of Subtraction: 6 Simple Rules for Winning in the Age of Excess Everything. He is a speaker and advisor to companies such as Toyota, Edmunds.com, Intuit and ADP.