One thing beginner designers tend to do is space out elements equally on the page. 1
Mainly they do this to fill the empty space. Because all beginner designers have a fear of empty space. 2
More about this in a later lesson. 3
But what design actually likes is grouping elements closer to each other, 4
if they have something in common. This is a design concept called proximity. 5
The basic idea of proximity is that: things that are related, should be close together, and things that 6
are NOT related, should be further apart. 7
In this example, I have moved all the navigation links closer to each other, because they are related. 8
They have a same context. 9
Now the headline is closer to the text underneath because they are related. 10
The buttons are a little further from the text, but two of them are close to each other. Because they are 11
similar action buttons. 12
They both offer what to do next. 13
And finally, the little text underneath the green button, 14
I have moved much closer to the button. Because it's sort of a description of the button, so it can't even 15
exist without it. 16
Now, what happens if you put unrelated elements close to each other? 17
Well, this will imply a relation which in fact doesn't exist. 18
For example, if we put a slogan right next to the navigation links, because of its proximity users will 19
easily confuse the slogan with a menu item and will think it's a clickable link. Especially if 20
those elements have a similar style. 21
Proximity is a very useful design guideline. 22
It not only makes content easy to understand and digest for the user, but it also makes it pretty and designed. 23
And I guess, you know, things that are simple and easy to understand, is quite beautiful for the users.