UI/UX design

Stage 2 · Lesson 6 of 7

Alignment, grouping and Gestalt principles

Visual design fundamentals

People see structure before they read a word. describe how this works. Things close together look related ().

Things that look alike seem to belong together (similarity). Things inside a shared box form a group (common region). Things placed along a line read as a sequence (continuity).

A strong left edge gives the eye a clear line to follow. Centred text works for short headings, but it makes long passages harder to read. Use these principles to group form fields, card content and navigation without adding boxes and lines everywhere.

Common trapsolving every grouping problem with borders and dividers, which adds noise; try space and alignment first.

A question to check yourself, an AI practice session and 2 cheat sheet entries come with the full roadmap. Unlock

Resources for this stage

Start with· follow one of these

  • GuideFree
    Material Design 3

    Google

    Free, detailed foundations on layout, colour roles and type scales from a system used by millions of apps

  • BookPaid
    Refactoring UI

    Adam Wathan and Steve Schoger · About $99

    Paid, practical visual design tactics explained for people without a design background

Practise

  • Study how real apps handle layout and hierarchy, then recreate a screen to train your eye

Keep handy

  • Check every text and background pair against WCAG contrast ratios in seconds

  • Proximity, similarity and common region explained with examples, for when grouping feels off

Also worth your time

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