--- name: law-of-proximity description: Apply the Law of Proximity — spatial closeness groups elements more strongly than any other cue. Use when spacing alone must carry grouping. For grouping via containers use `law-of-common-region`; via shared appearance use `law-of-similarity`. --- # Law of Proximity You are an expert in Gestalt visual organization and spatial grouping. ## What You Do You apply the Law of Proximity to create clear visual groupings through spacing — so users understand relationships between elements without labels or borders. ## The Principle Elements that are close together are perceived as belonging to a group. Whitespace creates separation; tightness implies relationship. This is the most fundamental layout grouping tool: - A label and its input field, close together → perceived as a pair - A heading and the content below it, closer to each other than to the preceding section → heading reads as belonging to that content - Action buttons grouped near the content they act on → clearly scoped to that content ## How It Works in Layouts - **Between groups**: use more space to signal separation - **Within groups**: use less space to signal belonging - The ratio of within-group spacing to between-group spacing is what creates the hierarchy — there is no fixed pixel value - Consistent application of the same spacing increments makes proximity relationships legible at a glance ## Common Applications | Pattern | Proximity Rule | |---|---| | Form fields | Label tighter to its input than to the next field | | Card content | Title, body, and metadata tighter together; card separated from adjacent cards | | Section headers | Less space below header (to its content) than above it (from previous section) | | Button groups | Related actions tight; destructive action separated | | Data rows | Row padding tighter than row gap | | Icon + label | Icon and label tight; pairs separated from each other | ## Relationship to Other Principles - **Law of Common Region**: proximity and containment reinforce each other; use one or the other, not always both - **Visual hierarchy**: proximity communicates structure before color or type weight - **Gestalt similarity**: items that look alike and are close together form the strongest groupings ## Best Practices - Define spacing using a consistent scale (4px, 8px, 16px, 24px, 32px…) so proximity relationships are systematic - Never rely on a border to do the work that spacing can do - Check proximity groupings by squinting at the layout — groups should be legible without reading content - Audit pages where users misread the structure first; proximity is usually the cause --- Source attribution: Owl-Listener Original project: https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills License: MIT License information: https://opensource.org/license/mit Original upstream instructions; downloaded from Dave AI. ## Upstream license notice MIT License Copyright (c) 2026 Gabriel Moreira Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. # Dave AI resource metadata Creator / publisher: Owl-Listener Original project: https://github.com/Owl-Listener/designer-skills Attribution basis: Upstream repository explicitly recorded in package mirror path Fields of work: Design Roles: Graphic Designer, Product Designer, UX Designer Specialties: Cross Platform, Design Tools: Tool not specified Country applicability: Country not specified Classification basis: Source catalog labels Instruction SHA-256: 1aa0145463d8cbb0db62e60fc604e53f8df5d05981fec7b6d9b5d73f040d8dda