100 Things: Every Designer Needs to Know About People

9. People Believe that Things that are Close Together Belong Together

If two items are near each other (a photo and text for example), then people assume they go together. This connection is strongest for items that are together left to right. In Figure 9.1, the photo goes with the text below it. But because we read left to right, and because there is very little space between the photo and the text to the right, we may expect that the photo and the text to the right belong together.

Figure 9.1. You might assume that this photo belongs with the text to the right because they are close together and we read from left to right. But in this example, the photo actually goes with the text below it—and that will be confusing to most readers.

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