It is generally known that a good interface design is not just the artist’s fantasy, but the development of an easy and effective user experience. To make your product human-friendly you can base your design on the user's psychology. That is where proximity breaks out.
So, what is about proximity that is so important to know as a design professional? Proximity stands for a rule of how we group objects and perceive them. It is a proven fact that if you see several objects close to each other you automatically read them as an impartial block. That works even if some objects are not look-alike: the proximity principle is more valuable than similarity.
Here is a standard example: what do you see in those dots? It is 99.9% that you will break them into two groups and that is how the proximity principle works. Objects that are placed close together are consolidated as one block by our mind, no matter what shape or color they are.
This is all interesting in theory, but why to practically use proximity in your design?
There are several ways of applying this feature to your website, product or service.
Though we briefly opened the door to Gestalt Principles in this article, you can already engage proximity in your design projects and let it upgrade your work, making the user experience and psychological perception nicer.
If you want to dig in this topic deeper — please, check our articles on continuation, symmetry and others for more information.