MENTAL MODELS: PROXIMITY

THINGS THAT ARE CLOSE TO ONE ANOTHER ARE PERCEIVED TO BE MORE RELATED THAN THINGS THAT ARE SPACED FARTHER APART.

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How might this apply to your business?
Use proximity to create logical groupings. If an image goes with a piece of text, then those two elements should be close together and distanced from other pairings. Similarly, related elements on a form page or dashboard should be clustered together. Examine your content  to see which items should be grouped for more clarity.

See also: Juxtaposition, Uniform Connectedness, Visual Imagery, Contrast

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In the whirl of our day-to-day interactions, it’s all too easy to forget the nuances that distinguish great teams, great cultures, and great products/services.

Mental Model Flash Cards bring together insights from psychology into an easy reference and brainstorming tool. Each card describes one insight into human behavior and suggests ways to apply this to your teams as well as the design of your products and services.