Visual Design Patterns That Keep Your Work Consistent
Consistency is what separates a designed system from a collection of one-off pieces. Here are the patterns I rely on to keep my work consistent. Consistency is what separates a designed system from a collection of one-off pieces. When I started doing design work, everything I made was slightly different: different button shapes, different spacing, different color usage. The result looked amateurish even when individual pieces were fine. Establishing a few design patterns fixed that. Here are the patterns I rely on to keep my work consistent. Define a Spacing Scale and Stick to It Spacing inconsistency is the most visible sign of amateur work. Margins and paddings that are 12 pixels here, 14 pixels there, 11 pixels somewhere else. The differences are small individually but add up to a feeling of randomness. I use a fixed spacing scale, usually multiples of 4 or 8: 4, 8, 12, 16, 24, 32, 48, 64. Every margin and padding comes from this scale. The scale makes decisions faster. When I need space between two elements, I pick from the scale instead of guessing a number. The result is consistent because every choice reinforces the same rhythm. More guides are on the Spark Blog.