Rule 1 of 29 · Chapter I — Hierarchy and Clarity
Establish hierarchy before anything else
Why this rule exists
Every screen answers a silent question the moment it appears: where do I look first. If your design does not answer it, the user's eye answers for you, usually wrong, and the confusion you feel looking at your own work is that question going unanswered. Hierarchy is the deliberate ordering of importance, made visible through size, weight, color, and space, and it is the first job of design because it is the first thing the eye asks for. Get it right and a plain layout feels effortless; get it wrong and no amount of polish will rescue it. Most designs that feel cluttered are not too full, they are simply flat, with everything shouting at the same volume. Decide what matters most on this screen, make it unmistakably the loudest thing, and let everything else fall into clear supporting tiers. When three things are equally important, you have not yet finished deciding.
The full rule lives in the book
How to apply it, worked examples, and when it doesn't apply are part of The Thoughtful Designer, a premium rule book.
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