The gist…
Going in circles? Feeling stuck or overwhelmed? Then park the work. Turn off your computer. Turn off your mind. Get up and get away from the work both physically and mentally. Take a walk. Go outside if you can. Stretch you legs and your mind. Then come back to your desk refreshed. And PARC it. Look at your work in a specific way to help you get back into the flow. Look at Proximity, Alignment, Repetition, and Contrast.
[This is a work in progress.]
You've had that feeling. That feeling that you are going nowhere but going fast. You're spinning like a car doing donuts in an empty parking lot.
You feel like your doom scrolling. But you aren't scrolling. You aren't even moving. You notice you have been staring at your screen for over an hour. So…
Park it
Turn off your computer. Turn off your mind. Get up and get away from the work both physically and mentally. Take a walk. Go outside if you can. Stretch you legs and your mind.
I know what your are thinking. "I can't do that. I can't just stand up and walk away from my desk. I've got to be productive."
Industrialization brought with it the idea of "productivity" — as if humans can be machines. But we aren't machines. In fact, no one person works exactly like another.
Here's a direct quote from the article "X" from The Guardian, date.
PARC it
After you have walked away, come back to your desk refreshed. And PARC it. Look at your work in a specific way to help you get back into the flow. Look at Proximity, Alignment, Repetition, and Contrast.
Proximity
The Laws of UX by Jon Yablonski defines the Law of Proximity as: "Objects that are near, or proximate to each other, tend to be grouped together."
What does this mean? Let's use a simple typographic example. Take a look at any subhead in your text flow. Subheads are the contextual leads to the text immediately following them. Yet, I'm guessing your subheads are positioned equal distance from both the paragraph above and the paragraph below.
And what this does to your subhead is isolate it. Your subhead isn't connected to the group of text it is leading. It looks more like a pull quote than a subhead. A basic rule of thumb is to put 2x space above your subhead and only 1x below. Try that and I believe you will find the text flow is much more user friendly.
Alignment
As with Proximity, Alignment helps define relationships. Vertical alignment, for example, helps group sections and subsections as you would see in a document outline — making scanning easier. Horizontal alignment provides a steady eye line for users to follow. Overall, being precise about your alignments — to a pixel perfect match of your grid — will convey professionalism and deep coordination as well as credibility.
Repetition
x
Contrast
x
Conclusion
x
------------