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Alignment 0:35
A 35-second explainer of Alignment, narrated over the same demo you can try yourself.
Try the interactive Alignment demo
What this video covers
Alignment is lining elements up to shared edges and a common grid, so the eye reads invisible straight lines connecting them. It is the cheapest way to make a layout feel considered - and its absence is the first thing that reads as amateur.
The ragged version felt vaguely untidy long before you could say why; switch on alignment and the same elements suddenly look deliberate, calm, trustworthy. Nothing moved but a few pixels of edge. That quiet sense of order is alignment doing its job below conscious notice.