Layout Fundamentals & Spacing

Master Apple's core layout principles to create harmonious and balanced interfaces

8 minutes to read

10 exercises

250 PX

Layout fundamentals and spacing rules are key elements of Apple's unique design style. They control how all interface elements work together on screen. Good spacing creates room for content to breathe and helps users navigate easily through apps. Apple uses specific rules for margins and padding to keep content clear and easy to read. Their grid system helps designers create consistent layouts that work well on all screen sizes. The balance between empty space and content makes important information stand out naturally. These spacing patterns automatically adjust to fit different devices - from small iPhone screens to large Mac displays.

Learning these basic principles helps designers create interfaces that match Apple's focus on clarity. Every space between elements has a purpose and helps create harmony in the design. With strong layout skills, designers can build interfaces that feel natural to use and meet Apple's high design standards.

Apple's layout philosophy

Apple's layout decisions rely on three main design principles: geometry, hierarchy, and measurements. The geometric system sets precise rules for composition and content alignment. Every button, text block, and image follows a clear structure to maintain visual stability in Apple apps. Layout measurements in Apple's system use points instead of pixels to ensure consistent sizing across different screens. This point-based approach helps maintain proper sizing and spacing of interface elements, regardless of device resolution.

Standard measurements include 8-point, 16-point, and 32-point increments for core interface elements. Apple's layout hierarchy creates natural paths for users to follow. Primary content takes up more space and uses prominent positioning, while supporting elements stay subtle in the background. This systematic organization of space helps users focus on important content while keeping interfaces clean and intuitive.^[1]

Pro Tip! Start your layouts with 8-point spacing increments — this aligns with Apple's measurement system and helps maintain consistent spacing across your design.

Whitespace in Apple’s interfaces

Whitespace in Apple interfaces creates visual breathing room between elements. This space isn't empty — it actively guides users through content and highlights important information. Apple uses both macro whitespace for large sections and micro whitespace between smaller elements. Large whitespace areas separate main interface sections and create clear content groups.

These spaces help establish visual hierarchy and maintain consistent spacing patterns across different screen sizes. Carefully planned whitespace distribution prevents cognitive overload and makes interfaces feel organized. Small whitespace plays a crucial role in readability and usability. System-defined margins and readable content widths help maintain comfortable reading experiences. Dynamic Type adjusts spacing automatically to maintain proper relationships between interface elements when text size changes. This built-in behavior ensures interfaces remain readable and well-organized across different text sizes and devices.

Pro Tip! Double-check spacing between related elements — if they're too far apart, they lose their visual connection; if too close, they compete for attention.

Apple’s margin guidelines

Safe areas and margins ensure content displays properly on all Apple devices. Safe areas define regions where interface elements appear clearly, away from display features like rounded corners, sensor housings, or the Home indicator. They help maintain consistent layout across different devices and orientations. Layout margins add space between content and the safe area edges. While safe areas protect content from device features, margins create visual separation that enhances readability.

iOS provides standard margins that work well in most cases, but custom margins can be used when needed. The system offers default margins that developers can adapt. These margins help create balanced layouts that work across devices while respecting safe areas. Understanding this relationship between safe areas and margins helps create interfaces that look great on every Apple device.^[2]

Pro Tip! Always test your layouts with default and custom margins in both orientations to ensure content remains readable and accessible.

Padding in Apple’s designs

Padding creates essential space around content in Apple interfaces. Every UI element, from buttons to cards, needs specific padding to maintain readability and touch targets. Content containers use standard padding to keep text and interactive elements easy to read and tap. Apple's system elements come with built-in padding that adapts to different contexts. List items, buttons, and form fields include default spacing that works well across device sizes.

These defaults help maintain consistent spacing while adapting to different text sizes and device orientations. Good padding improves interface scannability and touch interaction. Interactive elements need enough padding to create comfortable touch targets. Content groups use consistent padding to show relationships between elements while keeping them visually separate and easy to distinguish.

Pro Tip! When customizing padding, maintain at least 44x44 points for touchable elements to ensure they're easy to tap accurately.

Apple's grid system fundamentals

Grid layouts in Apple interfaces organize content for optimal viewing. The system can automatically determine the number of columns based on content width and spacing, helping maintain consistent layouts across different screen sizes. Spacing plays a crucial role in grid effectiveness. Consistent spacing between rows and columns prevents overlap when items come into focus. For titled rows, additional vertical spacing is needed between the previous row and the title to avoid crowding.

Grid layouts require careful attention to symmetry and consistency. Content should be spaced evenly to maintain a true grid appearance and make scanning easier. When content extends beyond the screen, partially hidden items should have equal width on both sides to keep the layout balanced.^[3]

Pro Tip! Check your grid spacing in both focused and unfocused states to ensure elements don't overlap when users interact with them.

Layout density in iOS interfaces

Content density in iOS interfaces affects how easily users can scan and interact with information. Dense layouts pack more content into the viewport, while spacious layouts prioritize readability. Finding the right balance helps create interfaces that are both informative and usable. Touch targets require careful consideration in iOS layouts. Every interactive element needs sufficient space around it to prevent accidental taps. Compact layouts should never compromise touch target sizes or spacing between interactive elements.

iOS provides built-in spacings that help maintain comfortable content density. These system-defined spaces create consistent breathing room between interface elements. When content density increases, maintaining a clear visual hierarchy becomes even more important for helping users navigate the interface.

Pro Tip! Test your layout's touch targets with different finger sizes — what feels spacious enough for a small finger might be cramped for a larger one.

Visual hierarchies

Visual hierarchy in Apple interfaces uses strategic element placement to guide users' attention. The most important content belongs at the top and leading side of windows, following natural reading patterns. Each element's position and the space around it communicate its importance in the interface. Essential information needs breathing room to stand out. Secondary content should live in separate areas to prevent crowding key information. Visual groupings, created through spacing and separators, help users quickly find related items and understand content relationships. Proper alignment and spacing make content scanning effortless.

Interactive elements need sufficient space to be easily discoverable and tappable. When content extends beyond the visible area, partial elements can hint at additional content, helping users understand they can scroll or interact to see more.

Pro Tip! Group related items with consistent spacing but use wider gaps between different content sections to make relationships clear.

Responsive layout adaptation

Apple interfaces need to work well across many different situations. Designs must adapt smoothly when users rotate devices, resize windows, change text size, or view content on different screens. Each design should stay familiar and usable across all these changes. Key adaptations to plan for include different screen sizes and resolutions, portrait and landscape orientations, and system features like Dynamic Island. Layouts should also handle text size changes when users adjust their accessibility settings, and support different language directions for international users.

Good adaptable design starts with testing. Preview your layouts on both small and large screens, test different orientations, and check how text size changes affect your design. When scaling design elements, maintain their proportions to keep visuals clear and prevent distortion.^[4]

Pro Tip! Test your layouts with Dynamic Type's largest and smallest settings to ensure text remains readable and doesn't break your layout.

Dynamic type and spacing

Text size changes affect entire layouts in Apple interfaces. When users adjust text size for better readability, spacing around and between elements needs to adapt accordingly. These adjustments ensure content remains clear and properly organized at any text size. Every interface element should respond appropriately to text changes. Buttons expand to fit larger text, lists adjust their row heights, and content containers grow to accommodate bigger fonts.

These automatic adjustments help maintain proper touch targets and prevent text from overlapping. Layout spacing needs to scale proportionally with text size. Margins, padding, and gaps between elements should grow or shrink along with text to maintain visual harmony. This coordinated scaling helps preserve the interface's visual hierarchy and readability at all text sizes.^[5]

Pro Tip! When testing Dynamic Type, check both minimum and maximum text sizes to ensure your spacing scales appropriately.

Visual balance

Apple's design system relies on thoughtful visual balance to create clear interfaces. In system apps, every element's size, position, and visual weight work together to guide users' attention naturally through the interface. The careful distribution of these elements creates stable, easy-to-scan layouts.

The Apple Music artist page balances strong visuals with functional elements. A prominent hero image leads to smaller album artworks, while navigation controls frame the edges without competing with the main content. This thoughtful arrangement keeps the interface both visually appealing and functional.

Different interface types need different balance approaches. Navigation bars balance titles with key actions, while content areas might use asymmetrical layouts to highlight important information. This flexibility in balance helps create interfaces that feel both stable and dynamic.

Pro Tip! Study Apple's built-in apps to understand how they balance different-sized elements while maintaining visual stability.