Four Words That Change Everything
Designers have a small set of words for why something looks good or bad. You don’t need to become a designer. But knowing just four of these words lets you steer Claude far better than “make it nicer” ever could.
Watch the same page get better, one word at a time:
Nothing new was added to that page. Same heading, same text, same three cards. Only these four things changed.
Whitespace
Whitespace (empty space around and between things) is the single biggest difference between amateur and professional looking sites.
It doesn’t have to be white. It just means room to breathe.
- Too little: everything feels crammed, busy, stressful.
- Enough: things feel calm, clear, expensive.
Say: “Give everything more room to breathe.” or “Add more whitespace between the sections.”
Hierarchy
Hierarchy (an order of importance) is about what your eye lands on first, then second, then third.
If everything is the same size, nothing stands out, and the page feels flat. Good hierarchy makes the most important thing the biggest or boldest.
Say: “The main heading should be the first thing people see. Make it much bigger than everything else.”
Contrast
Contrast (how strongly things stand apart from each other) is what makes text easy to read and buttons easy to spot.
- Grey text on a grey background: low contrast, hard to read.
- Dark text on a light background, or the other way round: high contrast, easy.
Say: “The text is hard to read. Increase the contrast.” or “Make the buttons stand out more.”
Consistency
Consistency (the same kinds of things always looking the same) is what makes a site feel designed instead of assembled.
All buttons the same shape. All cards the same corners. The same few colors everywhere. When things don’t match, the site feels messy, even if you can’t say why.
Say: “Make all the buttons and cards consistent: same shape, same corners, same colors.”
Diagnosing a Design
| When it feels… | The word you want | Try saying |
|---|---|---|
| Crammed, busy | Whitespace | “Give it more room to breathe” |
| Flat, nothing stands out | Hierarchy | “Make the main heading the star” |
| Hard to read, washed out | Contrast | “Increase the contrast” |
| Messy, thrown together | Consistency | “Make everything consistent” |
Name the problem, and Claude can fix it. These four words name most of them.
Try it
Open your preview (or your playground site from earlier), and look at it with these four words in mind. Which one is weakest? Ask Claude to improve just that one thing, and compare.
See an example prompt
Look at the design of the home page in terms of whitespace, hierarchy, contrast and consistency. Tell me which one is weakest, and why. Then improve only that one.