Sometimes geometric alignment just looks off. When that happens, try optical alignment instead.

For example, buttons with both text and icons often need slightly smaller padding on the icon side to look balanced.

This approach works well because our eyes perceive visual weight differently depending on the shape and density of content.

Side-by-side comparison of two "Copy text" buttons. The left uses equal 16px padding on both sides (geometric). The right uses 14px on the icon side and 16px on the text side (optical).