diff --git a/app/views/projects/empty.html.haml b/app/views/projects/empty.html.haml
index d104608b2fe3d749e2f5e1774f5e0be86da5cf53..75f35360e5e603030891dd9160f7310f6477d589 100644
--- a/app/views/projects/empty.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/projects/empty.html.haml
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 .project-empty-note-panel
   %div{ class: [container_class, ("limit-container-width" unless fluid_layout)] }
     .prepend-top-20
-    %h4
+    %h4.append-bottom-20
       = _('The repository for this project is empty')
 
     - if @project.can_current_user_push_code?
diff --git a/changelogs/unreleased/improve-empty-project-placeholder.yml b/changelogs/unreleased/improve-empty-project-placeholder.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..11fe21e77101991da6d70afa2ea47f053ec15fa7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/unreleased/improve-empty-project-placeholder.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+title: Improve empty project placeholder for non-members and members without write access
+merge_request: 21977
+author: George Tsiolis
+type: other