Layout design: visual hierarchy

1Three seconds to be read

People passing a notice board give a poster about three seconds. In that time they must find out what it is about; only then will they stop to read when and where. A layout that makes the most important words jump out first, the next most important second, and the small print last, has good visual hierarchy. Hierarchy means an order of importance, and in lettering it is shown by how the words look, not only by what they say. Poster designers, newspaper editors and the people who letter bus timetables all work with it.

2Tools for showing importance

• Size: the strongest tool. The biggest words are read first.
• Weight: bold letters stand out from light ones.
• Case: capitals look important and formal; lowercase is easier to read in longer lines.
• Colour and contrast: a dark or bright colour on a light background pulls the eye; greys and pale colours step back.
• Position: readers of English, French and Kinyarwanda start at the top left and scan across and down, often in a Z shape. The top and the centre are strong places.
• Space: a word with empty space around it stands out, and space between groups shows what belongs together.
• Style: a change of style (for example serif to sans-serif) marks a change of level.

3Three levels are enough

Most layouts need only three levels:

1. Primary: the one thing a reader must see first, usually the title or the name of the event.
2. Secondary: the key facts, such as the day, time and place.
3. Tertiary: the small print: who organised it, contacts, extra notes.

Make the levels clearly different. If level 1 is only a little bigger than level 2, the eye cannot tell which comes first. A useful rule is to make each level about twice the size of the level below it.

4Planning a hierarchy

1. Write out all the text.
2. Number each piece 1, 2 or 3 by importance. Be strict: only one thing can be number 1.
3. Draw three small thumbnails, trying different sizes and positions.
4. Choose one, then decide the letter heights for each level and check that the longest line fits the width.
5. Test it: show the finished poster to a friend for three seconds from three metres away. Can they tell you what the event is and when it happens?

Worked example: will the title fit?

Uwase is lettering a science fair poster on A3 paper, 29.7 cm wide, with 2 cm margins on each side, leaving 25.7 cm. Her first plan is title capitals 6 cm tall.

1. Estimate the width of SCIENCE, 7 letters. An average capital is about three quarters as wide as it is tall: 0.75 × 6 = 4.5 cm. Seven letters: 7 × 4.5 = 31.5 cm, plus 6 gaps of 1 cm = 37.5 cm. Too wide.
2. Try 4 cm capitals: 0.75 × 4 = 3 cm per letter; 7 × 3 = 21 cm, plus 6 gaps of 0.7 cm = 4.2 cm, giving 25.2 cm. It fits.
3. Set the other levels: level 2 at about half the title, 2 cm tall; level 3 at about half again, 1 cm tall.
4. Space the groups: she leaves bigger gaps between the three groups than between lines inside each group, so the reader sees three clear blocks.

5Make it: an event poster

1. Choose a real school or community event, for example a football match, a debate, a cleaning day or a concert.
2. Write all the text and number every piece 1, 2 or 3.
3. Make three thumbnails with different hierarchies; choose the clearest.
4. On A3 or A4 paper, rule guidelines for each level, check the longest line fits, then letter the poster in pencil and finally in marker or paint.
5. Carry out the three-second test with two classmates and write down what they saw first.

6Look closely

This playbill advertised an evening at a theatre in Cheltenham, England, on 22 September 1796. Printers of the time had no pictures to help, so they used lettering alone to guide the eye.

• Level 1: the names of the two plays, School for Scandal and My Grandmother, are by far the biggest words.
• Level 2: the theatre, the date and the name of the actor who would receive the evening's money are in medium-sized letters.
• Level 3: the list of actors and the prices at the bottom are small.
• Find other tricks: italic letters for the polite notes, capitals spaced out widely (D O R M E R) to make a short word look bigger, and thin lines that separate the sections.

Practice