Page Composition

Carl Shank • September 2, 2022

Guidelines for Good Layout*

If you ever read any of these disclosure and privacy agreements that you agree to, although written in plain English, they are dense and difficult to fathom.Even if they are on the internet and if given to you in paper form, they give a visual impression that can render a subscriber or applicant frustrated, suspicious and defensive. Take a look at the sample on the top below. To be honest, most of the time we simply don't bother to read the agreements. The problems come when we have an issue with the service or product that requires us to search through these massive and poorly composed pieces.


In real life, we use gestures, body language, tonal changes, and emotive elements that allow the message to get across accurately yet kindly to those who agree to the terms stated. This is done with composition and changes in type style, spacing, weight and size. It might be argued that such agreements and notices are written the way they are to save space or paper or internet usage. However, if we REALLY want the customer or subscriber to read these agreements, there is another and better way to go. This is the composition seen on the bottom below.


Type makes the message visible. The sample text is divided into conversation size pieces. Several techniques are used: (1) an obvious and strong header and beginning; (2) clear topic markers; (3) bold section markers that are easily identified; (4) visual shifts in direction using italicized type. What's changed? Text size and leading are the same (10/12) but everything else is new:


Wide margins. White space is often unused and underrated in such publications. Wide margins, according to John McWade (from which I borrowed and adapted this piece of page composition) are like "fresh linen; they set an open, inviting table." Margins are set at 1 inch all around with 1.5 inches on the left, in case the customer wants to do a three-holed punch and put them in a permanent binder (remember those?).


Medium length lines. They are the easiest to read and usually go about 5o characters or so per line.


Typographic contrasts.  Two type families are used here. Select a bold sans-serif (without feet) font for the vivid flags that point to each section. Here I am using a font called Formata, but any strong bold font will do. This conveys the authority of prominence without shouting (all CAPS type) or closing with the subheads. Notice that the numbers are also gone in these headers. The text is still Times New Roman. Italics are used to change your emphasis or tone of voice. Set each section apart from the rest using eye-pleasing space between the headers and textual elements.


*Adapted from "Guidelines for Good Layout," John McWade, Before & After, Vol. 4, No. 3, 1994, p. 7

Successful Layout & Design

Scripts & Cursives (2)

By Carl Shank • July 31, 2026
In typographic terminology, script refers to a class of typefaces designed to emulate handwriting or calligraphy, regardless of whether letters are connected. Cursive, by contrast, refers to a style of handwriting characterized by connected, flowing letterforms developed for efficient writing. Consequently, cursive writing is one important source of script typefaces, but script typography also includes many designs that are not truly cursive. While a script typeface may connect every letter, or only certain combinations, or even none at all, cursive faces are characterized by connected letters. Thus, English Roundhand, Spencerian writing, the Palmer method, and modern school writing are all cursives. Cursive writing evolved because ancient scribes needed to write quickly.

Scripts & Cursives (1)

By Carl Shank • July 30, 2026
Scripts & Cursives. In typography and calligraphy, the terms script and cursive are related but not synonymous. They are often used interchangeably in popular usage, but type historians and calligraphers generally distinguish them by purpose, construction, and historical origin . While all cursive-inspired fonts are script typefaces, not all script faces are cursives. Thus, a calligraphic font with disconnected capitals and lowercase letters is a script font, but not truly cursive. Background . Two previous posts are a good place to start this discussion — See "Calligraphy & Typography" a t https://www.caretypography.com/calligraphy-typography . Also, see "Pen-Lettering History" at https://www.caretypography.com/pen-lettering-history . In typographic terminology, script refers to a class of typefaces designed to emulate handwriting or calligraphy, regardless of whether letters are connected. Cursive, by contrast, refers to a style of handwriting characterized by connected, flowing letterforms developed for efficient writing. Consequently, cursive writing is one important source of script typefaces, but script typography also includes many designs that are not truly cursive. Robert Bringhurst in The Elements of Typographic Style (Vancouver: Hartley & Marks, 2012) classifies script as a category of typefaces derived from handwriting and distinguishes formal and informal script traditions. He notes that "there are thousands of typefaces that stand outside the conservative and tradition-bound world of text type, and that look as if they might have been handwritten rather than drawn, carved or inscribed. Some are formal, some informal, some connected and some made of separate letters. Typographers often lump them together unscientifically as script types." (p. 193, 1992 Edition). Bringhurst says that "in general, scripts are also more closely tied to particular moods, places and times than text types are, and types that pass quickly in and out of fashion are extraneous to the subject of this book." (p. 193) He notes that scripts are important only as "setting off" a single word or line of normal text copy. He then discusses the typefaces Beowolf, Carolina, Legende, Ondine, Present and Salto. 
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