pure design

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Finger reading Don’t let the size of the so-called “agate” (type set 6 points or smaller)

fool you. When it comes to heavy traffic and high visibility, the con-

tent that is usually set in small type plays an important role.

Consider what your newspaper would be without sports results,

and start counting the complaints you would get from business

people if you stopped running stock listings. How many readers

decide to visit a restaurant or museum after they saw it mentioned,

yes, in very small type?

I refer to all of these areas of newspaper and magazines as “finger

reading.” Readers tend to run their finger over the page when they

search out these items, something they don’t do when reading a

narrative set in 8 or 10 point. Fingers and eyes in unison, doing

the moving.

Here are some tips for designing them effectively:

Always select the most legible typeface; sans-serifs do better than

serifs. For The Wall Street Journal we picked Retina, but many

other faces do just as well.

Pay attention to category breakers, and make them slightly larger,

and bolder, and maybe set in all capital letters.