Non-Designer’s Type Book, The, Second Edition

Chapter 17. Alignment

The alignment of your text plays a vital part in the look and the readability of your work. It’s not the only factor—typeface, line length, style, size, linespacing, and case (caps or lowercase) also contribute. Type that is easy and pleasant to read encourages people to read what is written. Type that is not so readable can discourage a significant portion of the audience.

In short text, as in an advertisement or a package design, you can often get away with using a design feature that detracts from the readability but adds to the attractiveness and impact of the piece (such as extreme letter spacing, all caps with a justified alignment, or fringe type)—but this only works when you can justify that the look of the piece ...