Typography Essentials

THE WORD40 Vertical stacking

OFTEN DONE FOR THE SAKE OF CONVENIENCE or because of ignorance, vertical stacking is generally inadvisable. Because different letters have significantly different widths, centered vertical stacking creates ugly shapes with neither vertical nor horizontal alignment. A much better solution is simply to turn the type on its side so that its baseline remains intact (this helps the reader, too). However, as with all rules, this rule, too, can be successfully broken.

ProjectFeature spread

Design DirectorAmy Rosenfeld

Art DirectorHylah Hill

PhotographerWendell T. Webber

ClientThis Old House

This clever headline treatment vertically “skewers” letters colored to look like vegetables ready for the backyard barbecue.

Project ...