Dear clients: we are on a mission to save your margins and preserve white-space. Why? Because our designs look better that way! No seriously, it is because we care about your content and want your audiences to be able to read and digest what you have to say.
We understand the desire to try to fit as much as possible on one page. We know you have lots of great information to share and you want to get it all in there. However, you hired us to make your content look great: to showcase it, make it easy to read, and help communicate whatever your story is. So it is our job to help you understand what kind of impact these requests have on the overall piece.
We are often asked to make the margins smaller so that we can fit more words per line. Yes, that can often bring the page count down but usually at the expense of legibility and we'd love to explain why. Many of our design decisions are intuitive and aesthetic... however there is some logic and science behind these decisions:
In general, the average number of characters (which means letters) per line of text that readers prefer to read falls between 35-55. For 9-12 point type this generally creates a column width of three to five inches.* Longer lines are more difficult for the eye to 1) stay on the line and 2) find the next line of text when it finishes reading a row. In addition, leading (otherwise known as line spacing) also plays a critical role in allowing your eye to get to that next line and not lose its place on the current line.
What do we recommend instead of making the margins smaller?
- Edit your copy down. Sometimes less is truly more.
- Add a page or two: it might be worth it if it is going to be easier for your audience to digest.
- Break up your content and create sidebars, these can help fit more varied content on a page (and great for readers who skim).
- And hire a good designer who will fight for your margins!
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