What an old newspaper taught me about visual hierarchy
The problem
The original page was walls of text with tiny headlines. Everything looked equally important, so there was no path for the reader’s eye.
Applying hierarchy
- Make the lead headline bigger and bolder than everything else.
- Group related articles together.
- Use white space so the page can breathe.
- Add images to break long text and create entry points.
The hardest part was deciding what matters most: not every story can be big. The lesson carries straight into interfaces, whether it is a broadsheet or a dashboard: the eye needs contrast, order and space.
