From the course: Graphic Design Foundations: Typography

Unlock the full course today

Join today to access over 23,800 courses taught by industry experts.

Indents, outdents, and hanging punctuation

Indents, outdents, and hanging punctuation

From the course: Graphic Design Foundations: Typography

Start my 1-month free trial Buy for my team

Indents, outdents, and hanging punctuation

“

- In this movie, we're going to talk about a few little things that mean a lot. We'll look at ways to indicate the beginnings of paragraphs within body copy and when and why to use hanging punctuation. Oh, and I'll tell you what hanging punctuation is. We'll start with indents. One of the most basic little cues that readers depend upon are indents. The signs that tell us we are about to start a new paragraph. The reader must be able to clearly distinguish where one paragraph ends and the next begins. The most common graphic signal is the indent. The width of the indent should be enough to be easily visible based on the line length. One pica is a good starting point. Another way to indicate paragraphs is something called an outdent. Outdents need a wider left-hand margin so the outdents are not too close to the edge of the page. If space permits, you may also indicate paragraphs by skipping a line space or half a line…

Contents