Layout and Hierarchy

A weak poster often hides its most important sentence rather than suffering from poor color choices.

#Minimum hierarchy

Distinguish the headline, key facts, supporting explanation and call to action. If all four look alike, readers do not know where to begin.

Ask what sentence the reader must remember, what they should do next, and which text could be removed without changing understanding. Give the first two priority; reduce or remove the last.

#Let the headline do one job

Decide whether it attracts attention or states the topic. An overloaded headline leaves no space for supporting information.

#Use an alignment system

Whitespace gives the eye a place to rest. Grids, rulers, guides, margins and bleed help establish a repeatable system; stable layout does not depend on inspiration alone.

#Limit focal points

One primary focus and one supporting focus are usually enough. If image, title, price, stickers and button all compete, the reader may skip the graphic.

#Common failures

Long titles: edit the copy before shrinking the font. For Chinese headlines, the source suggests reducing roughly eighteen characters to eight–twelve where meaning allows.

Everything emphasized: retain one main high-contrast emphasis area rather than making every panel compete.

Broken resized layouts: the design may depend too heavily on absolute placement. Decide what must remain and what can be hidden or simplified before resizing. Magic Switch can create a starting point, but cannot make the final hierarchy decision.

#Export checks

• Is the title readable at a thirty-percent preview?
• Can the main fact be identified from a distance?
• Does the call to action look different from explanatory text?
• Does the image push the heading to an edge?
• Are margins and line spacing consistent?

For recurring social work, keep the hierarchy stable and vary the image or headline treatment. Readability is more useful than novelty that obscures the message.