Don’t Be Ugly

Suck Less ThroughGood Typography And

Document Design

Why Typography Matters (from Typography for Lawyers)

Why Typography Matters (from Typography for Lawyers)

Communication And Reader Attention

“Writing as if you have unlimited reader attention is presumptuous because readers are not doing you a personal favor. Reading your writing is not their hobby. It’s their job. And their job involves paying attention to lots of other writing. . . .

“. . . [M]ost readers are looking for reasons to stop reading. Not because they’re malicious or aloof. They’re just being rational. If readers have other demands on their time, why should they pay any more attention than they absolutely must? Readers are always looking for the exit.”

Matthew Butterick, Typography for Lawyers

Good Typography

• Reinforces the goals of the text• Enhances communication• Holds reader attention• Eases the reader’s task

Bad Typography

• Is at odds with the goals of the text• Inhibits clear communication• Makes the reader look for the exits• Makes your brief hard to read and less

persuasive

Don’t Let Bill Gates Choose Your Oral Argument Attire

If You Don’t Believe Me, Believe The Seventh Circuit

The Cover

No Second Chance To Make A First Impression

Pretty Good

Wear Appropriate Attire

Fonts for Reading

General Font Rules

• Proportional fonts work better than monospaced fonts

• Book fonts work better than newspaper fonts

• Serif fonts work better for body text than

Proportional v. Monospaced

If You Don’t Believe Me, Believe The Seventh Circuit

Proportional v. Monospaced

Serif v. Sans Serif

Serif v. Sans Serif

Book v. Newspaper

But What About Times New Roman?

Book v. Newspaper

The Font That Dare Not Speak Its Name

“When Times New Roman appears in a book, document, or advertisement, it connotes apathy. It says, ‘I submitted to the font of least resistance.’ Times New Roman is not a font choice so much as the absence of a font choice, like the blackness of deep space is not a color. To look at Times New Roman is to gaze into the void.”

Matthew Butterick, Typography for Lawyers

Accessorize (Fonts for Headings)

• Sans Serif makes for very readable headings

• Contrast to show the difference between headings and text

• Some people don’t like this (and that’s OK!)

Sans Serif Headings

DON’T SHOUT

DON’T SHOUT

Don’t Shout

DON’T SHOUT

LEGIBILITY DEPENDS UPON THE TOPS OF THE LETTERS. BUT IF I GIVE YOU A LINE OR A PARAGRAPH OF ALL CAPS RECTANGLES, I TAKE AWAY CONTOURS OF THE TOPS OF THE LETTERS AND I MAKE IT REALLY HARD TO READ. SMALL CAPS OR INITIAL CAPS ARE A MUCH BETTER WAY TO GO. AND MORE POLITE TOO.

Space, the final frontier . . .

• Get from one line to the next without a hitch

• Line height and line length• Double spaced 1 inch margins required by

the rules are not optimal• Put related things together• More space before heading, less

afterwards

Worst

Decent

Better

Best

Emphasize with class

• Don’t underline. Ever. It’s ugly and makes the text harder to read.

• On the RARE occasions where it is appropriate to emphasize a word or phrase, use bold or italic instead.

• Bold and italic styles are specially designed to match basic style of font.

Emphasize with classUnderlining is a holdover from the typewriter age. Typewriters had no bold or italic styling. So the only way to emphasize text was to back up the carriage and type underscores beneath the text.

Underlining is a holdover from the typewriter age. Typewriters had no bold or italic styling. So the only way to emphasize text was to back up the carriage and type underscores beneath the text.

Say Something

• Heading should be a declarative statement• State what you want the reader to

conclude• Headings should be frequent• Enhances screen readability• Creates space• Creates a usable table of contents

Headings That Say Nothing

The Useless Table Of Contents

Headings That Won’t Shut Up

More Headings That Won’t Shut Up

Unreadable Table Of Contents

The Goldilocks Heading

The Persuasive Table Of Contents

Use bullet lists effectively

• I don’t like Word’s default settings for bullet lists.

• Not enough indentation.• Always use a hanging indent. • Bullet list will lose all effect if double

spaced.• Try using a different font for the bullet list.

Use bullet lists effectively

Use bullet lists effectively

How Not To Be Read

Dash Dash Dash

• When setting off an interruptive phrase with dashes, don’t use hyphens.

• Use en-dashes or em-dashes.

• Lately, I prefer em-dashes.

• No definitive answer on the issue of spaces around the dashes.

Dash Dash Dash

No Double Space. Period.

• Typewriter rule left over from monospaced fonts• Creates rivers of white space to disrupt your

paragraphs• EVERY typography and style guide says one

space only.• “If you’re skeptical, pick up any book,

newspaper, or magazine and tell me how many spaces there are between sentences.”

If You Don’t Believe Me, Believe The Seventh Circuit

Footnote Wars• I am not a footnote fundamentalist• I use footnotes whenever doing so helps the reader • This usually means using footnotes to deemphasize

material that is secondary or would interrupt the reader from my point.

• Often this means putting record cites below the text rather than interrupting the story.

• Refrain from using footnotes whenever a footnote would hinder the reader.

• This usually means not using a footnote when the identity of a source is important to the story.

The Secret Code Fact Section

Stories For Humans

Guidelines on Footnotes And Legal Authority

• Use footnotes whenever doing so helps the reader • This usually means using footnotes to deemphasize

citations that are secondary (“See alsos” or string cites)• Refrain from using footnotes whenever a footnote might

hinder the reader. • This may mean avoiding use of a footnote when the

source of an authority is important (e.g., key cases).• A complete lack of authority in the text is troubling to

some readers• All footnotes can be troubling to the presbyopic judge or

the screen reader

The Guidelines In Action

Footnote Formatting

• 10 pt. font size too small.

• Use the same justification as body text.

• Indent correctly.

• Put a 6pt space between notes.

Footnote Formatting

For Further Reading

• Matthew Butterick, Typography For Lawyers• http://www.typographyforlawyers.com/• Ruth Anne Robbins, Painting with Print• http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/Rules/Painting_with

_Print.pdf• Requirements and Suggestions for Typography

in Briefs and Other Papers• http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/Rules/type.pdf

For Further Reading

http://www.appellaterecord.com/