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Jim Dimitri\u2019s article, WordWise:\u00a0 Best Practices in Document Design<\/em><\/a>, is a must read for any lawyer interested in taking advantage of document design in drafting legal documents. Dimitri advises that a writer should \u201cuse the most readable font\u201d and \u201cuse effective vertical and horizontal spacing\u201d in designing a legal document. Dimitri\u2019s article is useful not only for the advice he gives, but because he defines key concepts in document design, such as monospaced fonts (which \u201cuse the same width for each letter\u201d) and proportionally spaced fonts (which use \u201cdifferent widths for different letters\u201d). Dimitri suggests that a writer use proportionally spaced fonts because they are easier to read.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dimitri also distinguishes between serif and sans serif fonts. The letters in serif fonts have \u201can extra stroke,\u201d while sans serif fonts do not. Dimitri notes that serif fonts are easier to read than sans serif, and he recommends Baskerville<\/a>, Book Antiqua<\/a>, Calisto MT, Century<\/a>, and Century Schoolbook serif fonts. He also explains why Times New Roman<\/a>, which seems to be out of favor recently, should not be used in standard legal texts. Times New Roman<\/a> was designed for reading in narrow columns.<\/p>\n What comes through in Dimitri\u2019s article is that typeface is not simply an aesthetic, it is a matter of readability. So, choose your typeface with readability in mind,\u00a0thinking about\u00a0the audience, the size of the page, and whether the text will be read online or hard copy. Screen readability is increasingly important, and Dimitri recommends sans serif for computer or tablet screens.\u00a0 Examples of sans serif include Helvetica<\/a>, Franklin\u00a0Gothic<\/a>, Gill Sans<\/a>, Optima<\/a>, and Arial, although Dimitri notes that Matthew Butterick, the author of Typography for Lawyers<\/em><\/a>, does not favor Arial.<\/p>\n One of the points I found most interesting is that Dimitri recommends using one space after each sentence. Those of us who learned how to type on a typewriter might find that difficult to do, but Dimitri told me that it takes about a day or two of concerted effort to change to one space. Using two spaces is inappropriate with proportionally spaced fonts because those fonts create \u201c\u2019rivers\u2019 of white space that disrupt a reader\u2019s eye movement through the text.\u201d (I went back and changed my spacing to one space in this blog.) Dimitri also suggests aligning text on the left, instead of justifying it. Justifying text creates additional white space on the page, which makes it more difficult to read.\u00a0I couldn\u2019t agree more.<\/p>\n