page_30 < previous page page_30 next page > Page 30 25 Follow Brady's Golden Rule of Spacing: Space Together Elements That Belong Together To avoid all spacing problems in your projects, regardless of the medium, you need learn but one simple rule. The rule applies to every situation. It is, simply put: Space together those elements that belong together! Think about it. It sounds too simple to be true, but it's true nonetheless. This rule is based on a simple principle I mentioned earlierthat white space combines or links graphic elements. It delivers an important message. Handled appropriately, it can be very useful, but it can be deadly if it misleads the reader. So space together anything you want the readers to think of as linked elements, and use white space to separate graphic elements that are separate units. An example of bad use of spacing I saw recently in a magazine advertisement was this: the advertisement carried about eight short paragraphs of text, two or three lines each, set 30 picas wide in 10-point roman, upper and lower-case. No paragraph indentation, just two points of extra space between paragraphs. Result? Visual confusion. It looked like one long paragraph. Another two points of white space would have been perfect for separating the paragraphs, and there was plenty of space available. This smart, with-it design shows perfect spacing of elements. The extra space above each firm's name separates the information about that firm from all the rest. The spacing between elements in this mail-order catalog is used to create three definite groupingsthe descriptive material, the list of contents, and the ordering information.  < previous page page_30 next page >