Leading – Video Typography Essentials

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Another property you’ll frequently adjust is leading to better fit your text. Pronounced led-ing as in the metal, not lead-ing as in sheep, leading is the space between lines of type. The name is derived from when strips of lead were used on a printing press to space out lines of text. The left image has too much leading and creates an unwanted visual break between the two lines. The right image has tighter leading, but care was taken to avoid a collision between the ascenders and descenders.

By default, the leading should be set to Auto; however, you can adjust as needed to fit text into your design. If you need to fit more text on the screen, you’ll tighten the leading to produce less space between lines of text. Be careful to avoid setting the leading too tight; otherwise, descenders from the top line will cross ascenders from the lower line. This collision will likely result in a negative impact on readability.

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