4 Easy & Eye-Catching Lettering Layouts
Layouts and composition are often a challenge for lettering artists.
Because a layout needs to be determined at the beginning of the process, struggling to come up with the right one can hold you back from getting anywhere with your piece.
Layouts are tricky because you have to take into consideration:
the shape of the words and letters
hierarchy of your phrase (i.e. the different levels of importance of each word)
the tone and meaning of the piece overall
legibility and drawing the reader’s eye
That’s a lot to think about when you’re already coming up with all the lettering styles, decoration, and illustration for your piece too!
So here are 4 quick layout styles that always look good — so you can create gorgeous lettering pieces quickly and easily without stressing over the layout step.
1: Centered & Straight with Alternating Styles
This layout technique is the most straightforward: just letter your words centered on your canvas using straight baselines.
This works best for:
vertical (portrait) or square pieces
phrases that can be divided into an even number of rows
& rows of relatively equal length
By using alternating styles on each row, you can very easily give your piece balance. This makes it pleasing to the eye and easy to read.
2: Angled Up
This technique adds a little more interest to your composition. By drawing your letters on an angled baseline, you’ll bring more movement and excitement to your piece.
This layout is a go-to for short phrases. It can also be helpful when you have longer words in your phrase. By lettering on an angle, you buy yourself a little more length across your canvas than if you letter on a straight baseline.
Need some help lettering on an angle? Check out this quick tip for creating perfect angled lettering in Procreate.
3: Centered & Sized by Importance
This technique takes into account the hierarchy of the words in your phrase, while still keeping things simple with center alignment.
For this type of layout, letter your words around a center vertical axis again. But this time, make the more important words in your phrase bigger and bolder. You can use this technique with straight lettering, lettering on an angle, or lettering in different shapes as well.
4: Grid
This technique is great for when you have a phrase with a lot of short words, or words that don’t fit well in the other layouts mentioned.
The key to this layout is to make sure the eyes are drawn down and across the boxes in the correct order. Using arrows and alternating color backgrounds can help!
It takes a lot of practice and experience for layouts to come easily. I recommend starting an inspo stockpile (i.e. saving posts on Instagram or Pinterest) of layouts you love that you can pull from and adjust when working on your own new pieces.
In the meantime, keep these go-to techniques in your back pocket for when you’re struggling to come up with a layout to ensure your lettering always looks great!
Which of these layouts is your favorite? Do you have a different go-to layout technique? Let me know in the comments!