pure design

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Drop caps: help or hindrance?How the eye moves across a page is an issue that editors, designers,

and advertisers would like to know more about. While many studies

have been conducted on the subject, the fact remains that we contin-

ue to design pages in ways that we personally think make the reader

move from here to there.

One of the most popular tools, of course, is the use of a large capital

letter at the beginning of an article, which, when shown in the size

equivalent of three or four lines of type, causes the eye to move to

where the text starts.

Used properly, these can be effective eye-moving devices. However,

used in excess, as in four or five within one article, they lose impact

and create an “alphabet soup.” Some drop cap tips:

� Use initials only at the beginning of articles, not throughout the

text (subheads are better at breaking up a long article).

Use initials in a size that does not drown out the headline: ideally,

three lines of text.

Do not use initials for every article on a page. Instead, give it

greater importance by using it for the lead item.

Use drop caps functionally, not as decoration.