You’re writing a report to be designed and published, and your blocks of text need some separation from each other. You write about different things, and headings will introduce the reader to the paragraphs under them. For someone just leafing through your report, they’ll easily spot points of interest and draw them into the text. In a larger text, you might need several levels of headings. The first one is for the general theme, like a chapter title. The next one is for subheadings, for themes within the chapter. The third, and perhaps even the fourth and fifth, for examples or even deeper sectioning. STRUCTURALLY, you should look over your heading hierarchy and make sure it makes sense. Are you using the same level of heading for the same type of content beneath it? TECHNICALLY, you should define the heading with a style in your document, not just mark it and make it bigger. Using heading styles will make it clear to a designer and typesetter what level of heading you’re intending to use. Even though your Word, Pages or Google document’s headings look a certain way, it doesn’t mean it’s the way they will be formatted in the final published document. That depends on brand guidelines, design choices, opinions and technology. There are many ways to make sure headings are clearly differentiated from the normal paragraph style: They can be bigger. Obviously. THEY CAN BE IN ALL CAPS, or small caps (preferably with some good tracking between the letters). They can be bold, italic, underlined (please don’t) – or even combinations of these (oh, please don’t). They can be set in another typeface. They can be centred above the paragraphs, or indented, or outdented, or placed in the margin, or somehow moved out from the expected reading rhythm. They can be coloured, decorated or otherwise made to look different from the main typeface. Or various combinations of the above conventions can make the headings stand out. Just be consistent, so it’s easy for the reader to get that we’re moving on to another topic, or diving further down into the current one.

You want to write a book. You have a strong idea about what the book should be about, and you have solid people on your team. Then it's time to make a good plan and think about the actual content of the book. You can create an outline where you list all the topics that should be included. In addition to the main content, you should also consider other common elements in a book. An example of an outline might look like this: - Cover - Title page - Colophon - Table of contents - Foreword - Introduction to the topics - Topic 1: Text, photo - Topic 2: Text, photo, text box - Topic 3: Text (interview), illustration, map - Etc. - Afterword - Glossary - Index What goes in and where? Once you've gone through the outline a few times, you can start gathering material to be included: images, texts, and things to be photographed. Is there anyone you need to speak to who has information? Can you get access to an archive with images? At this stage, you're starting to get an overview of the entire project. Is the outline clear enough?

Looking at graphic designers, self-publishing services, Kindle Direct Publishing grifters and aspiring authors today, it seems like book design is an undervalued skill and service. Even the tools to design books and publications have basically become free, and all it takes to produce a decent-looking document is some time and effort. Of course, busy entrepreneurs would still like to spend money just to get the job done, but with the hoard of available freelancers on Upwork and Fiverr, it costs next to nothing to turn a Google doc into a printable book. That work certainly doesn't seem to have a lasting quality, but busy creatives don't care. Is the typographic art commoditised now? Can one sell book design services for a premium these days?

I’ve read The Boron Letters, a collection of letters from accomplished copywriter and direct marketer Gary Halpert to his son in bloom, Bond (who also shares his comments in the book). It’s rather poor. I can understand why young copywriters today speak warmly of this book, as it is as fragmented, deconstructed and scattered as the copy of young writers today. But it has many gems of wisdom. I like how he pays attention to the look of his marketing materials – something that many who follow in his footsteps seem to have forgotten. For example: "One thing that helps is if your promotion has a 'crisp' look about it. In other words, the layout should be clean, there should be a lot of contrast, and it should look easy and inviting to read. Your letterhead should be dignified and non-distracting. Your type face should be a serif face (…)" Words of wisdom.

May all your words be well read and your page compositions pleasing!