Design
Typography Line Spacing: Enhancing Digital Document Readability
August 10, 2026
6 min read
Designing digital layouts requires finding the right balance of whitespace. While font family and size are important, line spacing (often called line height or leading) is the single most critical factor for document readability.
Let's look at the science of line spacing and how it affects reader focus.
The Role of Line Height (Leading)
Line height is the vertical distance between baselines of text:
- Too Tight: If line height is too small, text lines blur together, forcing the eye to reread lines and causing fatigue.
- Too Loose: If line height is too large, the eye struggles to find the start of the next line, disrupting the reading flow.
For body text, a line height of 1.5 to 1.6 relative to font size is widely considered the optimal standard for reading comfort.
Typography Best Practices
To make your documents and templates easy to read:
- Paragraph Spacing: Add margin space between paragraphs to separate ideas visually.
- Typographic Hierarchy: Keep headings distinct from body text using font weights and sizes.
To test layouts and verify readability, use our Lorem Ipsum Generator to copy structured placeholder blocks with custom HTML tag settings.