In our culture, we're trained from the moment we start reading to scan from left to right, starting from the top left of the page and working down to bottom right. We develop a natural rhythm as we do it, with our eyes moving swiftly to the end of each line, then skipping back to the start of the next.
So far, so obvious. But it's the obvious that's often overlooked, particularly by designers who want to 'create an impression' by doing something radical, such as running the main headline around the page margin, or by making interesting shapes with the body copy. I could go on, of course. I could talk about startling use of contrasting colours. Or reversing out large chunks of text. Or running it over a picture. Or experimenting with lots of different typefaces and point sizes. Or dotting illustrations all over the page.
>p> All these stylistic touches may look really cool. And result in something you'd love to hang on your wall. But that's not the goal, is it? Your aim is to make life easier for your reader. Yet, too often, the kind of visual tricks listed here do exactly the reverse. They disrupt natural eye movement. They strain the eyes by asking them to jump around the page, from element to element, with the need for lots of re-focusing along the way. They frustrate the brain in its instinctive quest for logical order and meaning.