| name | reviewing-typography |
| description | Reviews how a human-read document looks — the README, the prose and tables in docs/, or
any human-read document — for visual hierarchy, Gestalt proximity, restraint,
and walls of text, so a reader can find the point at a glance. The look half of the
human-read doc review (reviewing-phrasing handles the words). Use when such a doc is
written or restructured. Judgment over checklist; floor, not ceiling.
|
reviewing-typography
One reviewer for how a human-read document looks. Its partner reviewing-phrasing
judges how a doc reads; this judges how it scans. Together they are the human-read doc
review.
This skill's job is human-read documents in the project's canonical format
(project-profile.md — markdown by default) — the README, the prose, tables, and lists in
docs/, and any doc aimed at a person. The agent-read workflow tooling — commands,
skills, rules, CLAUDE.md, stories — is not this skill's job; whether those do their job
goes to reviewing-artifacts.
The principles are medium-agnostic; each format expresses them through its own levers. In
markdown (the default) a doc has no fonts to set, but it has the same levers UI typography
uses: heading levels are size/weight, blank lines and grouping are spacing,
bold/italic are weight, and paragraph and list length decide whether the page reads
as structure or as soup.
Why this is a judgment skill, not a checklist
The right structure depends on the content's actual shape, which no rule can predict. A
metadata line reads fine until real prose lands under it and the two fuse. One bold label
anchors the eye; ten bold labels compete and the hierarchy collapses. A 4-item list reads
cleanly; a 17-item list reads as a paragraph. Look at the doc and decide — there is no
rule set that survives contact with arbitrary content.
What to weigh
These are lenses, not steps. Weigh them together; flag anything that weakens the look
even if it isn't named here.
- Hierarchy. Can the eye find the point of focus? A doc with no heading structure reads
as one undifferentiated blob — the reader has no idea what they're looking at. The title
and section heads should be visibly heavier than the body; each level distinct from the
next.
- Proximity (grouping). Spacing groups or separates. Related lines sit together; a real
break — a blank line, a heading, a rule — sits between things that aren't one group.
Where ideas cross layers (metadata → prose, intro → first section) they need the loosest
separation, or they fuse.
- Restraint. You need very few levels. A handful of heading depths plus weight is enough
to build any doc; piling on nested headings, or bolding every other phrase, destroys
hierarchy rather than adding it.
- Emphasis by de-emphasis. To make something stand out, tone the rest down. If every
paragraph opens with a bold phrase, none of them anchor anything. Emphasis is a budget —
spend it on the few things the reader should land on.
- Wall of text. A long undifferentiated paragraph, or an 800-word stretch with no
heading break, reads as soup. Break at the natural boundary; promote a
**Label:**
followed by a long list into a real heading.
- Structure for the true shape, then for focus. Use heading levels for the doc's real
hierarchy — but also use common sense about what the reader should focus on and let that
stand out. Don't structure for structure's sake; structure for whether the reader can
use the doc.
The test
Squint at the rendered doc — or scan it without reading any word. The visible weight order
(title → headings → emphasis → body) should be obvious at a glance. If you can't tell the
levels apart unfocused, the hierarchy isn't doing its job. When unsure, show it to someone
and watch where their eye snags or stalls; that spot is the finding.
Steps
- Scope. Which doc(s). If unclear, ask before reviewing.
- Scan it as a reader would — unfocused first (does the shape read?), then through.
- Weigh the lenses above by judgment; note anything else that hurts the look.
- Report (below).
- Fix (if asked). The smallest change that fixes the look — a heading break, a blank
line, removing bold from the labels that aren't anchors. Don't restructure what already
reads well; don't invent findings on a clean doc (it trains everyone to ignore the real
ones).
Report
Per doc, a short verdict and specific findings — no numeric score.
<doc> — PASS | REVISE
- <what hurts the look, with the location> → <smallest fix>
- PASS — the eye finds the point; hierarchy and grouping hold.
- REVISE — specific, fixable findings (no hierarchy, fused groups, bold inflation, wall of text).
End with what was reviewed and the suggested next step.
