Using “Two wides and a tall”

March 18, 2021

I’m red-faced. I’ve perpetuated a myth.

Since most people fashion their posters in blocks, I’ve said and written that people should avoid the “two wides and a tall” layout.

The conventional argument against it is that English readers are taught to read left to right, and from top to  bottom. But the “two wides and a tall” layout, the argument goes,

Neil Cohn tested this. His research showed that when readers come across this layout, the vast majority (over 90%!) of people read down. And this is with no other cues, just panel placement.

So if you do use this layout (which I still dislike for a number of other reasons), there is a clear message: expect your readers to read down and block it out accordingly.

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