Recommended text sizes and hierarchy for TEA report design – headings (H1–H4), body copy, lead, quotes, captions, credits and footnotes. Sizes are given for print (A4, points) and on-screen / digital (pixels), because the right size differs by medium.
This is TEA's house scale. We design reports for a living, and these are the sizes and spacing we reach for. It flexes with the brand, the typeface and the format, but this is where we start.
Body copy is 9–10 pt in print (9.5 pt is our default; contemporary reports read smaller than the old 11–12 pt norm). Build hierarchy with deliberate steps in size, weight and space, and keep leading tight: display type and headings at 1.0–1.1, body a touch more open at 1.25–1.35 so the lines don't crowd.
Our house scale, built on a 9.5 pt print body / 15 px screen body: confident, contemporary sizing at the tighter end of the range. The exact numbers shift with the typeface and format, so confirm by eye.
| Element | Role | Print (A4) | Screen | Line-height | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cover title | Front-cover headline | 34–52 pt | 44–68 px | 1.0–1.05 | Can break convention – it's a poster moment, not body text. |
| H1 | Report / chapter title | 20–28 pt | 30–40 px | 1.0–1.1 | One H1 per page/section. Bold; tight leading. |
| H2 | Section heading | 15–20 pt | 24–30 px | 1.1 | The main wayfinding layer. |
| H3 | Sub-section | 12–14 pt | 20–24 px | 1.15 | ≈1.3–1.5× body. |
| H4 | Minor / run-in heading | 10–11 pt | 17–19 px | 1.2 | Just above body; often bold or small-caps. |
| Eyebrow / kicker | Label above a heading | 7–8 pt | 11–12 px | 1.2 | Uppercase, letter-spaced 5–12%. |
| Lead / standfirst | Intro paragraph | 11–13 pt | 17–20 px | 1.25–1.3 | Sets up a section; a touch bigger than body. |
| Body copy | Main reading text | 9–10 pt (9.5) | 14–16 px (15) | 1.25–1.35 | The anchor of the whole scale. Tight, not cramped. |
| Pull quote | Feature quotation | 14–20 pt | 24–30 px | 1.1–1.2 | A display element; keep it short. |
| Block quote | Inline quotation | 9–10 pt | 14–16 px | 1.3 | Body size (or −½ pt), indented, no quote marks. |
| Caption | Figure / table / image caption | 7.5–8.5 pt | 12–13 px | 1.25 | Legible but clearly secondary. |
| Credit | Photo / source credit | 6.5–7.5 pt | 10–11 px | 1.2 | The smallest type on the page; don't go below ~6.5 pt. |
| Footnote / endnote | References & notes | 7–8 pt | 11–12 px | 1.25 | Never below ~7 pt for print legibility. |
| Table text | Data tables | 8–9 pt | 12–14 px | 1.2 | Right-align figures; sentence-case headings. |
| Running head / page no. | Header & footer furniture | 7–8 pt | 11–12 px | 1.15 | Quiet; often uppercase / letter-spaced. |
Every element set at the recommended screen sizes above, with tight leading and a serif body (a common report choice – sans headings, serif body). Font is a separate decision; this shows size, hierarchy and spacing.
Section 03 · Findings
A closer look at the Western Cape and the districts and towns that surround it
This section sets out the headline findings and why they matter for the year ahead, in a sentence or two of standfirst copy.
Body copy is the anchor of the whole scale. Set it at a comfortable reading size with tight but uncramped line spacing and a measured line length of roughly 45–90 characters. Everything else on the page is sized in relation to this – headings a little larger, captions and notes a little smaller. Keep to one type family throughout, including tables, captions and footnotes, so the report reads as one coherent document.
“The clearest finding is also the simplest.”
Used inline within the body, a block quotation sits at body size or half a point smaller, indented, with no quotation marks – the layout does the signalling.
Figure 4. Year-on-year change by region, 2022–2026. Source: internal analysis.
Photograph: A. Photographer / Agency
1 Full reference or explanatory note, kept clearly secondary to the body but still legible in print.
The same body paragraph, all at body size (15 px screen ≈ 9.5–10 pt print), shown at three leadings so you can judge the line spacing by eye. Only the leading changes. Tight leading suits display type and headings; for body, 1.0 crowds the lines and hurts reading (and trips accessibility guidance), so we land around 1.25–1.35 – tight, but the lines still breathe.
Body copy carries the weight of the report, so it has to be easy to read for pages at a time. At a leading of 1.0 the descenders of one line almost meet the ascenders of the next, and the eye loses its place.
Body copy carries the weight of the report, so it has to be easy to read for pages at a time. At a leading of 1.2 the text feels compact and modern, and works well for captions, tables and short passages.
Body copy carries the weight of the report, so it has to be easy to read for pages at a time. At a leading of around 1.35 the lines stay tight and considered while still giving the eye a clear path from one to the next.
The concern is fair: 11–12 pt across a 50–200 page report is unworkable. The good news is the law doesn't require it. What matters is how the report is delivered, and digital and fixed print are judged differently.
For digital reports (PDF or HTML) there is no fixed minimum point size in EU law. The European Accessibility Act, EN 301 549 and WCAG 2.1 AA require that text can be resized to 200% and reflow without losing content, alongside proper tagging (PDF/UA), contrast and heading structure. A 9–10 pt body is compliant when the file is tagged, reflowable and zoomable, because the reader enlarges it themselves. Point size is a print concern, not a digital-compliance one.
Zoom and contrast alone aren't enough. "A PDF is zoomable" only counts if the file is built properly. Alongside contrast (4.5:1 for body text), a compliant PDF needs: real selectable text, never images of text; a tagged structure (true headings, reading order, lists, table headers); alt text on meaningful charts and images; and the document title and language set. Get those and the small point size is a non-issue, because the text can be enlarged and reflowed. A flat, untagged export fails even though you can pinch to zoom it.
| Format | What governs it | Minimum size | What you actually do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Digital PDF / HTML | EAA · EN 301 549 · WCAG 2.1 AA | No fixed pt | Tag it (PDF/UA), make text resizable to 200% and reflowable, check contrast and heading order. Body at 9–10 pt is fine. |
| Fixed / clear print | RNIB / CNIB "clear print" standard (best practice) | 12 pt (ideally 14 pt) | Applies to all text, captions and footnotes included. This is the floor for paper that can't be zoomed. |
| Large print | Reader-controlled zoom, or a scoped deliverable | 16 pt+ (18–20 pt) | Normally the reader enlarges the digital file themselves. Only produce a separate large-print document when a contract specifically requires it – then scope and price it. |
Ship the report as a tagged, reflowable, WCAG-AA PDF (or an HTML version). This meets the digital obligation at our 9–10 pt house body, because the text scales.
A tagged, reflowable PDF or HTML page is the accessible version: the reader enlarges it to whatever size they need on their own screen. A one-line note in the report ("provided as an accessible PDF; use your reader's zoom to enlarge") sets expectations. No separate large-print document to produce or keep in sync.
Don't promise a large-print or alternative version "on request" unless someone will actually make it. If a specific contract requires a bespoke large-print document, treat it as a scoped, priced deliverable, not an open-ended offer.
An accessible, plain-language summary adds real value for public-facing reports, but it complements the report. If the full PDF is in scope, the full PDF still needs to be a tagged, resizable file.
Not legal advice. Whether a report is in scope depends on the client, the sector and the jurisdiction: the EAA covers certain consumer products and services, the Web Accessibility Directive covers public-sector bodies, and some contracts specify clear print directly. For regulated or public-sector clients, confirm the exact obligation with their legal or compliance team before we commit to a size.
Set the body size, then size headings, captions and notes in relation to it. House default is 9–10 pt in print (around 9.5); screens read from a little further away, so digital body sits at 14–16 px.
You don't need to double the size to show emphasis. Build hierarchy with a mix of size, weight and space. Big jumps look like the web's default, not considered design.
Keep leading tight: display type and headings at 1.0–1.1. For body, tight but not cramped – roughly 1.25–1.35. Going to 1.0 on body crowds the lines and hurts long-form reading.
Aim for ~45–90 characters per line (≈60–75 is the comfortable middle). Multi-column report layouts run shorter, so set those columns a little tighter.
Use a single family (or one for headings, one for body) across the whole report – tables, captions and footnotes included – so it reads as one document.
Separate paragraphs with a first-line indent (1–4× the point size) or a small space (4–10 pt) between them – not both.
Don't drop footnotes and credits below ~7 pt in print, or body below ~14 px on screen. Legibility and accessibility set the minimum, however tight the brief.
The point-size system isn't absolute – two fonts at the same size can look different. Use these numbers as a start, then adjust in half-point steps until it looks right.
The scale above is TEA's house standard, honed on the reports we produce. For the underlying principles – hierarchy, line length and the legibility floors we won't cross – these are the references we rate.
On accessibility and the law:
Assumes print A4 reports (points) as primary, with digital (pixels) equivalents. For slide decks or large-format, sizes scale up again – ask and we'll add a column.