May 19, 2026

Adjusting the Type Scale

Yesterday we adjusted the text scale and layout width.

The design system is built to allow these adjustments. The base font size, the text-width cap, the spacing — all of these are tokens, and the whole system reacts when any of them change.

We received signals that the font felt too large, and also that there was a shortage of horizontal space. Large type and narrow width are, in a sense, the same problem.

The advantages of large text in a narrow column:

• easy to read
• the width constraint is disciplining
• it forces thinking about composition
• human attention is limited; a narrow column forces building a coherent narrative
• when the base font is well above the minimum, it allows meaningful contrast with larger headings and smaller captions

The disadvantages:

• can feel unnatural in a platform-product context
• makes it hard to fill tables and horizontally extended components
• less fits on screen vertically

It's useful to start a design project with less space than you think you need. Constraints are generative.

But having designed enough and run into real constraints, we decided to listen and move toward more breathing room. The base font went from 125% to 118%, and the text width widened slightly.