Give an arts article a useful heading structure
Organize an exhibition guide with meaningful headings and programmatic relationships so its outline supports scanning and navigation while visual styling remains free to express the publication's character.
Make the article's organization available
Headings communicate the structure of an article as well as its visual rhythm. An exhibition guide may contain an overview, access information, booking details, and a preparation checklist. If those sections are represented only by larger styled paragraphs, the visible hierarchy may not be available to readers using structural navigation.
Choose structure before styling
Choose headings from the content's organization, then style them to suit the publication. Keep the main topic distinct from subsections and use descriptive wording that predicts the content. Do not select a heading level simply because its default size looks convenient. Other relationships, such as lists and grouped controls, also need suitable structure. Treat every additional requirement as a question with an owner. Determine whether the requirement comes from a real task, an operational constraint, or a team preference. Keep the first two visible in the design and challenge the third when it creates work. Writing these distinctions next to the sketch prevents a tidy layout from concealing an unresolved service decision or an unexplained restriction.
Outline a fictional paper-art guide
Outline a guide to a fictional paper-art exhibition. Add sections for visiting, access, workshops, and preparation, with subsections only where the content needs them. Read the headings by themselves. Then inspect the implementation's heading structure and compare it with the outline, including content added by shared navigation or embedded components. Use ordinary content rather than a perfect demonstration record. Include one short entry, one unusually long entry, and one entry with missing optional information. Work through the task in the order a newcomer would encounter it. Write down what they can reasonably know at each point. Whenever the sketch requires an explanation from its creator, add the missing cue to the artifact before increasing its visual fidelity.
Repair false, vague, and empty headings
A visually bold line may look like a heading while remaining an ordinary paragraph. A decorative phrase may be a real heading but reveal little about the section. An empty heading can create a confusing stop. Fix the semantic and editorial issue directly rather than adding more visual weight to the same unclear structure. Avoid solving the failure by asking people to be more careful. Look for an earlier decision the design can clarify, a value it can preserve, or a consequence it can make reversible. If there is an unavoidable limitation, explain it before the affected action and provide a useful next step. The fallback deserves the same attention as the ordinary route through the experience.
Compare the outline with ordinary reading
Review the page through its outline and through normal reading. Both should describe the same organization. Check that someone can locate practical information without reading every paragraph and that headings remain meaningful when encountered independently. This structural pass supports accessibility and clarity, but it does not replace checking the rest of the page's controls, alternatives, and reading experience.
Worked decision
Visiting, Access, and Workshops can form useful guide sections. Their structural roles should match the organization visible on the page.
References & further reading
Examples and exercises in this guide are original teaching scenarios.
