A common mistake in digital publishing is treating the screen as a deficient page. The screen is not a worse page; it is a different medium with its own physics — and most of what makes a printed book readable transfers directly.
What survives the transfer
Measure still matters: 45–75 characters per line remains the comfortable range. Hierarchy still matters: readers navigate by contrast between text sizes and weights. Rhythm still matters: consistent spacing between elements is what makes a page feel composed rather than assembled.
What genuinely changes
Three things: the reader controls the type size, so your hierarchy must survive scaling; the page height is unknown, so pacing must work at any viewport; and light is emitted rather than reflected, so contrast needs restraint — pure black on pure white fatigues eyes on screens.
Design for those three variables and the other five hundred years of craft applies unchanged.
Working on something like this?
We give the same advice to clients — backed by a fixed quote and a delivery date.
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