Hierarchy and scale

Hierarchy is the reader's answer to "what do I look at, and in what order." Scale is the finite set of sizes you allow yourself so that answer stays consistent.

1. When to invoke

• Defining a type scale for a product, site, or design system.
• Headings compete, or everything reads at the same importance.
• A codebase has accumulated arbitrary sizes (13px, 15px, 17px, 22px…).
• Content structure exists but is not visible.

Do not invoke for body-copy tuning alone (body-text-and-reading) or for spacing detail (microtypography).

2. Required context