Paragraph Rhythm
The space between paragraphs creates reading pace. Too tight, text becomes dense. Too loose, the page loses coherence. Rhythm is the distance between beats.
Paragraph rhythm is the pattern of space between blocks of text. It is what gives a page its pace: the visual breathing room that signals the end of one thought and the beginning of the next. When paragraph spacing is consistent, readers navigate content unconsciously — they know where each section starts without having to look for it. When it is inconsistent, the page feels arbitrary and reading requires more effort.
Margin versus indent
There are two conventions for marking paragraph breaks: a vertical gap (margin-bottom or margin-top on the paragraph) or a horizontal indent on the first line of each paragraph. In web typography, the gap convention is standard. In long-form print text, indentation is common because it preserves the vertical rhythm of the baseline grid while still marking breaks.
On screen, the gap convention works well. The gap size should be proportional to the line height: a common formula is to set paragraph spacing to the same value as the line height, which creates a consistent vertical unit throughout the text. If the line height is 24px, a paragraph margin of 24px places one blank line between paragraphs — a clear break that doesn’t disrupt the reading pace.
Hierarchy in spacing
The spacing between paragraphs should be less than the spacing between sections. If paragraphs have 24px of space between them, section headings should have more — perhaps 40–48px above them. This hierarchy of spacing communicates structure: small gaps mark paragraph breaks, larger gaps mark section transitions.
This is the same proximity principle at work as in visual layout: elements that are closer together are perceived as more related. Paragraphs within a section should be closer to each other than to the next section heading. The spacing itself encodes the information hierarchy without requiring the reader to consciously analyse it.
Consistency as the primary rule
The single most important thing about paragraph rhythm is consistency. Variable paragraph spacing — some gaps larger, some smaller, with no systematic reason — destroys the rhythm and forces readers to process the spacing as information rather than structure. Once a spacing system is defined, it should be applied without exception.
See Leading as Structure for how line height interacts with paragraph spacing. See Building a Typographic Hierarchy for how spacing contributes to the overall reading level system.