Use expressive letterforms. Expressive letterforms include fonts with unique styles, varying weights, or fluid shapes, which can fit more flexibility into a layout and add visual interest and style.

Consistent line spacing and proper justification settings can help prevent awkward line breaks that disrupt the text flow. Selecting the right fonts and font sizes is vital, as some handle line breaks better than others.

Consider setting up style guides or templates with built-in typesetting rules for font types, sizes, weights, and line height. This helps maintain consistency across teams and projects.

Use tools like Adobe Illustrator for advanced control over line breaks, spacing, and special characters like non-breaking spaces.

Lastly, when precision is crucial, consider hiring a professional typesetter to ensure polished typography that maximizes readability and enhances visual appeal.

The empowered designer’s perspective

To recap, widows and orphans are single words or short lines of text that appear at the top or bottom of a page, disrupting the reader’s experience. Minor widows or orphans may sometimes be unavoidable, and that's okay. The key is to prioritize readability over perfection.

It’s important to identify these distracting line breaks early and fine-tune your text to reduce them. In addition to the tips above, you can use Touch Type in Illustrator to scale or adjust the spacing of individual characters without breaking the text flow. Some fonts handle line breaks better than others. Typekit offers a wide selection to experiment with. While you may be unable to prevent them all, a thoughtful approach to typesetting will ensure your documents always look polished and professional.