← DictionaryType Scale
also called typographic scale
A defined set of text sizes used consistently across headings and body copy.
Fixed text sizes so every page looks like the same company made it.
What It Is
In the BWH map, Type Scale lives under Brand — Identity. The working definition is simple: a defined set of text sizes used consistently across headings and body copy.
It is a label with a settled working definition, so the value is in using it the same way every time. Keep it that plain and it will still be true in twelve months.
How It's Used
Type Scale comes up in positioning conversations, identity decisions and the language a business commits to. It normally appears alongside Typography, Visual Hierarchy and Design System. The practical test is whether everyone in the room means the same thing by it.
Why It Matters
Getting Type Scale wrong is expensive in a quiet way. When it is unclear, every later choice about message, design and channel is made on sand. Clarity here removes a surprising amount of downstream argument.
Picture a word everyone in the room has agreed to use the same way. Fixed text sizes so every page looks like the same company made it.
Termshift™
How the meaning shifts depending on who is using it, and where.
Professionally, Type Scale carries the narrow meaning: a defined set of text sizes used consistently across headings and body copy.
Explained to someone with no marketing background, Type Scale is fixed text sizes so every page looks like the same company made it.
The Bottom Line
Keep Type Scale plain: fixed text sizes so every page looks like the same company made it. That is the version that holds up in a real project.