Pleasures of Design

Spacing headings

The impact of a heading depends not only on its size and weight but also on the space around it.

Subheadings should occupy an exact number of text lines. If, for example, the text is on a 12 pt body and the subheading is 14 pt, occupying 3 lines of text, there will be 22 points over to distribute above and below the heading. The subheading should be visually closer to the text it refers to than the text preceding it so 12 pt above and 10 pt below the heading would probably be an appropriate division.

more ... Emphasis