: Is there a better way than sans-serif font to separate captions from the document? Scope This is a question about looks in a written document. I has nothing to do with LaTeX, although I create

@RJPawlick971

Bunch of ideas (in addition to Alan's great comment on spacial seperation)


use a different color
use italics
use a border/divider
place on a block of color
use other visual (brackets, arrows, etc)
indent captions differently


But, use these sparingly. Less is more, and why I'd lean on Alan's answer first and foremost. See if that works first.

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@Cofer715

I recommend studying a little about Font Pairings and stylizations to give you a better sense of how to pair headlines with your body copy, sans-serif or otherwise. Hoefler & Co. has a great article on this:

The key takeaways:


Complementary moods
Same history, different features
Similar line structures
Similar proportions

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@Hamm6457569

The simplest way to differentiate and group information is with spatial separation. Place items together that belong together, and separate them from the rest using extra space.

Here, the spaces between the chart and the caption, and between the caption and the next paragraph are the same. The space above the chart is also the same. This gives to visual cue to show that the caption belongs with the chart, not with the flow of text.

Add half a line, or even a full line of additional space above the chart and below the caption so that the informational separation and the visual separation match one another. You could also add a fine (1/2 point or so) rule below the caption, just to make it really obvious.

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