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What role does layout play in literacy? The dual anthropological nature of the “look of the text” provides readers with a cognitive basis to orient their reading. It consists of vector-signs that guide perception and facilitate memorization (frames, typographic levels etc.) and is integrated into a framework of visual styles that connect the text to its social dimension and raise certain expectations of the reading experience. Advertising, especially mail and online advertising, uses these signs and patterns as visual “ploys” to trigger and direct responses to a message. The enduring use of this method raises questions about the importance of layout (“visuality”) in navigating the current growing mass of written material.