runaround

A runaround is a section of text that has been set to a narrower measure than the standard column width, forcing lines to flow around an illustration, photograph, or other non-text element positioned within the column. The text literally runs around the obstruction rather than being interrupted by it. In hot metal and early phototypesetting, this required manual calculation of line lengths and careful placement; digital layout makes it routine, but the term persists.

The obstruction sits as an inset within the column space. Text on the left side of the image flows at one measure; text on the right flows at a different measure; text above and below may revert to full column width. The width of each runaround section is determined by the width of the illustration plus the desired spacing (typically 1 to 3 picas of breathing room) and the column width itself. If the column is 20 picas and the image is 8 picas wide with 0.5 pica spacing on each side, the runaround text measure becomes 11 picas.

Technical constraints and common problems

Runarounds create baseline alignment challenges. If the image does not sit flush to the top of a text block, the text wrapping beside it may start at a different baseline than the regular text above, causing a ragged vertical alignment. Leading must be consistent across both the regular and wrapped text. In HTML and CSS, floated elements achieve this effect; in traditional typesetting, the compositor had to hand-set slugs of varying line counts.

Short lines around images can trigger awkward breaks, widow and orphan lines, and hyphenation problems. A narrow runaround measure (fewer than 30 characters per line) degrades readability and increases hyphenation frequency. Deep images that extend far down the column force many lines into the narrow measure, compounding the issue. Page makeup often requires adjustment of image depth, text reflow, or column structure to avoid these traps.

The term runaround itself reflects the literal behavior of the type: it runs around the obstacle. This is distinct from a cutout, where an image cuts a hole entirely out of the text area (often used for portraits), or sidenote placement, where text is set in a separate, narrower column running parallel to the main text. Runarounds remain a staple of magazine, newspaper, and book design wherever images need to integrate tightly with flowing text.