In typography, rivers (or rivers of white) are gaps in typesetting which appear to run through a paragraph of text due to a coincidental alignment of spaces. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Rivers can occur regardless of the spacing settings, but are most noticeable with wide inter-word spaces caused by full text justification or monospaced fonts.

Rivers in Text. All text requires gaps between words (at least if you want it to be readable). Sometimes, though, the gaps between words on consecutive lines will align. This leaves a channel of white space running down the page, something typographers refer to as a “river.”

Typesetting involves arranging text so it adheres to grammatical rules. For example, typesetters have to figure out what to do if there’s a misplaced em-dash or a single word that carries over to a new line.

What we call rivers are conspicuous gaps in typeset material that appear across successive lines, forming what looks like a river on the page. Rivers are frequently introduced in the typesetting process when a text that was originally ragged right (i.e., flush with the left-hand margin but not with the right-hand margin) is justified (flush ...

As graphic designers, we can easily avoid these rivers by increasing or decreasing the letter spacing between the words when we design infographics, brochures, research reports or other marketing materials.