Tangenting
==========

April 26, 2026
https://stefan.vanburen.xyz/til/tangenting/


[Again](/til/tk),
not something I learned _today_,
but within the last few weeks:
"tangenting".
I read about this in the wonderful Looking At Picture Books Substack,
[discussing][1] one of my (and Wilhelmina's) favorites, <cite>[Goodnight Moon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodnight_Moon)</cite>:

> Tangenting is something you get yelled at for when you’re in art/design school. The theory is that the edges of things shouldn’t touch closely. You should instead look for large overlaps, so the different objects or elements are clearly divided — if they’re too close it feels badly planned, and harder to tell where one thing ends and the other begins, so they say.
> Clement Hurd... was SUPER into tangenting.

The whole thing is worth a read, if only for the tangenting discussion.

* * *

Also related: [stamps][2].

[1]: https://lookingatpicturebooks.com/p/goodnight-moon
[2]: https://lookingatpicturebooks.com/p/we-have-a-question-about-the-goodnight