1. What this lesson is for

On-screen text has one job: help the viewer understand the point within a single glance on a phone screen. The module principle applies to every card you make: readability beats decoration. If a font, animation or color makes the words harder to read, it goes - no matter how good it looks in the preview.

By the end of this module you will deliver a branded caption preset pack (titles, lower thirds, subtitles, CTA). This lesson defines the rules those presets must follow: fonts, contrast, safe margins, hierarchy and timing.

2. Fonts, contrast and safe margins

• Fonts - pick one sans-serif family for almost everything, and at most one accent family for headlines. Too many font families is a listed pitfall of this module. Prefer fonts with a clear bold weight and open letter shapes (a, e, g easy to tell apart).
• Contrast - white text on a busy, bright background fails. Fix it with a stroke (outline), a soft shadow, or a semi-transparent box behind the text. Aim for high contrast; the WCAG guideline of 4.5:1 for normal text is a good minimum.
• Size - judge size on a phone, not on your desktop monitor. If you have to squint at 100% zoom in the preview, it is too small.
• Safe margins - on vertical platforms the app interface covers the top, the bottom and the right edge (username, description, like and share buttons). Keep text inside the protected center area.

3. Headline vs supporting text

Hierarchy tells the viewer what to read first. Give each text role a clear size, weight and position, and keep them consistent through the video. Use this template as your starting point and adjust sizes for your font; values are for a 1080x1920 project.

• The headline carries the one key message of the card; supporting text only adds detail. If both are the same size, neither is a headline.
• Use weight and size for hierarchy before you reach for color. Color is for emphasis of one or two words, not whole sentences.
• Avoid full-screen text blocks. If a card needs more than about 8 words, split it into two cards or move the detail into voiceover.

4. Timing text to speech rhythm

Text that appears before the speaker says it spoils the line; text that appears late looks like a mistake. Align text to the audio waveform and to the words.

• Bring a headline in on the first stressed syllable of the phrase it summarizes, or up to a few frames earlier.
• Keep a card on screen long enough to read it twice at a relaxed pace. A rough rule: about 0.3-0.4 s per word, and never less than about 1 s.
• Remove it when the speaker moves to the next idea - not in the middle of the next idea.
• Keep in and out animations short (roughly 5-10 frames). Long bouncy animations delay the moment the text becomes readable.

5. Avoiding overuse and clutter

• One key message per text card. If two things compete, the viewer reads neither.
• Do not stack a headline, a label, subtitles and a sticker at the same moment. Pick the two that matter most.
• Keep punctuation style consistent: either sentence case or title case, either with or without final periods - never a mix. Inconsistent punctuation is a listed pitfall.
• Animation must never reduce readability: no letter-by-letter reveals on important words, no constant wobble while the text is supposed to be read.

6. Text card checklist and revision log

Run this check on every text card before you call the edit done:

TEXT CARD CHECK - project: tips_ep04 (1080x1920)
[ ] One key message per card
[ ] Max words respected for the role (see hierarchy table)
[ ] Contrast acceptable on the actual background (stroke / shadow / box added if needed)
[ ] Inside the protected area - not under top UI, bottom UI or right-side buttons
[ ] In-point aligned to speech, on screen long enough to read twice
[ ] Animation in/out short and does not hide the words
[ ] Font family and case style match the rest of the video
[ ] Passed random-frame test on a phone at 50% brightness

When you revise, log what you changed and why, using three prompts: which words are unnecessary, which line breaks feel awkward, and where emphasis is missing.

REVISION LOG
TIME     BEFORE                                   AFTER                 PROMPT
00:02.1  "Here are the 3 most important tips"     "3 tips that matter"  unnecessary words
00:09.4  "Always check your / text on a phone"    "Check text / on a phone"  awkward line break
00:17.8  "Contrast is key" (all white)            "Contrast is KEY" (key in accent color)  missing emphasis
00:24.0  headline + label + sticker at once       headline only         clutter

7. Exercise

1. Take a 30-60 second talking clip you edited in Module 1 and duplicate the project.
2. Add a hook headline, two supporting labels and one CTA using the hierarchy table above. Use one font family only.
3. Place everything inside the protected area of a 9:16 frame and align each in-point to the speech.
4. Export, run the random-frame test on your phone at 50% brightness and fill in the text card checklist.
5. Write a revision log with at least three entries, then compare the before and after versions with someone who has not seen the video.

Further reading

• CapCut Help Center
• W3C - Understanding contrast (minimum)
• WebAIM contrast checker
• Butterick's Practical Typography