Clusters and guides
Stack text along a guide with set spacing, so it stays put when the words change.
Clusters and guides are a pair. A guide is a line you place on the canvas: a center line, or a line a set distance in from an edge. A cluster is a set of text elements that stack along that guide with the spacing you choose between them. Put the two together and you've described a layout that keeps its shape no matter what the words are. "Stack these three lines, 24 pixels apart, centered on this guide." "Sit this block against a line 80 pixels up from the bottom edge."
This pairing is the single most useful thing you can set up to make a template keep looking right when the content changes.
Why it matters
When someone rewrites the copy, the text reflows. A one line headline becomes two, a subheading gets longer. Without a cluster, every element keeps its old fixed position and they collide or drift apart. With a cluster, BrandFit lays the members out again with the right spacing and slides the whole stack back onto its guide. You change the words, the composition holds. Nobody moves a box, and an agent spends nothing working out where things go.
What a cluster does
- Stacks its members along an axis (usually top to bottom) with a set gap between them, measured from the actual rendered letters.
- Snaps the whole stack to its guide. Anchor the stack's center to a center guide and it stays centered. Anchor its edge to a guide set in from the canvas and it keeps that exact padding.
So a cluster is how you center a block, or pin it to an edge with precise padding, and have it stay that way as the text grows or shrinks.
The rest of BrandFit respects your clusters
Because the cluster decides where its members sit, the other rules that move things leave cluster members alone. The rules that change size (fit the text, shrink an overflow) still do their job, and the cluster simply lays the members out again around the new size. So nothing tugs the same element two ways, and the layout settles instead of looping.
Making one
In the editor, open the Guide panel in the right sidebar. Add a guide (or use one that's already there), then group your text into a cluster and set its axis, the gap between members, and the guide it anchors to. The stack arranges itself as you edit.
Clusters and groups
They sound alike but do opposite things.
| Group | Cluster | |
|---|---|---|
| Inside | Frozen. Children keep their exact relative positions. | Flexible. Members reflow to the gap you set. |
| Moves as | One rigid unit | A stack that adapts to its content |
| Use for | A logo lockup, a card that must stay pixel identical | A heading, subheading, and button that should reflow when copy changes |
A group can even be a member of a cluster: the cluster treats the whole group as one block in the stack.
Per format
The gap, axis, and anchor can each be set per format, so the same cluster can sit tight on a square and use the full height on a tall story. Set it once, then adjust only the formats that need it.
Next: the rules and building a template that just works.