When designs are required before text is provided, greeking is a method of filling in where the text will go by sketching horizontal lines with a pencil, or, with the advent of design software, by dropping Latin dummy text into columns. Designers call this placeholder text Lorem Ipsum, because these are the first two words of the most commonly used greeking text.
Greeked pencil layout by Dixi Gail Hall
The idea is to not distract decision makers with questions of text messaging. These rough layouts can also help copywriters see how much text might be appropriate.
Lorem Ipsum is a somewhat scrambled excerpt from de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum, written by Cicero in 45 BCE. Latin is understood by few, so it works as placeholder text to dummy-up layouts for advertisements and other design work that lacks edited text.
You can generate Lorem Ipsum text online for your next project.