When composing a text, writers have to manage several levels of constraints. One of those is to take into account the visuo-spatial dimension of text production, i.e. the physical space of the document (sheet of paper, screen), the visual representation of the written text (textual layout), and the amount of visual content to be conveyed. The aim of this article is to present a description of the visuo-spatial dimension of writing. We show that crossing the cognitive psychology approach and the genetic criticism approach enables to delineate the characteristics and the different facets of the visuo-spatial dimension of writing. Genetic criticism defines how writers take into account the different modalities of the visuo-spatial dimension of writing, while cognitive psychology describes the cognitive structures, functions and processes involved to manage that dimension. This article ends with a short presentation of a study conducted from such a dual perspective.