diff --git a/d2layouts/d2sequence/constants.go b/d2layouts/d2sequence/constants.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5004ea4d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/d2layouts/d2sequence/constants.go
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+package d2sequence
+
+// min horizontal pad for actors, or edge labels, to consider the min distance between them
+const MIN_HORIZONTAL_PAD = 50.
+
+const MIN_ACTOR_DISTANCE = 200.
+
+// min vertical distance between edges
+const MIN_EDGE_DISTANCE = 100.
diff --git a/d2layouts/d2sequence/layout.go b/d2layouts/d2sequence/layout.go
index a637b16af..ebe17b2ff 100644
--- a/d2layouts/d2sequence/layout.go
+++ b/d2layouts/d2sequence/layout.go
@@ -12,9 +12,9 @@ import (
 )
 
 func Layout(ctx context.Context, g *d2graph.Graph) (err error) {
-	pad := 50. // 2 * 25
-	edgeYStep := 100.
-	actorXStep := 200.
+	pad := MIN_HORIZONTAL_PAD
+	edgeYStep := MIN_EDGE_DISTANCE
+	actorXStep := MIN_ACTOR_DISTANCE
 	maxActorHeight := 0.
 
 	for _, edge := range g.Edges {