Common bond brickwork is similar to a running bond. The difference between a running bond and a common bond is that there is a header course interspersed between several running bond courses, in a common bond. The common bond is much stronger that a running bond, but not nearly as strong as the English bond, for example.
The image below
The example below shows a wall with a raked joint, a step in the pointing process. The header courses in this brick bond are highlighted blue in the image so they stand out to show the special courses.
