How do I kern?

October 13, 2005 9:47 AM

I need help understanding the concept of kerning fonts. Is there a formula to it, or is it really what looks "best"?

I've read a few things on the web about it, including Wikipedia's entry on the subject. But when I try kerning, it just seems arbitrary. Is that just the nature of the process? As an example, would it be safe to say that this is not kerned well and the V and A should be closer; perhaps actually overlapping? (Finding this image is what got me thinking about my own lack of kerning skills and hence the question.)

posted by anonymous to media & arts (16 comments total)

Yeah, that example is very bad kerning. The V and A should not be overlapping, but they should definitely be a lot closer together. The right amount, obviously, is the amount that makes you go neither "whoa, look at that huge honkin' gap" nor "whoa, those letters are wayyyy too close." This can be simulated somewhat by software that moves letters so that no part of any letter is more or less than a certain distance from its predecessor, but that's just a first approximation and better kerning can almost always be done by hand.
posted by kindall at 9:56 AM on October 13, 2005

Wikipedia nails it pretty well... but in the end, kerning is best left to the human eye.

When I kern a particularly difficult word, I'll sometimes turn the text upside down and kern that way... which helps me ignore the "word" and see the letterforms.
posted by silusGROK at 9:58 AM on October 13, 2005

It's not completely arbitrary because certain combination of letters by design need more kerning than others (like the AV example you linked to). Your goal in kerning is to make the whitespace between each consecutive letter relatively the same size. It would be safe to say that that image you supplied is not kerned well, and the V and A should be closer, close enough so that the whitespace between them roughly matches the whitespace between the other letters in the font.
posted by escher at 10:02 AM on October 13, 2005

Don't even worry about whitespace, you just want to focus on keeping your eye to move smoothly over the letters without a visual "hiccup". My kerning trick is to close one eye and look at letters in groups of three, even those out optically, then move one letter over and adjust another group of three. Its far easier than trying to tackle a big word all at once...
posted by lovejones at 10:11 AM on October 13, 2005

This kerning test (flash) might be helpful, or at least help you get a better grip on the fundamentals..
posted by ScottUltra at 10:35 AM on October 13, 2005

When I kern a particularly difficult word, I'll sometimes turn the text upside down and kern that way... which helps me ignore the "word" and see the letterforms.

cool tip! Thanks!
posted by fishfucker at 10:41 AM on October 13, 2005

I know two guys who are "professional kerners" in addition to their regular print media jobs - that is, they create the kerning tables for typeface designers, who no doubt have better things to do. One of Ellen Lupton's books has a great discussion on various aspects of letterspacing, and if I could remember which it was I'd tell you. Dowding's Finer Points in the Spacing & Arrangement of Type is also excellent on this.
posted by luriete at 11:24 AM on October 13, 2005

ScottUltra, does it just loop "Try Again" or what because I matched it to the fucking pixel and I am very frustrated.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 11:46 AM on October 13, 2005

posted by Optimus Chyme at 11:52 AM on October 13, 2005

ScottUltra, does it just loop "Try Again" or what because I matched it to the fucking pixel and I am very frustrated.

yeah, it just loops it.

or perhaps you keep looping your kerning failures.

one of the two, but I suspect the first, because it did the same to me (matched it on the first try. BOO YA PRODUCTION MANAGER HERE I COME SOMEONE GET ME MY LOUPE)
posted by fishfucker at 12:07 PM on October 13, 2005

ScottUltra, thanks for the link. That was amazingly helpful. I always seem to try to space based on the distance from the bottom of most letter, and this was a perfect example as to why NOT to do it.

Anyone have any other examples of properly kerned verse improper?

Also, I'm going to try the upside-down trick. Thanks silusGROK.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 12:30 PM on October 13, 2005

Ellen Lupton's book is Thinking with Type.
posted by O9scar at 12:47 PM on October 13, 2005

When I was learning typography, I remember my professor telling us to imagine pouring sand into the space between letters. The idea was to adjust the letters so that you use the same amount of sand between each. It's essentially what escher mentions (white space) but converted into a more tangible idea, because you can imagine the sand flowing into the little nooks and crannies between letters.
posted by Jeff Howard at 1:01 PM on October 13, 2005

I'll agree with the "by eye" thing, but take it a step further. Look at the letters in groups of THREE. (Example: letters 1, 2 and 3) Does the middle letter look closer to the one on the right or the left? Now move over one click (Letters 2, 3 and 4) and examine those. Analyzing in groups of three is the easiest way to "see" kerning problems.
posted by spock at 1:34 PM on October 13, 2005

I'd like to chime in with my thanks for the link, ScottUltra—frustrating loop or no, it's very educational.
posted by languagehat at 1:39 PM on October 13, 2005

I remember that when I learnt about kerning we had to colour in the inclosed, semi-inclosed and open spaces for each letter. The point of this was to understand that each of these types of spaces affect the way the eye sees the space. From there you can use the "sand" concept to work it out further. The groups of 3 sounds great too.

As a rule we were told to open up the letterspacing (kerning) so that the eye happily bounces from letter to letter, and close up the word spacing so that it is just decernable that it is a word space and then have the line spacing at a minimum of an extra 25%
posted by mule at 6:20 PM on October 13, 2005