2. ?
“Fix the kerning... Make the
paragraph fit somehow —
no hanging words!!!”
“Increase or decrease the
tracking... fix that widow!”
3. ?
How is it
different from
Tracking?
What is Kerning
“Fix the kerning... Make the
paragraph fit somehow —
no hanging words!!!”
“Increase or decrease the
tracking... fix that widow!”
4. ?
Selectively reducing the space
From archaic French
between certain characters,
word ‘carne’, which
while leaving the rest of the
means “corner”
characters the same, is called
kerning. When used with
care and good taste, kerning
can greatly improve letter
fit and the overall evenness
and legibility of a line of type,
especially display type.
What is Kerning
— Basic Typography A Design
Manual by James Craig;
(Formerly Phototypesetting:
Kerning is targeted. A Design Manual)
It adjusts the spaces between
specifc letter pairs to adjust
anomalies in spacing created
by the shapes of the two letters,
which can make the characters
look too far apart or too close
together.
5. ?
How is it
different from
Tracking?
Tracking is generalized.
Uniformly affects the spacing
between all the characters in a
range of text.
What is Kerning Tracking is normally adjusted to
compensate for spacing problems
Kerning is targeted. caused by changes in point size.
It adjusts the spaces between It is also used to adjust badly
specifc letter pairs to adjust spaced passages of text.
anomalies in spacing created
by the shapes of the two letters,
which can make the characters
look too far apart or too close
together.
6. ?
How is it
To To To different from
w. w. w. Tracking?
Av Av Av Tracking is generalized.
Uniformly affects the spacing
Unkerned Table-based Kerned between all the characters in a
range of text.
What is Kerning Tracking is normally adjusted to
compensate for spacing problems
Kerning is targeted. caused by changes in point size.
It adjusts the spaces between It is also used to adjust badly
specifc letter pairs to adjust spaced passages of text.
anomalies in spacing created Far far away, behind the word mountains, far from
by the shapes of the two letters, the countries Vokalia and Consonantia, there live the
blind texts. Separated they live in Bookmarksgrove
which can make the characters right at the coast of the Semantics, a large language
look too far apart or too close ocean. A small river named Duden flows by their
place and supplies it with the necessary
together. Tight Tracking
Far far away, behind the word mountains, far
from the countries Vokalia and Consonantia,
there live the blind texts. Separated they live
in Bookmarksgrove right at the coast of the
Semantics, a large language ocean. A small river
named Duden flows by their place and supplies it
with the necessary
Loose Tracking
7. Done automatically in text Adjustments in spacing are
The values assigned - defined by
composed by a page layout or based on kerning tables built into
the typeface designers
typesetting program the fonts.
Why is Kerning important?
Why is Kerning important?
Why is Kerning important?
Kerning values are usually
negative numbers - the space
The spacing adjustments— between has to be reduced.
High-quality fonts contain
expressed in fractions of an ‘em’,
500 1,000 kern pairs
— positive values, intended to
usually 1/1000 em
push certain pairs of characters
farther apart.
8. Kerning and Typesize
As type increases in size, for e.g., on posters and
signage, the more space may need to be taken out.
In newspaper headlines for example, the settings
are normally tighter in relation to type size than in
the body copy.
There is also a tendency when type is reproduced
at large size for the type to almost split into two
parts. this can be altered manually but if you have
an entire book to set then automatic kerning tables
can be used.
- The Fundamentals of Typography;
Gavin Ambrose/ Paul Harris
9. Awful Voices
Unkerned
Awful Voices
Table-based
Awful Voices
Kerned
What are Kerning Pairs?
Kern pairs contain information LA, P., To, Tr, Ta, Tu, Te, LA, P., To, Tr, Ta, Tu, Te,
about the spacing of specific Ty, Wa, WA, We, Wo, Ya, Ty, Wa, WA, We, Wo, Ya,
‘pairs’ of letters. Yo, AV, KO, f. Yo, AV, KO, f.
Unkerned Kerned
10. Kerning Pairs
The number of letter pairs that can be created from a
typeface containing 228 characters would run into the tens
of thousands (51,984, to be exact).
12. kerning in
thousandth of
an em
Manual
Why is Kerning important?
No matter how extensive a
font’s kerning table may be,
unlisted pairs that need kerning
adjustments will occur.
13. kerning in
thousandth of
an em
Not to do anything until the You can’t kern by numbers. You Figure out the key pair, go on
text has under-gone its final can only kern by what looks right. kerning the others.
tracking adjustments.
Manual
Why is Kerning important? No matter how extensive a
font’s kerning table may be,
unlisted pairs that need kerning
strategies adjustments will occur.
Don’t panic, keep To see type well enough The closer you zoom in, the
calm and move on onscreen to kern it effectively, clearer the vision you have
you need to zoom in. of the type and space.
14. numerals are lining figures with
1 is clearly narrower than
the same character width, and
the others
this works fine for nine of them.
Company Lost Nearly
$110 Million in 2001
Company Lost Nearly
$110 Million in 2001
kerning numerals are referred to
Why is Kerning important?
as proportional figures.
Numerals
Old-style numerals in some
fonts have unique character
widths and may kern.
Only few fonts offer kerning Most of them in OpenType
numerals format
16. Fifth Commandment
Honour thy kerning,
so that white space
becomes visually
equalized between
characters.
Paul Felton, The Ten Commandments of Typography
17. References
BookS
The Ten Commandments of Typography, Paul Felton
Basic Typography A Design Manual; Formerly Phototypesetting: A Design Manual - by James Craig
The Fundamentals of typography; Gavin Ambrose/ Paul Harris
Type in Detail
Internet
Design Fundamentals: Kerning and Tracking Adapted from The Complete Manual of Typography: A Guide to Setting
Perfect Type, 2nd Edition (Adobe Press) - By Jim Felici
http://www.graphics.com/modules.php?artid=970&name=Sections&op=viewarticle
InDesign / Kerning and tracking
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/indesign/cs/using/WSa285fff53dea4f8617383751001ea8cb3f-6e14a.html
SEP 15 2007 ILT Investigates: type torture KERN BABY KERN
http://ilovetypography.com/2007/09/15/type-torture-kerning/
How to Set Kerning Pairs Up In FontLab; Published on Apr 3rd, 2011
- Written By: Bill Ross categorized in Web Design Research
http://www.linchpinseo.com/how-to-set-kerning-pairs-up-in-fontlab
