Typewriters didn't need to worry about kerning as they used monospacing. Kerning is relevant in traditional printing and digital techniques so I will need to think about the size of the outcome and the medium used to create it when designing.
I need to improve on my kerning because sometimes the spacing between letters isn't even which makes it look untidy. Kerning can also be used to add/remove negative space. There are three types of kerning: Metric, Optical and Manual.
Gentlemen of Type
Gentlemen of Type is a short documentary about sign writers in Dublin. Although we don't see the craft much today, in Dublin they are still carrying on the tradition which I like because it adds culture. Watching this, I was inspired because a lot of signs and design in general is digitally produced and it was humbling to know that hand painted signs is still continuing. I really liked the classic style because it was a mix of serif and sans-serif font which is refreshing to see old and new styles combined. The sign writers spoke about kerning and how important it was:
The spacing between the 'D' and the 'O' is too large which suggests the creator didn't plan out his design.
Metric Kerning:
Metric kerning uses kern pairs, for example LA, WE, Ya and Yo. Letter pairs like these create uneven spacing when put into a word which can cause the lexis to look imbalanced but with Kerning it's possible to make it look tighter with the neighbouring letter. Good kerning makes good neighbours.
Example of kerning before and then after:
The results can be very subtle or drastic, depending on how much kerning you add or minus. The standard kerning on 'WE' in Helvetica Bold is 0 but if I minus 110 it gets closer together:
The letters have joined together which can be effective, especially for creating negative space. But in a different type of context this may not look effective. I found the best Adobe software to use was illustrator because it is a lot easier and faster to work with type, rather than Photoshop.
Optical Kerning
Optical Kerning adjusts the spacing between all the adjacent characters in a word. It essentially turns the type into a balanced shape. It's also a good choice for fonts with inadequate kerning built in and when editing a text that has different sized type in it.
Personally I prefer optical kerning because it makes the type into a shape so there is more freedom to play around. As I was experimenting with kerning I thought I noticed that it could be used to change the context/meaning behind words.
Examples of Good Kerning
This is googles most recent type logo design. They have decided to go for block colours which I like as it makes it look contemporary. The kerning for each letter is extremely accurate and even. This creates a harmonious and balanced outcome. I found that when I was practicing kerning, each letter needed a different amount of spacing, due to the glyph. I will bare this in mind when I begin using typography in my briefs.
What I like about this logo is the simplicity. They have only used Helvetica Bold but made the kerning a touch tighter to make it look fresh and flowing to look at. This is a clear example that you don't have to do too much editing to create a successful brand identity.
I looked more into how kerning was used in the design industry to benefit their type. Spikerblog is a blog specialised in typography from around the world. The example above shows how kerning needs to be considered for wood block prints. This is a traditional technique which means the process takes much longer. The type is made out of wood block prints and to prevent bad kerning, they had to cut down the print blocks for P, A, L, Y and V.
Kerning can be a time consuming process, digitally or by hand. I need to be patient because it's an important element to typography that's new to me. I'm glad I've learnt about kerning because I have had trouble in the past making type fit correctly and, along with tracking, this will benefit me a lot.
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