Kerning 1.1

In groups of four, we played Kerndown to improve our kerning. The team game made us think on our feet to create a word out of five random letters. 

We experimented with a range of possibilities from our 3 consonants and 2 vowels: 

We decided to make all of the letters lower case so that it was easier to find a word without having to worry about larger upper case shapes. Our first concept used a very standard kerning but we played around with the type so that is said two words. I was surprised at how quickly we were able to make a word(s) and a concept. 

Experimented with a different word. We made the kerning very tight to reflect meaning of the word which is why I find kerning so effective and clever. 

We tried lots of different variations of letters and played around a lot with the kerning to get an idea of what works. We decided on 'toke', which wasn't ideal as I wanted to go for 'kote' as it's more tasteful. The next stage put our word into context and we had to alter the kerning to suit it:



Student Night in Leeds:

Chose to use large kerning because it created a friendly modern tone, along with the lower case type. The letters aren't completely straight but we only had 30 seconds to complete each task. 


A Condom Company:

Originally we didn't use the 'm' but we thought, even with kerning, we couldn't make the letters resemble the visual characteristics of a condom company. We couldn't change the word so decided to introduce the 'm' to try and make it work. We thought we could rotate it to create a second angle visually and for people to read. Adding the lexis 'me' creates a statement that is sex related but unfortunately it's themed on smoking which wouldn't be appropriate for the condom company. 


Luxury Car Manufacture:

We didn't think our original word was appropriate for a car business so we tried using all of our letters. During the 30 seconds, we managed to create 'komet' which I think isn't too bad for a name but we focused on the kerning. We thought we could try using narrow kerning and we noticed that the taller letters, 'k' and 't' created cover for the middle three letters. We thought it could move forward into the concept of making the letters look like a car if we had more time. The 'o' and the 'e' could be manipulated into the shape of wheels. 

Childrens TV Channel:

I was really pleased with how we managed to keep our original word and make it work with a specific style. I kept a narrow kerning but we thought it needed to be a litter further apart so that it would look friendly. However, making the 't' into a 'j' created 'joke' which is a lot more relevant than our original word. The tilt on the 'e' suggests a playful feel which children will be attracted to.

Quentin Tarantino Film:

Although the word wouldn't necessarily make a good film title, the narrow kerning once again allowed us to create two words combines. It can be read as 'toke' and 'ok' which could work as a play on words. I really enjoy playing around with type, especially when it's so easy to test out ideas for real instead of digitally. It's quicker and easier to see the results.

I found this exercise enjoyable because I was able to see what a difference kerning can make on the feel of the word. Even a word such as 'bad' can be made to look more positive or negative depending on the kerning. The chosen word could have been improved if we had more time to think about it.