The ultimate guide to kerning

gif of kerning showing adjustments in letters
(Image credit: Matt Smith/Future)

Somewhere right now a designer is silently screaming at an example of bad kerning, whether on a sign, website, magazine or menu. Have you ever noticed words where some letters are closer together while others are further apart? A warning – once you open this can of worms you will never unsee it – kerning will haunt you wherever you go.

The aim of a type designer is to create a visually uniform flow across letters that reads as one undisturbed line rather than stopping the eye at every gap. Handwritten fonts naturally tend to flow together, but typesetting requires adjustment. Some letter combinations have too much or little space between them, which can make the text harder to read. This is remedied with kerning – adjusting the space between two letters to balance the negative space. In the days of metal typesetting, kerning was the overhanging parts of a sort (lead block or type) that helped letters flow, but in the digital age designers have a lot more control over kerning.

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Matt Smith
Designer and Video Producer

Matt has worked for various publishing houses and design agencies, covering studio photography, video production, editorial design, branding, illustration and motion graphics. He currently works for Future PLC with brands such as T3, Woman&Home, Marie Claire, Music Week, TechRadar, Golden Joysticks, Cycling Weekly, Brand Impact Awards, Horse&Hound and Tech&Learning. In the past he has designed titles including Mac|Life, IQ, Bow International, Drummer, iDrum, Acoustic, Clay Shooting, Sea Fishing and GunTradeNews. He has experience across the full Adobe Suite and is currently spending a lot of time creating projects in Blender and After Effects.

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