m

Fig. 13

As I saw the problem of spacing at this time, all we
needed was an instrument capable of balancing
letters not on their centre of gravity, but perhaps
nearer to a third moment centre. (Figs. 13,14 and
15). As shown above, we visualized the problem in
this way. The'm' at the bottom is balanced on its
correct fulcrum. The slanting 'iki' is type-set whilst
the horizontal version is optically set.

14

Spacing by eye

Whilst trying to make an instrument that would assess
the space values and centres of letters in a way
similar to the eye we have become far more adept at
spacing by eye. In the first place one must space
many alphabets before one can be sure that there is a
common factor.

Alphabets must continuously be tried against a new
light wedge. Thus it is possible to see from the
amount of scatter on the graph how wrong the
wedge is (Fig. 16). Ideal conditions i.e. a perfect set
of eye calculations and a wedge conforming to the
visual stimulus of the eye, will produce a smooth line

100

1000

Light value

Fig. 16