222

KÜRNUNG

The goal, as already stressed, is to first space our
letters evenly and methodically to avoid too much
kerning, then to kern all remaining incorrigible pairs.
The most particularly troublesome characters—those
with parts that slope or stick out—vary according to
the style of font. The following are the usual culprits:

AJLPTVWY47fjrtvwy

Right, at a, after establishing ideal letter spacing
based on straight-sided //, as demonstrated in the
preceding pages, we proceed to place every other
letter, one at a time, in between H-H and space them.
Letters T and A, which pose no special challenges in
the H string, present a classic case for kerning when
paired together.

At b, letters T-A-T-A are shown in Fontographer's
Metrics window without any kerning. Note that the
values in the Kern fields (bottom row at c) are all set
at 0 for no kerning. Obviously, the spacing between
these letters is way too wide.

At d, kerning has been done (perhaps too tightly) by
clicking in the center of A and dragging the Kern bar
to the left until A tucked under T. The same kerning
value must be used for both sides of symmetrically
shaped letters so that spacing is even. Imagine how
crummy such combinations would look if there were
more space on one side than the other, as below.

TATAVAWAWOAO

Kerning: Long Form

When I made my first fonts, I assumed that the best
way to kern was to start with AA, move on to AB, AC,
and so on to Al then go back and start again with BA,
BB, ВС, BD, etc. This approach, aside from taking a
really long time, is not a good one for at least three
reasons: (1 ) If spacing is done correctly, 75 percent of
kerning is not required, (2) Too many kerning pairs
bogs a font down, making it weigh more, and load
and print more slowly. A font does seem quite light on
the kilobyte scale these days, compared with the
ongoing growth of the rest of our files, but still,
economy is good, (3) Kerning the long way does not
allow us to compare kerning values on similar letters.
So each kern pair we create depends on our memories
to visually gauge values and apply them evenly with
each drag of the kern bar. For example, the kerned
space between U and Л* should be exactly the same as
between U and M, but it may not be if we're just
eyeballing the kerning of each pair.

An obscure process that many otherwise erudite persons have
never even heard of is that of kerning letters to ensure that they fit
together snugly and without gaps that would ruin a font's even spacing.

Text: TRTR

0 Kerning

Char
Width
Left
Right

Kern

27

27

-4

Th

О С

562

27

RT

881

TH

Text: TRTR

0 Kerning

IAÏA

h

Char
Width
Left
Right
Kern

562

27

27

881

-4

Tfl

-130

562

27

27

HT

-130

881

TR

-130

Frequently Fussy Kerning Pairs

The number of kerning pairs a font requires is entirely
based on the style of characters. Some of the following
commonly called-for kerning pairs may not pertain at
all to our fonts. And other pairs, not included in this
brief listing, may present themselves as eyesores
needing kerning to correct.

AC AG АО AQ AS AT AU AV AW
AY A A" Ac Ad Ae Ag Ao Aq As At
Au Av Aw Ay BV BW BY CT CV
CW CY DA DJ DV DW DY FA FG
FJ FO FT FV FW FY Fa Fe Fb Fe
Fo Fr Fs Ff Fu Fy GY KO Ka Ko
Ku Ky LO LT LV LW LY L L" Lo

File- 1

File.

Lv Lw Ly OA ОТ OV OW OX OY
PA PT PV PW PY Pa Pc Pd Pe Po
Ps P. P, RA RT RV RW RY Ra Re
Rd Re Ro Rs Ry SS ST SY SV SW
Sy Sv Sw ТА ТО TT Та Те Ti То Тг
Ts Tu Tw Ту T. T, T: T; T- VA VO Va
Ve Vi Vm Vn Vo Vp Vr Vs Vu Vy V.
V, V: V; V- WA WO Wa We Wi Wo
WrWuWy W. W, W: W; W-YA YC
YG YO Ya Ye Yi Yo Yp Yr Yu Yv Y.
Y. Y: Y; Y- XO xo ew ey ev ff fg f ' f
ij 's 't of ot ov ow oy ox qu qa ra rc
rd re rf rh ro rq rr rtrurvrw rx
ry rz r. r, r- ve vo v. v, w. w, y. y,

AS THE WORLD KERNS

223

Sr-NGDKS

AVARICE

ABETI NG

Fancy Kerning

When kerning a font, avoid "editorializing" by im¬
posing cool, custom kerning. Leave such touches, as
the ever-popular shared stems, a; overlapping 0s, b;
mirror-mirror effect, c; and touching /s, d, to the
customer who purchases the font. As with spacing, we
kern for the average user and usage. By the way, I
always feel that it looks better to give the exact same
angle to the sloping sides of A-V-W, unlike at c, so
they will appear parallel when paired.

ша^

Auto Spacing and Kerning

Authorities agree that, whereas FOG's Auto Spacing
and Auto Kerning features are helpful, they are not to
be completely relied upon. Here are some ways in
which these features may be used to good measure:

1. Use Auto Spacing initially, with the knowledge that
tweaking will be required afterwards. Remember, edge-
to-edge centering will not correctly space those letters
whose weight distribution is off-balance, as below.

Centering:

ВШЮШ

Sans Kerning

Elsewhere in this book it has been pointed out that
certain fonts with extravagant caps, such as scripts
and gothics, should never be set all caps. Therefore,
we need not kern caps to caps except in this regard:
The worst cap collisions should be corrected through
kerning, just in case somebody who didn't read this
book sets our script font all in caps. Also, it is good
practice to type an upper and lower alphabet string
into the metrics window and kern all pairs in order
from A to Zand a to z, just to be sure that the letters
won't crash if the font is displayed as an alphabet in a
catalog. Above, at a, Gigi Plain, a casual script,
without kerning of swash caps. At b, Raceway, a
streamlined script with the alphabet kerned. At c,
Engravers Old English simply utilizes generous side¬
bearings for all caps, so kerning is not an issue,
although the looseness of the set could be for a user
who might just have to decrease tracking.

T r%%

Technical Actual Technical Actual

Forget the Quick Brown Fox

Spacing and kerning, like letters themselves, are
best judged within the context of words set in lines
of type. Our eyes take in letters better as words
than as random strings of characters. To facilitate
this process, I compiled the following collection of
words that I call "Kern King." It contains virtually
every alphabetic kerning pair. The list includes
names, English and non-English words, highly ob¬
scure words, and several that I had to make up.
There are many redundant pairs, of course, and the
list could be methodically truncated by some smart
designer with time on his or her hands (hint!).

2. Use Auto Kerning, but first back up a copy of the
font in case you become mired in results you don't
like. Be prepared to make lots of manual tweaks after
using Auto Kerning.

3. Some suggest doing Auto Spacing once, selecting all
characters in the font window, applying the Equalize
Sidebearings command, then Auto Spacing a second
time before moving on to Auto Kerning.

4. If we've Auto or manually spaced a font and later
decide we want to universally increase or decrease
space between letters, go to METRICS>Set Metrics
(X-3€-M) and type in the characters requiring change
and the degree of change to be made to right, left, or
both sidebearings.

How to Use Kern King

First, complete the spacing of your font in progress,
but before adding kerning, generate a font and load
it into your fonts folder. Copy Kern King from my web
site, www.logofontandlettering.com, paste it into a
word processing or layout program document, look
at the words in lowercase, then as all caps, and see
how they set. Make a list of all the problem pairs:
those that are too far apart, and those that are too
close together. Open up the font again in Font-
ographer or FontLab, make corrections to spacing
and add kerning. Generate the font a second time.
Check again. Repeat process until kerning is perfect.

KERN KING: lynx tuft frogs, dolphins abduct by proxy the ever awkward klutz,
dud, dummkopf, jinx snubnose filmgoer, orphan sgt. renfruw grudgek reyfus,
md. sikh psych if halt tympany jewelry sri heh! twyer vs jojo pneu fylfot alcaaba
son of nonplussed halfbreed bubbly playboy guggenheim daddy coccyx sgraffito
effect, vacuum dirndle impossible attempt to disvalue, muzzle the afghan Czech
czar and exninja, bob bixby dvorak wood dhurrie savvy, dizzy eye aeon
circumcision uvula scrungy picnic luxurious special type carbohydrate ovoid
adzuki kumquat bomb? afterglows gold girl pygmy gnome lb. ankhs acme
aggroupment akmed brouhha tv wt. ujjain ms. oz abacus mnemonics bhikku
khaki bwana aorta embolism vivid owls often kvetch otherwise, Wysiwyg
densfort wright you've absorbed rhythm, put obstacle kyaks krieg kern wurst
subject enmity equity coquet quorum pique tzetse hepzibah sulfhydryl briefcase
ajax ehler kafka fjord elfship halfdressed jugful eggcup hummingbirds
swingdevil bagpipe legwork reproachful hunchback archknave baghdad wejh
rijswijk rajbansi rajput ajdir okay weekday obfuscate subpoena liebknecht
marcgravia ecbolic arcticward dickcissel pincpinc boldface maidkin adjective
adcraft adman dwarfness applejack darkbrown kiln palzy always farmland
flimflam unbossy nonlineal stepbrother lapdog stopgap sx countdown
basketball beaujolais vb. flowchart aztec lazy bozo syrup tarzan annoying dyke
yucky hawg gagzhukz cuzco squire when hiho mayhem nietzsche szasz
gumdrop milk emplotment ambidextrously lacquer byway ecclesiastes stubchen
hobgoblins crabmill aqua hawaii blvd. subquality byzantine empire debt
obvious cervantes jekabzeel anecdote flicflac mechanicville bedbug couldn't i've
it's they'll they'd dpt. headquarter burkhardt xerxes atkins govt, ebenezer lg.
lhama amtrak amway fixity axmen quumbabda upjohn hrumpf