

In practice, this means that each combination of letters needs specific adjustment to make their letter space look even.Įvery font has letter spaces built-in. They look farther apart because the letter space between them spills over on top and below their strokes the l’s don’t suffer the same fate. For example, the o’s below have the same amount of space as the l’s, but they look farther apart. This causes all kinds of strange letter spaces. Honestly, they’re an odd group of things. Some have big gaping holes in their sides.

I mean… Except for the ones that are (l, 0, o, etc.) They’re not simple like a square or circle. Letters and numbers are really funny shapes. See, kerning is the process of adjusting your letters so they LOOK even, not that they ARE even. Less harmfully, it’s also the difference between A WE and AWE, L oud and Loud.Įven less harmful- but still completely tragic-is the result of measurably even spacing. Letter spacing is one of the most important aspects of effective typography it’s the difference between flick and… It’s the difference between click and… Just look at the examples below. Tweak line space with leading or line-height settings.Adjust word space through some tricky settings (the default usually isn’t so bad).Adjust letter spacing by kerning the type (what we’re going to discuss here).Change counter spaces by selecting a new typeface or a new weight in the current face.

You can adjust these spaces one way or another: If word spaces are too big, it will be difficult for the reader’s eye to read entire lines of text without getting lost.įinally, if the line space is too big, the reader will have to search for the next line down the page, without naturally jumping to it.Īs you can imagine, bad things also happen when these spaces shrink too small. If the letter spaces are too big, it’ll be hard to tell where words begin and where they end. If the counter spaces are too small, the letters won’t be legible. With improper spacing a design can look 100% terrible. With proper spacing, a design can be beautiful, elegant, and enticing.
