Does one kern a duplex font?

Raphaël Ronot

Hi, this question hit me the other day. I was wondering if some of you had faced this problem before.

Making a regular and bold weight fit into the exact same width is already difficult, but giving them the same kerning values for every pair seems impossible, right? Take a simple `To` for example. The bolder weight won't allow the `o` to "slide" under the horizontal bar of the `T`.

So what do we do? Should we find an in-between "one size fits all" kerning system that works decently for both masters?

Thanks in advance  

Ruixi Zhang

Identical kerning should be shared among the duplex/multiplex/uniwidth weights. Martin Majoor’s Comma Base and Nick Sherman’s HEX Franklin have identical kerning across their entire weight range, respectively. Matthew Butterick’s Concourse has identical kerning shared within weights 2 (Thin), 3 (Book), 4 (Medium), and 6 (Semibold), furthermore its roman and italic are duplexed and also share identical kerning; though the bolder weights of Concourse break free from this constraint.