Kerning of serif font....
Mithil Mogare
Posts: 46
Hello, I am kerning Latin serif font for first time and I am unable to judge the spacing between various letters. I ended up doing some over-kerned pair or some under-kerned pair. I want reference font and any material to learn judging the space between varied shape letters. Also, I want a proof of various words that contain most of the pairs. Also, how I can start the kerning process or approach the kerning?
P.S. I am using FL7
Thank you.
P.S. I am using FL7
Thank you.
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Comments
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Hoefler's proofs may help as they provides words for metrics and kerning.
grab 'em here: https://www.typography.com/blog/text-for-proofing-fonts3 -
Mithil Mogare said:… I am unable to judge the spacing between various letters. …… but that ability is essential for the matter, you need to learn to see spacing issues, first. Without the ability of visual judgement you will not get satisfying results, whatever other tools you may employ.And, (of course), good spacing always comes first; kerning afterwards.
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I just want to really emphasize the principle @Andreas Stötzner mentioned, of being ABSOLUTELY SURE you are done with spacing, before you start kerning.
Really, really, really certain.
One of the most common problems even experienced type designers hit, is starting to kern too soon. Doing the opposite is quite rare, in comparison.4 -
The reason this is a problem is, if you adjust the spacing, you pretty much have to throw out the kerning of the affected glyphs.2
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And spacing is an important pressure test for the proportions of your glyphs.3
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Thomas Phinney said:I just want to really emphasize the principle @Andreas Stötzner mentioned, of being ABSOLUTELY SURE you are done with spacing, before you start kerning.
Really, really, really certain.
One of the most common problems even experienced type designers hit, is starting to kern too soon. Doing the opposite is quite rare, in comparison.2 -
I'm sometimes using a positive kerning pair between O's or o's.I would discourage you from doing this. Given this approach you will then have to add positive values to all "round to round" glyphs, what a lot of work.I would encourage you to look at 2 strings:
nnoonon
HHOOHOH
Get these looking balanced using only side bearings and then apply those "straight" and "round" values to similar details in the design.
And remember to think about the space between letters as "volume" and not so much as "distance".7 -
I use this set up in the Preview Window in Fontlab ...3
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Well, I have a slightly different idea about that. I know my control character strings. Especially in optical sizes where spacing becomes tighter, O's and o's can sit comfortably between H's and n's, but OO and oo can feel a tad to close so they need just need a little bit more air in between. It's not an uncommon approach.4
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James Montalbano said:I would discourage you from doing this. Given this approach you will then have to add positive values to all "round to round" glyphs, what a lot of work.I would encourage you to look at 2 strings:
nnoonon
HHOOHOH
Get these looking balanced using only side bearings and then apply those "straight" and "round" values to similar details in the design.
And remember to think about the space between letters as "volume" and not so much as "distance".0 -
When I refer to volume, I'm referring the the volume between the glyphs. The space between 2 glyphs creates a "negative" space. That space creates different shapes. The volume of that "shape" should be consistent between all glyphs.1
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FWIW I think “area” rather than “volume” is the proper term here.1
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Area Volume.Whatever.4
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When spacing round (O, C, G) next to straight-sided characters (H, I, etc), keep in mind that the widths and mass of the serifs play as big a role as the spacing here (by affecting the overall area/volume between the two glyphs). Play with your serifs a bit and you’ll find you’ll have a lot less kerning to do there.2
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