PagePlane.com

April 16, 2010

Typography

How to distinguish good typeface design from poor typeface design

One way is to focus on the quality of the kerning.

Kerning, as Robert Bringhurst defines it, is the act of "altering the space between selected pairs of letters". Though it is not widely discussed, it is a critical part of typeface design.

Kerning is both artistic and mathematical. The difference in spacing, for example, between an "O" and an "M" is different than the spacing between an "r" and a "w". Most typefaces employ independent definitions for each pairing to upper case to upper case letters, upper case to lower case, upper case to punctuation, lower case to lower case, and so on. It is not unusual, in fact, for a single font to have well over 2000 kerning pairs.

But here, let an expert explain. Igino Marini offers an auto-spacing and auto kerning service to type designers. That may sound like a yawn to those who are not fanatics about type, but for those of us who are, it is fascinating stuff.