Much of the overall look of a typeface is determined by the amount of space in and around its characters. Spacing therefore becomes a critical part of the type design process and many agree that it is in fact as important as the shapes of the characters themselves.
As each character’s shape and space are so intertwined, the spacing of a typeface tends to happen, at least provisionally, in parallel with the design of each letter. Rig Sans is no exception. Initially, each character is assigned a set volume of space on its left and right side with the aim of giving each an average amount of room and to ensure a consistent rhythm when typed together. You don’t want gaps or clashes between the characters but rather for the shapes to flow evenly. The spacing is tested by applying the font to a variety of text settings and then refined.
Despite best efforts, some characters just won’t sit well together. This is where the dark art of kerning is required.
What is kerning and how does this differ from spacing?
While, spacing refers to the generic amount of space allocated to either side of each character, kerning adjusts this distance between a specific pair of characters. For example, the letter ‘A’ is given a fixed amount of space either side, which works well when set against characters with flat sides, such as ‘H’: HAHA. However, when placed next to another diagonal character like ‘V’, an unwanted gap can occur between the two letters, due to their diagonal shapes: A V. This gap is therefore closed with a kerning value: AV.
Even the most carefully spaced typeface will inevitably require some kerning (unless it’s monospaced) but the goal is to limit the amount of kerning required by applying good, consistent spacing.
There is much mythology around kerning in graphic designer circles. Reputable foundries go to great lengths to ensure that every conceivable character combination is well spaced, and if necessary, kerned, to maintain a consistent rhythm (you want to avoid over-kerning the letters as much as you do having excessive gaps). It’s not just a-z that requires kerning. Punctuation, figures and symbols all require attention for them to fit harmoniously with other characters. Depending on the number of characters in your typeface, this in-built kerning can take weeks of rigorous manual adjustment.
As a data point, Rig Sans has 468 characters and contains between 1850-2500 manually kerned pairs per weight. For a larger font, like my Span type family, with almost a thousand characters, the number of kerned pairs is closer to 4,000.
With my Graphic Designer’s hat on, the only time I might adjust the kerning on a well-crafted typeface that I’d purchased would be when setting a logo or word that was pulled out of context from the rest of the typeface. This text might require a different rhythm of its own.
Some of the mystique surrounding kerning likely results from the use of free or amateur fonts that might not contain any kerning. These therefore rely on the graphic designer to be responsible for kerning during the type-setting process. Personally, I would avoid using these types of fonts and instead look to professional type foundries or take a look at the growing collection available at Adobe Fonts.
