Type workshop - How our eyes read

It was mentioned that default typefaces hold kerning values which aren't always the best, or as legible as they could possibly be. We were set a task to work with particular words and edit the kerning. We had to take into consideration the spacing between all of the letters. We were told to identify the two letters which had the biggest value of kerning between them, and equal the rest of the letters to a similar standard. By doing so each letter has an equal amount of kerning, this is best to do by eye.

The tips:

- Find the biggest space in the word between two letters

- Adapt kerning to achieve equal space

- Never use negative kerning, start with the largest

- Usually its best to judge by eye

Its important for us as Graphic Designers, if we are trying to communicate a message, its important for it to be read in a certain way. The way in which you use type to determine this.

The biggest space between P and L, attempted to make kerning the same throughout. I certainly feel it reads better.

I found doing the same with longer words that bit harder, but non the less feel I achieved making the word legible, in a better sense of reading quality.

Working with serifs was a little harder but I was able to identify that the most negative space was between L and A, so attempting to achieve an equal spacing throughout.

Blinking at the image, the first word you see is two. Which means this doesn't work. Its meant to be read One , two, three.

I've adapted this to see the word 'one' first

I feel this is quite strong, from the session I understood if a word is slanted to its side, its harder to read, so therefore the brain makes it one of the last things you read, and a word upside even harder so is left til last. Working with these idea, I feel I have managed, through word alignment, for the eye to read these four words in the correct order.

TASK

Find a proverb, arrange the words in a box, changing the alignment of each word, in a way in which it is read in the right order, using what you have learnt in todays session.