Zeto Creative Know-How #5: Kerning and Tracking

Kerning and tracking are two related and often mixed-up, typographical terms. Both refer to the space between characters of type. The difference is easy to understand with a quick visual example, as seen below.

Kerning is the adjustment of space between 2 specific letters that are next to each other in a word. Many letter combinations create awkward spaces that can impede a viewer from quickly digesting a message or worse, become visually disruptive. Most often, kerning is adjusted in headlines and subhead copy, where it is more apparent because of the larger point sizes used. As you can see in example 1 below, proper kerning makes legibility much easier and quicker for delivering a message. You'll notice that many letterspaces remain the same, while other have been tightened up.

Tracking is the adjustment of space between entire words, sentences or blocks of copy. Tracking can be used as a design element, or as a way to change the overall appearance of copy text. As seen in example 2 below, extreme tracking can be used to produce an eye catching title.

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