Overview
The content discusses the concepts of kerning, tracking, and leading in typography, explaining their definitions, differences, and impact on text appearance.
Kerning
- Kerning refers to adjusting the space between individual letter pairs to improve visual harmony.
- Proper kerning ensures that letters appear evenly spaced to the reader.
- It is typically adjusted manually for specific letter combinations that may appear too close or too far apart.
Tracking
- Tracking is the uniform adjustment of spacing across a range of characters in a text block.
- It affects the overall density and readability of paragraphs or lines of text.
- Tracking is often used to fit text into a specific space or to create a particular visual effect.
Leading
- Leading is the vertical space between lines of text, measured from baseline to baseline.
- Adequate leading enhances readability and prevents lines from appearing too cramped.
- Adjusting leading can make text blocks look more open or compressed, depending on the desired outcome.
Key Differences and Impact
- Kerning affects individual letter pairs, while tracking impacts the spacing of entire words or paragraphs.
- Leading controls vertical spacing, in contrast to kerning and tracking, which affect horizontal spacing.
- Thoughtful use of kerning, tracking, and leading contributes to professional and visually appealing typography.