Squinting at headlines
BY CHUCK GREEN To “kern” or adjust the space between letters and words (figure 1), try squinting at the text (figure 2) to identify spacing problems. Squinting makes it easier to spot, for example, the tight area between the “o” and the “a” in “goal” and to see how the “y” in “style” is surrounded by enough space to drive a tank through.
Fonts are not necessarily spaced perfectly as typed (figure 1). Adjusting the kerning and “leading” (the vertical space between baselines) can dramatically improve the look of a headline (figure 3).
