‘KERNING’ IS THE PROCESS of removing space between printed letters to produce more attractive type. It began with metal type in the 15th Century, when corners were shaved off to allow pairs of letters to sit close together.
In the following example, each letter is set within its own block, as it would be if the letters were made of traditional movable type.
It’s clear that there’s too much space between the W and the A, as well as too much (but not quite as much) between the A and the T. It’s all down to the shapes of the letters.
By kerning the individual letter blocks, this space can be removed to allow the letters to sit more closely together:
But that doesn’t look right either. Now, the W and the A are far too close. So what’s the solution?
The correct way of spacing type is to even out the white space between the characters. The T has white space either side of it, because of the width of the top bar. This space is noticeably smaller between the W and the A.
This is how it should look, with that white space evened out:
