Kern Testing Script

SuperUltraFabulous23 Nov 2007

On page 204 and 205 in Elements of Typographic Style Bringhurst uses script to show how adequate the kerning of a font is.

“Ask Jeff” or ‘Ask Jeff’. The chef d’œuvre!
Two [of] (of) ‘of’ “of” of? of! of*.
Two [of] (of) ‘of’ “of” of? of! of* ...

I have my own with my name, a short paragraph I made up, and words that use ligatures. Are there other "scripts" or words that should be included in my Font Tester Script. One I have "LATIN HILLY POTATO RAVINE"

Knowing which fonts in your library are suitable for long passages of text is invaluable.

Mike Diaz :-)

I wonder what would happen if I sent a PDF of a kern testing script showing a font not performing well to the type designer?
Anger or Gratitude?

Quincunx23 Nov 2007#

There have been a couple of useful threads about this,
for example here and here.

And of course there's also Cabarga's Kern King.

dan_reynolds24 Nov 2007#

anger, of course ;-)

k.l.24 Nov 2007#

I wonder what would happen if I sent a PDF of a kern testing script showing a font not perming well to the type designer? Anger or Gratitude?

Looks like a good way to check if a typeface meets some minimum spacing/kerning standards. Of course, why not let the designer/foundry know?
More interesting though are actual uses of a typeface, things you designed with it. If you find that spacing/kerning is wanting you could do this: (1) Export a PDF of the document, including kerning adjustments you did e.g. in InDesign. (2) Then select all text and switch back to "Metrics" so the typeface's original spacing/kerning is applied and generate another PDF, and point to combinations you think are not ok. This is quickly done. It is useful for the designer because it also helps evaluate whether these are real spacing/kerning errors which need correction, or the designer and you just have different 'spacing philosophies'.

Captured from commoncrawl.org on 27 Apr 2015. original URL