can we see the layout? Perhaps letterspacing everything would help? It is a rare set of caps that will look decent set tight on a word like MATT - see Tungsten in the samples. The density is just different.

Have you tried increasing the tracking? All caps almost always need extra space, mostly because of letters like A and T.

Here is a sample of the original untouched MATT and my current choice where I adjusted the crossbars and spacing, ultimately I just want it to go unnoticed...

..oh, and btw any other comments are welcomed, the back side is to be embossed with my url...

I think your problem is actually the over-kerned AT.
I'm also not a fan of the inconsistent initials: e and smallcap T

Ilene Strizver warned about such temptations as over kerning the "AT" in a class I took many years ago.

Embossed on the back? Wouldn't that show reversed on the front?

@jackson - I have opened that up a little more, it was another issue for sure...

@mica - It's being duplexed

I think I'm settling on a version with custom "T" crossbars, thanks for the input...

Hey Matt,

Have you tried just setting your name as Matt MacDonald (upper and lowercase) to solve your problem?
I think you'll still get the emphasis you want from the bold.

Off topic, how about setting your details aligned to the 'n' of Syndrome to avoid the 'y' crashing into your name?

Thanks for the thoughts g, I'm sticking with the all caps, it follows a style I have set in other applications and I do like how it holds the hierarchy... These examples aren't very good quality, I didn't see it as "crashing" ever but do you really think it is an issue? I def like the alignment kept simple all at the left, has been working well across all other stationary...

To kern MATT correctly, I would do this:
1. type NATN or HATH (whichever has both sides vertical and is largest),
2. kern AT so that the visual distance between MA and AT is the same (other way of seeing it: so that you get the same white in-between)
3. use the AT kerning value in MATT, chances are you need not change TT BUT if you do
4. type HHTTHH or NNTTNN so you get an evenly spaced block.

IMVVHO your name does not look good with the shortened TT bars; it might look better with
either a ligature TT (joining on top)
or a TT where only the inside of the 'cross' bar is shortened.

Still, I would keep it as in the font (or change font).

PS. My name is DAVID and in 99.99% of the fonts, it looks horrible when spelt in all-caps, I need to respace everything manually, sadly (working first on HHDAHH, then HHAVHH, HVIH and chekcing HIDH, though this is rarely a problem - then it all assembles magically).

>or a TT where only the inside of the ’cross’ bar is shortened.

Yes, that sounds like a more likely solution to me.

Hey David, thanks for taking the time to mention all that, I will do that exercise and see how it goes...

My first and second attempts at a fix were to create a ligature (looked like a big Pi symbol) and then to shorten the inner crossbars, both looked odd and stood out as such.

Cheers!

Matt

All-cap (and small cap) settings are traditionally letterspaced, and to this day, many foundries add extra "cpsp" as an OpenType feature, as a matter of course.

I concur with Ilene.
When I first started making fonts, I put a lot of kerning in them, but now I consider that less is better. If a font has kerning between A and T, and A and C, as this one appears to, it only worsens gappy combinations where kerning is not possible.

The exception is the "tight but not touching" style, where the spacing is all about proximal distances, not the balance of light and dark.

IMO, the proximal style makes sense for Syndrome, as it is a feature of the wordmark, where the stencilling leverages the proximal effect. So I don't have a problem with MATT MACDONALD; however, I find the letterspacing in Syndrome to be too great, in relation to the stencil gap, and the tightness of MATT MACDONALD, which is also much tighter than the U&lc text. So, the card exhibits three different spacing strategies--loose, tight, and default-- which seems wrong.

I agree that letterspacing the uppercase would help. Getting rid of the all caps setting and set Matt MacDonald as mixed case would be even better.

I appreciate your input Nick, I must admit I have been looking at this in parts, not so much as a cohesive whole regarding it's technical details, I should really step back and re-evaluate the components... Thanks...

Matt