Maybe you can try something in-between the two. Also e_r seems very loose (especially because r_v is pretty tight thanks to the custom r)

It seems to me like AdS is spaced tighter than Swerve, which makes it hard to judge. Hop this helps. Cheers!

Thanks guys, I think you're both right. Basically what I did is loosen the "AdS" and then as opposed to tightening "er", I slightly loosened "rv". Take a look:

Now A-d-s looks too loose compared to the rest, in which e-r looks way looser than w-e and r-v, and followed by loose v-e, followed by loose S-w.

Here's my take on tightening it all up -

You might want to start out adjusting sidebearings next to properly spaced n's and o's.

It’s too loose in general and that’s why you can’t get it right.

For starters you should use the inner space of the /d/ to define the letterspacing. (Why? Because that is the largest defined inner space.). All other kerns should confirm to that. You will experience that the combinations with /v/ will be problematic. There is some latitude there because the ear of the /r/ is compatible with the /v/ shape. I would start with a hairspace there and then work backwards.

Tighter works in this case. And when that has been resolved, loosening up is a cinch, because it will be just adding the same amount of space to every combination (as long as you don not exceed the base amount of space, which is equivalent to the inner space of /d/ doubled. Sounds like mumbo jumbo, but it works...

Edit: where I wrote confirm I meant conform.

@apankrat- Yeah, I totally overcompensated there

@Bert- Thanks for the long explanation. Not mumbo jumbo at all, in fact one of the better kerning explanations I've seen. Very good point on starting tight and loosening evenly after it is properly kerned.

So, i scrapped what I had done and started over using Bert's advise and tight spacing to begin. All of the "w" and "v" pairings are spaced just wider than a hairspace. I still feel like the last "e" is hanging off a bit. Tighten that a touch or leave it alone?

Tighten it.

Sw looks tighter than the rest, and you might be right about e hanging off.