What is Kerning?

Kerning refers specifically to the adjustment of space between individual characters in a piece of text. This adjustment is crucial for achieving balanced and visually appealing typography. When kerning is applied, it helps to fine-tune the spacing to create a more harmonious flow between letters, improving readability and aesthetic quality.

For example, in certain typefaces, the default space between characters may be too wide or too narrow, causing letters to appear disjointed or cramped. By adjusting the kerning, designers can enhance the visual impact of text, ensuring that it feels cohesive.

Other choices pertain to different aspects of typography and design. The distance between lines refers to leading, which deals with vertical spacing, while uniform spacing can relate to tracking, which adjusts the space between a range of characters uniformly. Adjusting shapes in a design involves altering vector points and paths, which is a separate concept entirely. Thus, the definition of kerning as the space between characters is well-defined and central to effective typographic design.