What Is Kerning? (And Why It Makes Your Font Look Professional)

If you've ever looked at a word and thought something felt off, even though you couldn't say what, there's a good chance it was bad kerning.

Kerning is the space between two specific letters. Not all letters, just a pair. And adjusting it, even slightly, is one of the things that separates a font that feels polished from one that feels homemade.

The Difference Between Tracking, Leading, and Kerning

These three terms confuse a lot of beginners, so let's clear them up fast:

• Tracking: the overall letter spacing across a whole word or block of text. Turn it up, letters spread out. Turn it down, they tighten.
• Leading: the space between lines. (Pronounced "ledding", from the old metal type days.)
• Kerning: the space between two specific letters. "AV" looks different from "AA", so they need different spacing.

Kerning is the most fiddly of the three, but for handwriting fonts especially, it's the thing that makes the difference.

Why Handwriting Fonts Need Kerning

When you type on a keyboard, every letter has a fixed width and spacing baked into the font. But handwriting is irregular. Your T might lean right. Your o might be rounder than usual. The gap between T and o might look fine on its own but feels wrong next to W and o.

That's where kerning pairs come in. You define: "whenever T is followed by o, reduce the space by X units."

How to Kern in FontCraft

In FontCraft, once you've drawn your letters and built your font, you can define kerning pairs in the Refine tab.

1. Type a word in the preview that shows your problem pairs
2. Identify which letter combinations look off
3. Add a kerning rule for that pair
4. Rebuild and check

Common pairs to start with: AV, AT, To, Wa, LT, FA, Ty.

How Much Kerning Is Enough?

Less than you think. Kerning adjustments are in font units (usually out of 1000). A change of 20–50 units is often plenty. If you're moving things by 200 units, something else is probably wrong with your letter spacing (LSB/RSB).

The goal is that the reader doesn't notice anything. Good kerning is invisible.

Ready to try it? Start with a free FontCraft account →