Good Kerning Vs. Bad Kerning

[serial]

I'm in the hunt of of some Good Kerning and Bad Kerning pics. The reason why I make this post here instead of just making a googlesearch for it is that I've noticed that there is alot of different opinions about this (I'm newbie on this), so please share some bad and good kerning examples.

So I'm gonna start of with asking what you think of the kerning in "Legend"-text in the "I'm Legend"-poster below. Personally I don't like, it doesn't make "harmony" for my eyes with the flat left and round right in bigger letters, it looks like the "L" is to close to the "E", what do you think

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/4853/iamlegendposteroficialuq1.jpg

[JgS]

I don't hate it. I haven't seen the movie yet but It seem to fit the book pretty well. The excessive kerning give each letter a secluded feel. Seeing as how the story is about the last man alive I think that fits.

[budafist]

My friend was telling me that there was a company called Final Touch here who have a branded fleet of cars. I couldn't find an example on the net, but apparently on the cars, the F and I were so close that they looked like an A :eek:

Whatever they are selling, it can't be that!

[serial]

Anal Touch -
"We look at every angle, but there is only one that counts"

[CkretAjint]

That doesn't bother me so much as the fact the the leading on teh L and the D are quite close to the credits at the bottom. "eek" At least in that pic they look like they are...

[Mynock]

It's TRAJAN! RUN!!!!!!!!

[hewligan]

It's TRAJAN! RUN!!!!!!!!

I can't. I tried running every time I saw a movie poster using Trajan, but as a result I'm just too tired to run any more.

[vxhorusxv]

Serial – I think, for the most part - your view of good or bad kerning will be very subjective. Of course, the truly AWFUL will jump out at you immediately, but even then I hold unintentional letter collision amoung the greatest sins and I would rather loosen the tracking on the whole headline than have the "K" and "A" of a Didone crash into one another. I have no idea why it just offends my nature.

That said, some of the best typesetting examples you can find are – of course - in hardcover books. Some of them are marginally better than their paperback cousins, but I have usually found that if a hardcover bother to have a colophon [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colophon_%28publishing%29] it tends to be fairly well designed.

Note: I know for a fact Harry Potter 6 and 7 have colophons. And, no, I do not work for JK Rowling, but I'm quite a fan! :-D

[tZ]

I hate the typographical work for I am legend with a passion.

Kerning is about balance. If its not balanced then the type has been poorly treated. Essentially, the negative space between each character to should be "the same" throughout. However, in the end its about trusting your eyes rather than the math – like all design.

[garricks]

I hate to lob a grenade into this discussion, BUT...

Are we discussing kerning or tracking? The LE kerning is too tight for the tracking of EGEND, and the tracking of AM is way too wide for the tracking of LEGEND.

And after all of the messing about with the title and Will Smith's name, not tracking the tag "the last man on Earth is not alone" makes it the focal point (to me...JMHO)

[seamas]

What is a leg end?
a foot?

[Jackimalyn]

believe this needs to be brought revisited.

http://www.goodiebag.tv/episodes/06_trajan_is_the_movie_font.htm

[vtwin_gary]

believe this needs to be brought revisited.

http://www.goodiebag.tv/episodes/06_trajan_is_the_movie_font.htm


how is it that i missed this? thanks (i think) for sharing

[garricks]

ROFL When he started talking about seeing other fonts, I thought, "Yeah, like Comic Sans?"

In my RSS now. Thanks!

[budafist]

What is a leg end?
a foot?

Yes. Just a fancy way of saying it. What they really want to say is:
http://img82.imageshack.us/img82/5281/footlgoi4.gif