Chapter 5. Letterspacing, Tracking, and Kerning

TYPE IS ABOUT NOT ONLY THE LETTERS, but also the space between the letters and the space between the words. Typography is not just black on white, but also white on black. Each letterform and each word inhabits a field of negative white space, and this space establishes the rhythm of the words.

You can put as much nationality in the spacing of a typeface as in the typeface itself.

— Danny van den Dungen of graphic design studio Experimental Jetset. [Quoted in Helvetica, Dir. Gary Hustwit, 2007]

The spacing of type is to some degree a matter of personal preference and typographic trend, but whether a tight or loose letter fit is favored, for the type to be readable and to communicate without interruption, ...

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