Kerning Crunch

It won't have escaped your notice that there's a crisis happening in the banking world. All the big household names are affected. It's slowly engulfing us all and it gets closer to home every day. I've resisted writing about it for a long time but I can hold off no longer.

Ladies and Gentlemen allow me to introduce the Kerning Crunch.

Let's look at Lehman Brothers first. A big, strong, confident piece of typography. Standing squarely at the helm, staring rivals in the face. No problems over here matey.

But look a little bit closer. In particular take a look at the A.

Is that acceptable? Too close for comfort? Should the authorities be called in?

The O and T are gentler, but still a teeny bit close for my liking. The problem is that the Kerning Crunch causes us to question our existing value systems. Perhaps we've been sailing too close to the wind for a long time. How close do we want to get?

Lloyds are making the best of bad lot. They've done a decent job of rescuing that O, Y and D. But they can't save everyone.

The worst offender has been glossed over by the main stream media. But, have no fear, that's what this esteemed blog is for. Take a closer look at the L and A in Barclays.

Trouble lies ahead my friends.

Some of these banks are their own worst enemies. L, A, Y and S are never going to be an easy set of letters to kern.

But these guys are all about taking risks, aren't they?

Comments

[claire]

Another stonker. Just wish I was into kerning more.

[Ben]

Claire - these ones are for you http://noisydecentgraphics.typepad.com/design/2008/09/pizza-love.html

[Tim]

How can you leave out the PriceWaterhouseCoopers logo, compared to the charity shop it is the deepest circle of kerning hell? I don’t mind the sharing of serifs but they do need to be redrawn to work in a logo.

[Giacomo Cesana]

And what about Intesa Sanpaolo, the biggest bank of Italy?
http://www.intesasanpaolo.com

[Rex]

Hi Mr Terrett. Really love this piece and I took the privilege of translating this one into Chinese, hope you wouldn't mind.

http://www.typeisbeautiful.com/2008/09/367

Thanks

[markgorman]

cut and dried mate

[David]

Looks like they're teetering on keming.

[Mat Ranson]

>>But these guys are all about taking risks, aren't they?

Are they? I thought banks and corporations were called "conservative" for a reason.

[ckn]

This all seems a little ridiculous. Kerning isn't about touching serifs, it is about word image and a figure ground relationship. Personally, the issues you highlighted in the examples aren't the noticable ones - for example: The excessive space between the E & R at the end of Lehman Brothers is a clear issue, and if you're talking about being to close for comfort, what about both R touching the following character? (Not that I consider this an issue).

Anyway, I'm probably taking the whole article far to seriously as I am now assuming it was intended as a bit of topical fun — so I will end with flattery.

Your newspaper project is awesome. It looks great and is a very considered piece. Well done.