Kerning

The space between two letters, tuned by hand. It is the difference between type that was set and type that was made. Most people never see it; everyone feels it.

Software spaces letters by table; the table does not know what the word says or how large it will be set. Display sizes expose every pair the table got wrong: the capital T yawning before an o, the A and V refusing to meet. Kerning is going in by hand and settling those arguments one pair at a time.

The working method is to squint, invert the type, or read it upside down, anything that turns words back into shapes. Even spacing is felt as calm before it is seen. A headline that has been kerned does not look adjusted; it looks inevitable, as if the letters had always stood exactly there.