Caught myself guessing on font spacing for years

I was laying out a "Caution: Dog in Yard" sticker for a customer and eyeballed the kerning like I always do. She sent back a marked up proof with exact measurements she got from a design blog, and I realized every single one of my stickers had uneven spacing. Has anyone else had a client point out a basic skill you thought you had down?

2 comments

2 Comments

cooper.viola1mo ago

Eyeballed the kerning for years" - I mean come on, is it really that big of a deal? If nobody complained before and the stickers looked fine to most people, then you were doing it right enough. Sure, maybe the spacing wasn't mathematically perfect, but does a "Caution: Dog in Yard" sticker really need to be some typography masterpiece? People look at it for half a second and move on with their lives. I think some folks get way too hung up on design rules that honestly don't matter in the real world.

blair_davis1mo ago

Oh, I don't know about that. I actually read a study once where they tested how fast people read poorly spaced signs versus well-spaced ones, and the difference was pretty significant. @cooper.viola, I get that it seems minor, but if someone misreads "Dog in Yard" as "Dog Yard" or skips the "Caution" part because the letters run together, that could actually cause a problem. You're right that most folks glance and move on, but with warning signs like that, even a half-second of confusion could mean someone gets bit. It's not about making it a masterpiece, it's about making sure the message hits clearly the first time.