Well-crafted and controlled letterspacing is an essential component to excellent typography. In our digital age, the time and effort devoted to quality setting of interletter spacing can set apart a given text from the rest of the run-of-the-mill mass-produced (and often poorly spaced) printed texts. While most typography produced today is created digitally, there is no guarantee that the computer can appropriately space the letters with a given body of copy. Although computers do try to accurately space type, many times they fail. In fact, only a trained human eye can perceive all the details necessary to completely control letterspacing. For most text setting the computer can do an adequate job, and little effort is needed on the part of the designer/typographer to control the spacing. However. it is important for every designer to know when and how to step in and fix the letterspacing problems that the computer cannot see.

Upon successful completion of this project a student will be able to:

• Demonstrate the ability to visualize and control typographic spacing parameters such as kerning, tracking and letterspacing

Each student will optically letterspace their full name using the digital typeface 'Outta Whack' provided by the instructor. The automatic setting of spaces between letters in this particular typeface have been scrambled so that it sets very poorly. A copy of this typeface can be downloaded from the PDF Files page. The goal is to find the appropriate amount of space in-between each set of individual letters. The spacing of letters should appear to be optically similar, smooth, and even for ease of reading. Students will use the application Adobe InDesign to complete this assignment. Students must set their full name at both 48pt. and 18 pt. sizes and for each size students must set their name in both ALL CAPS and Upper and Lowercase formats. Students must present their work using a standardized page layout grid. A PDF template file of this page layout grid can also be found on the PDF Files page.

Before beginning to work on their projects individually, all students must participate in an in-class group participation activity. Working together students will help each other understand how to better visualize and control spacing in-between letters.

All students are required to generate a brief written statement evaluating their project work. Students must evaluate their project performance for each of the established Grading Criteria. (If 3 criteria are listed on the grading criteria page then students must write a response to each of those 3 criteria.)
In simple terms, each student must give themselves grades based on the grading criteria. Students must explain in detail why they deserve the grade that they have given themselves for each separate criteria. The instructor will read all statements and take them under consideration when assigning project grades.

• Printouts of Written Statements are due 1 week after the project due date.
• Approx. Word Count: 500-1500 words
• Set the text in 10 pt type. Use one of the following fonts: Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, Times. You can use either single-line spacing or double-line spacing.
• Include your full name plus "A252 Typography 2, Spring 2005" at the top of each printout.
• Check for misspelled words before you turn in your statements.