What is Kerning and Why Is It Important?
Kerning refers to the adjustment of space between individual letters or characters in typography. In Abyssale, the kerning feature works by adjusting the character space itself, which means characters can actually overlap when negative values are applied. Unlike tracking (which adjusts spacing uniformly across text), kerning gives you precise control over character positioning for professional typography effects.
Proper kerning control allows you to:
Create overlapping text effects
Position superscript characters precisely
Develop custom typographic styling
Fine-tune character positioning for logos and headlines
Using Kerning Markup in Abyssale
Abyssale provides a special markup language to adjust kerning in your text elements across various generation methods.
Basic Kerning Syntax
To adjust kerning in Abyssale, use the following markup:
<k=VALUE%>text to adjust</k>
Where VALUE is the percentage adjustment:
0%: Default kerning as defined by the font
100%: Adds spacing equal to the font size
-100%: Reduces spacing by the equivalent of the font size (causing significant overlap)
Negative values cause characters to overlap
Positive values increase the character spacing
Kerning in the Design Builder
Kerning is directly editable inside the Design Builder.
You can:
Select characters inside a text layer
Adjust kerning values visually with immediate preview
Combine kerning with other formatting options (superscript, subscript, font weight, etc.)
This makes it easy to fine-tune character spacing without needing test generations.
Applying Kerning Through Different Methods
Via API
Include kerning markup in your text content when making API requests:
{
"elements": {
"price": {
"payload": "€15<k=-30%>.</k><sup>99</sup>"
}
}
}Via Dynamic Image URL
You can include kerning markup in your dynamic image URL payloads, just like you would with other markup language:
&text.payload=15<k=-30%>.</k><sup>99</sup>
Via CSV Import
You can include kerning markup directly in your CSV files:
Add the complete text with kerning tags in the appropriate column of your CSV
Upload your CSV through the Spreadsheet generation interface
The overlapping character effects will be applied when designs are generated
Via Quick Generation Form
Kerning markup can also be used in the Quick Generation input fields:
Select a text input
Type your text and apply any other formatting using the "Rich text mode" controls
Switch to the "Code mode", and add the kerning markup tags directly in the input
<k=VALUE%>text to adjust</k>Preview your kerning by switching into the "Rich text mode"
Via Spreadsheet
Kerning markup can also be used in the Abyssale Spreadsheet input fields:
Select a text cell
Type your text and apply any other formatting using the "Rich text mode" controls
Switch to the "Code mode", and add the kerning markup tags directly in the input
<k=VALUE%>text to adjust</k>Preview your kerning by switching into the "Rich text mode"
Important Considerations
Font and Weight Dependency
The visual effect of kerning values is significantly impacted by the font properties you choose:
Font Family Impact
Different font families have inherently different character widths and spacing. The same kerning value will produce dramatically different results between fonts:
Monospace fonts (like Courier or Roboto Mono): Even with the same kerning value, characters may overlap less noticeably because these fonts have consistent character widths
Condensed fonts (like Arial Narrow): May require less aggressive kerning values to achieve overlap
Extended fonts: May require more aggressive kerning values to achieve the same visual effect
Font Weight Considerations
Font weight dramatically changes how kerning values affect character spacing:
Light or Thin weights: Characters typically have less width, so the same kerning percentage may create more extreme overlapping
Bold or Black weights: Characters occupy more horizontal space, which can make overlapping effects more pronounced
Variable width characters: In many fonts, characters like 'i' and 'l' are narrower than 'w' and 'm', meaning the same kerning value will create inconsistent overlap effects across different character pairs
When switching between font weights within the same design, you'll need to adjust your kerning values accordingly. For example:
A
-25%kerning value in a Regular weight might need to be reduced to-15%in BoldA
-40%kerning value in a Black weight might need to be increased to-50%in Light
Testing for Optimal Results
Since kerning adjustments (especially overlapping effects) are only visible after generation:
Generate small test batches first
Make incremental adjustments (5-10% at a time)
Review the actual generated results before proceeding with larger batches
Create a reference table of effective kerning values for your most commonly used fonts and weights