Understanding InCopy Kerning: Refining Your Text Layout
InCopy, a powerful tool for collaborative writing and editing, offers various functionalities to enhance the visual appeal and readability of text. One such feature is kerning, a process often used in typography to fine-tune the spacing between specific letter pairs. However, it's essential to understand that InCopy's role in kerning differs slightly from what you might experience in dedicated design software like InDesign.
Kerning Explained:
In essence, kerning involves adjusting the space between individual characters to create a visually balanced and aesthetically pleasing appearance. This becomes particularly important for certain letter combinations where the default spacing might appear uneven or awkward. For example, the space between the letters "A" and "V" often benefits from kerning adjustments to achieve a more cohesive look.
InCopy's Role in Kerning:
While InCopy provides access to kerning adjustments, it's important to remember that it primarily inherits kerning settings established in the original InDesign file. This means:
- Limited control: InCopy users cannot directly create or modify custom kerning pairs.
- Reliance on InDesign: The designer or layout artist working in InDesign will define the kerning rules for the entire document, and these rules are then transferred to the linked InCopy files.
Benefits of InCopy Kerning:
Despite limited user control, InCopy kerning offers several advantages:
- Consistent appearance: By inheriting kerning settings, InCopy ensures that all users working on the same story maintain a consistent visual style throughout the document.
- Reduced workload for editors: Editors can focus on their core tasks of writing and editing without needing to delve into the intricacies of individual kerning adjustments.
Additional Considerations:
- Optical kerning: InCopy uses optical kerning by default, which automatically adjusts spacing based on the shapes of adjacent characters.
- Manual kerning override: In rare cases, if a specific kerning adjustment is critical and differs from the InDesign settings, the designer might provide an override within the linked InCopy file, allowing for localized adjustments.
By understanding the nuances of kerning in InCopy, you can appreciate its role in maintaining visual consistency and collaborate effectively with designers to achieve the desired aesthetics for your projects.
