To Kern or not to Kern

In the studio today, we were given a quick introduction to the world of Kerning.

Simon produced a game called 'Kerndown' inspired by the game show Countdown. To play this game, we were divided into groups of 4 and given 5 letters of our choice; either a vowel or consonant, Lower or Upper case. With these five letters we were then given a time limit in which we had to play around the the letter spacing and layout of the letters in order to create made up brand names. We then gave these brand names a meaning and purpose.

  The task enabled us to see how it's possible to change the meaning or purpose of a word when manipulating the kerning etc. It gave us a quick insight into how this is done and how easy or difficult it is. The time limit given meant that we had to think quickly on our feet as well as adding a fun element to the exercise.

Below are some photos of how we got on...

 - Top right image: an idea for a logo design for a    social networking site, much like Skype or MSN.    The dot above the 'i' was removed and later            added underneath the letter to replicate
   an exclamation mark.

 - Bottom left image: logo for an airline. The kerning was increased and the letters appear to be floating to denote the idea of being in the air.