Andre Fuchs' relevant kerning pairs
Andre Fuchs’ research on the most relevant kerning pairs is a valuable resource for anyone seeking an efficient and manageable way to manually kern a typeface. His approach of condensing all possible kerning combinations into relatively manageable chunks ensures that the majority of necessary kerning can be achieved reliably, consistently, and productively.
Fuchs’ lists, which include raw kerning pairs, clustered pairs, and relevant words, are particularly powerful when combined with class-based kerning. For instance, by applying the same kerning class to all letters resembling the lowercase o, the relevant kerning pair Vo automatically handles any other combinations of V and lowercase letters assigned the same kerning class.
Like most of our favourite resources, control remains with the designer. Fuchs’ lists empower type designers to decide how far they want to take their kerning. They can opt for the absolute minimum or add additional kerning pairs for specific languages or pairs based on the typeface’s ultimate purpose. The choice is theirs.
Similar to Fuchs’ kerning pairs is a list created by Just Another Foundry, which is used by the tool KernOn.
Context of Diacritics
Context of Diacritics is an analysis of diacritics designed to assist type designers in refining the character sets of their fonts.
The team behind Context of Diacritics has compiled a comprehensive list of the most frequently occurring diacritic character combinations, utilising data from 26 languages. Users can explore these combinations and identify instances where specific accents are used together or at risk of colliding with other glyphs.
We have used this information to develop our own diacritic kerning strings for various combinations, including lowercase-lowercase, uppercase-lowercase, uppercase-uppercase, and lowercase-uppercase kerning.
Family Stem Weights Calculator
The Family Stem Weights Calculator by The Diacritics Club takes two user defined numbers and generates steps of progression between them, which is particularly helpful when developing a typeface using two masters and interpolating all of the intended weights in between. This is particularly useful when determining whether the values used in the masters result in a central, regular weight with the correct stem thickness.
Font Bakery
Font Bakery is the gold standard quality assurance tool specifically designed for type designers. Primarily a terminal-based command-line tool, it may seem a bit challenging to use initially if you’re not familiar with Python scripting. However, once you grasp its functionality, it becomes an invaluable resource for ensuring that everything is in order within exported font files.
When using Font Bakery, you can check whether your font meets the technical requirements for Google Fonts, Adobe Fonts, and many other criteria and checks.
TransType
TransType is a font converter designed by FontLab, which has an incredibly useful feature that shows how all of the different styles in a type family connect to one another. This is very useful when ensuring the proper connections between Romans and Italics are in place, particularly when creating families that contain condensed or extended versions.
Books
- Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton
- The Elements of Typography by Robert Bringhurst
- Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works by Erik Spiekerman
- Designing Type by Karen Cheng
- How to Design Fonts (2025 Edition) by Blaze Type
If you have any favourite resources that you’d like to share with us, or have any questions about the resources featured here, please feel free to get in touch.
