What is kerning?

Kerning refers specifically to the adjustment of space between individual letters in a piece of text. This typographic practice is essential for improving the readability and overall aesthetics of written content. Proper kerning helps to create a visually pleasing flow that enhances the viewer's experience by ensuring that letters fit well together, reducing awkward gaps and improving legibility.

Effective kerning can vary based on the font and the specific letter combinations, as some pairs may require more or less space than others to appear balanced. This attention to detail becomes particularly important in headers, logos, and other prominent text where the visual impact of the words is crucial.

The other choices refer to different typographic concepts. Adjusting the space between lines of text pertains to leading, while the spacing of entire blocks of text relates to margin settings or paragraph spacing, and aligning text to a grid involves layout design rather than individual letter adjustments. Each of these plays its own role in typography, but they do not define kerning.