Typography is an art form that extends beyond selecting fonts and colors. It’s about finessing every detail, including tracking, to create a design that is both visually appealing and easy to read. Tracking, also referred to as letter spacing, plays a crucial role in the overall readability and aesthetic of a design. This guide explores what tracking is, why it’s essential, and how to master it to take your typography skills to the next level.
Tracking is the adjustment of horizontal space between letters in a word or line. Tracking is one of the most important aspects to consider when working with typography. Tracking can be used to improve the overall appearance of text, making it more legible and aesthetically pleasing.
Tracking can be adjusted manually or through automated methods, such as kerning pairs and tracking rules. In this guide, we will explore what tracking is, how it is used in typography and graphic design, and some tips for getting the most out of this essential typography technique.
The Definition of Tracking in Typography
Tracking in typography refers to the uniform adjustment of space between characters across a block of text. It is applied evenly to all characters, as opposed to kerning, which targets individual letter pairs. Tracking influences both the look and feel of the text, contributing to either a more open, spacious design or a tighter, more compact appearance.
For example, increasing tracking will spread the letters apart, giving the text a more airy and modern appearance. Conversely, decreasing tracking will condense the letters, often giving the design a denser, more impactful feel. This balance is particularly important when adjusting typography for print versus digital mediums.
Tracking for Specific Font Sizes
Font size plays a significant role in determining appropriate tracking. For smaller text sizes, particularly in digital formats, a slight increase in tracking can help improve readability, preventing the letters from appearing cramped. For large headlines or titles, slightly reducing tracking can create a bolder and more cohesive look. Understanding these nuanced differences helps you control the overall tone and legibility of your designs.
How to Define Tracking in Typography
Tracking is the adjustment of space between letters in a word or line. Tracking is sometimes thought of as letter spacing and how you can increase or decrease the space between letters, improving the overall appearance of text.
You can increase or decrease the tracking of text in your design to create the desired effect whether that be creating a lighter and airy feel by increasing the tracking or creating a squished, tighter block of text by decreasing the tracking.
In contrast to kerning, which refers to the adjustment of space between individual characters, tracking adjusts the space evenly throughout a block of text. Kerning and tracking are used together in typography to create a visually balanced and pleasing appearance of a word or an entire block of text.
How is Tracking Used in Typography and Graphic Design?
In graphic design, tracking can be used to make text stand out or blend into the background of a design depending on how heavy of a presence you want to give your text. Tracking can also be used to improve readability, especially in tight or cramped layouts where adjusting the tracking may give the text more breathing room.
In typography, tracking is often used to create a specific visual aesthetic or tone for a design. For example, increasing the tracking can give a light and airy feel while decreasing the tracking may add tension and impact to the text.
Tracking can also be used in branding to ensure consistency throughout various design materials. By setting specific tracking values for brand fonts, designers can ensure that all text and logos appear uniform across different mediums. Using tracking values and rules for branding is a very important aspect of typography that many people may not even think of as being a possibility!
Tracking vs. Kerning and Leading
While tracking, kerning, and leading all affect text spacing, they are distinct processes:
- Tracking: Adjusts the uniform spacing between characters in an entire word, line, or paragraph.
- Kerning: Adjusts the spacing between individual letter pairs, correcting any awkward gaps caused by specific character combinations (e.g., AV, WA).
- Leading: Controls the vertical space between lines of text, impacting how blocks of text flow together.
These adjustments work hand-in-hand to refine typography. For instance, while tracking can enhance uniform spacing in a paragraph, kerning will ensure that individual letter pairs do not appear awkward or too far apart. Similarly, well-set leading helps separate lines, ensuring that text doesn’t appear too cramped or too spaced out vertically.
While tracking focuses on the space between letters, you also need to think about the space between lines, known as leading. Getting the right balance between these two can really make or break how readable and visually appealing your text looks. If you want to dive deeper into how leading works and how it pairs with tracking, check out our guide on what is leading in typography. Together, they play a big role in creating clean, well-structured text layouts.
While tracking focuses on the space between letters, you also need to think about the space between lines, known as leading. Getting the right balance between these two can really make or break how readable and visually appealing your text looks. If you want to dive deeper into how leading works and how it pairs with tracking, check out our guide on what is leading in typography. Together, they play a big role in creating clean, well-structured text layouts.
When to Use Tracking, Kerning, or Leading
- Tracking: Use when you want to adjust the overall spacing of an entire block of text to improve readability or achieve a specific design aesthetic.
- Kerning: Use when dealing with headlines or large display text to fine-tune spacing between problematic letter pairs.
- Leading: Use to control vertical spacing in long-form text or multi-line headings to ensure the text flows smoothly and is easy to read.
Letter Tracking in Typography
Tracking in typography refers to the adjustment of space between letters in a word or line. Letter tracking can be adjusted manually or through automated methods, such as kerning pairs and tracking rules. Adjusting the tracking can enhance the appearance and legibility of text in a design and add a certain type of style to your design.
Why Tracking Matters in Typography
Tracking plays an essential role in typography, influencing several key aspects of design:
Readability: Well-adjusted tracking ensures that your text remains legible, especially when working with small font sizes or long paragraphs. Tight or overly loose tracking can make text difficult to follow, straining the reader’s eyes and detracting from the overall user experience.
Design Consistency: Uniform tracking helps achieve visual balance across various sections of your design. Whether you’re working on a website, a printed brochure, or a logo, consistent tracking across all text elements helps maintain a cohesive look and feel.
Brand Identity: Tracking can also contribute to the overall tone and style of a brand’s visual language. Loose tracking is often associated with elegance and minimalism, while tighter tracking may be used to convey urgency or strength. Consistency in tracking throughout branding materials can reinforce your brand’s aesthetic and message.
Mood and Atmosphere: Tracking subtly communicates mood. For instance, increased tracking in luxury brand logos creates an air of sophistication, while tight tracking in bold headlines conveys a sense of urgency or excitement.
The Relationship Between Font and Tracking
Not all fonts react to tracking adjustments in the same way. Serif fonts, for example, tend to need more space between characters compared to sans-serif fonts, as their intricate details can make them feel more crowded. When working with a script or display fonts, you’ll also need to carefully adjust the tracking to avoid disrupting the flow of the letters or causing awkward gaps.
Best Practices for Adjusting Tracking in Typography
Mastering tracking is about understanding the context and purpose of your design. Here are some practical tips for fine-tuning tracking:
Small Text Needs Extra Space: In body text or paragraphs, particularly for smaller font sizes, slightly increasing tracking helps prevent the text from becoming too dense and improves readability.
Use Negative Tracking Sparingly: Reducing tracking (using negative values) can add impact to titles and headlines, but be careful not to overdo it. Tight tracking should still maintain legibility without making the text feel too cramped.
Maintain Consistency Across Media: Tracking should be adjusted based on the medium—print versus digital. For digital designs, ensure that tracking is appropriate across various screen sizes. What may look good on a desktop might require a different tracking setting for mobile devices.
Test with Different Fonts: Fonts react differently to tracking adjustments. Always test multiple tracking values with the specific font you’re using to see what looks best. Avoid using extreme tracking values unless they serve a deliberate design purpose.
Tracking for Emotional Impact: The way you adjust tracking can influence the emotional impact of your design. For instance, increasing tracking for a luxury brand may evoke a sense of sophistication, while tighter tracking in a tech logo may convey innovation and strength.
How to Adjust Tracking in Popular Design Software
Whether you’re working in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, or Canva, adjusting tracking is a straightforward process:
Adobe Illustrator & InDesign:
- Step 1: Select the text you want to adjust.
- Step 2: Open the Character panel (Window > Type > Character).
- Step 3: Use the tracking option (labeled as “VA” with arrows) to adjust the letter spacing. Enter positive or negative values to increase or decrease spacing.
Photoshop:
- Step 1: Highlight the text layer.
- Step 2: In the Character panel, locate the tracking option and adjust as needed using the up or down arrows.
Canva:
- Step 1: Select the text box.
- Step 2: Use the Letter Spacing slider under the “Spacing” menu to increase or decrease the tracking visually.
How to Change Typography Tracking
You can change the tracking of a word or a phrase within the design program you’re using by selecting the text and adjusting the tracking value in the character or type options.
You can adjust the tracking manually in addition to adjusting the spacing between each letter, known as kerning. You can change a text’s tracking in most design software including Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, and Canva.
How to Change Tracking in Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator
In Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator, you can change the tracking by selecting the text and adjusting the value in the Character window.
You can find the Character window by selecting “Window” and then “Type” and then choosing “Character.” or Type options. The tracking tool looks like the letters VA next to each other with a double-sided arrow underneath.
How to Change Tracking in Canva
In Canva, you can change the tracking by selecting the text and clicking on “spacing” in the top toolbar. The spacing tool looks like 3 parallel lines with a double-sided arrow pointing both upward and downward.
You’ll see options to change either the letter spacing or the line spacing. In Canva, changing the “letter spacing” is equivalent to changing the tracking in Adobe software.
Tracking Typography Example
One example of tracking in typography is adjusting the space between letters in a word or line to create visual balance. A block of text with evenly spaced letters can appear visually balanced, while uneven letter spacing can create an unbalanced and cluttered look. Adjusting the tracking can also change the overall texture or feel of the typography, such as creating a tighter or looser cluster of letters.
Another example of tracking is using it to create a specific style in a design. Increasing the tracking can create a bold and impactful look while decreasing the tracking can create a tight and condensed appearance. In contrast, excessive adjustments to tracking can negatively affect legibility and make text difficult to read.
If you are making drastic changes to the tracking in your design, it is important to consider the font being used and how it may be affected by the adjustments. As with any aspect of typography, it is crucial to consider legibility and overall appearance when adjusting the tracking in your design.
Examples of Good and Bad Tracking in Typography
Good Tracking: In a well-spaced paragraph, tracking ensures that the text is easy to read, neither too cramped nor too spread out. For headlines, reducing tracking slightly can make the title appear tighter and more impactful.
Bad Tracking: Overly tight tracking makes text harder to read, as letters appear cramped and close together. On the flip side, excessive letter spacing (loose tracking) can make text feel disjointed, reducing visual coherence.
Examples of good tracking in typography
On the other hand, here are a few examples of good tracking in typography that can enhance the overall appearance and legibility of text:
- Making small adjustments to create a visually balanced and evenly spaced block of text
- Using the tracking to create a desired style or texture in the typography
- Considering the specific font and how tracking affects the font style
- Adjusting the tracking to create visually balanced and legible text
- Using a combination of kerning and tracking to improve the appearance and readability of specific letter pairs
Examples of Bad Tracking in Typography
There are a few ways that tracking can be used in a negative way in graphic design. Here are a few examples of bad tracking in typography that you want to avoid:
Not adjusting the tracking at all, resulting in cramped or scattered letter spacing
Using excessive adjustments to the tracking, leading to illegible and cluttered text
Not considering the specific font being used and how it may be affected by changes in tracking
Excessive or uneven adjustments to the tracking make the text unbalanced and difficult to read
How do professionals use tracking in typography?
Professionals use tracking to create visual balance and enhance the appearance of text in a design. Adjusting the tracking can also change the overall texture or feel of the typography, such as creating a tighter or looser design. A graphic designer will rarely finalize a design without first adjusting the tracking of the text to make sure it is just right and visually appealing.
Tracking for Responsive Web Design
In the digital era, tracking must be optimized for responsive web design. Since users access content on a variety of devices, including desktops, tablets, and smartphones, it’s essential to ensure that tracking remains visually appealing and functional across all screen sizes. Mobile users, in particular, need slightly more generous tracking to ensure that text remains legible on smaller screens. This is where CSS properties such as letter-spacing come in handy, allowing designers to control tracking dynamically for different screen sizes.
When creating responsive typography, designers should:
- Set a Baseline for Tracking in the CSS: Use letter-spacing to control tracking for body text and headers, ensuring consistency across the design.
- Adjust for Smaller Screens: Slightly increase tracking for smaller screens to avoid text looking cramped.
- Test on Multiple Devices: Ensure your tracking adjustments work well on both desktop and mobile, maintaining readability across all devices.
How does typography measure tracking?
Tracking is measured in a unit called “ems.” One em is equal to the width of the letter “M” in the chosen typeface. In graphic design or typographic software, a designer can increase or decrease the tracking by increments of 0.1 ems for precise adjustments.
Measuring tracking is usually done in increments, such as 1/10th or 1/100th of an em (a unit of measure equal to the width of the letter). Tracking is typically measured in positive and negative increments, making adjustments to the tracking.
For example, a tracking value of 50 would mean that the space between each letter is half the width of the letter while a tracking value of -50 would mean that the space between each letter is compressed by half the width of the letter.
Examples of bad tracking in typography might be when the letters are too tightly spaced or too widely spaced, making it difficult for readers to discern individual letters or words. On the other hand, good tracking in typography would be when the spacing between letters is visually balanced and enhances readability.
Tips for Tracking in Graphic Design
Experiment with Tracking to Find the Right Balance for Your Design
It is imperative to experiment with tracking if you are adding text to your design. Different fonts and font sizes require different amounts of tracking, so it is important to adjust accordingly. Focusing on experimenting with tracking in all of your designs will help you hone your typography skills as a graphic designer and will lead to more visually appealing and balanced designs.
Consider the Differences in Shape and Spacing Between Fonts
Not all fonts are created equal and some may require more or less tracking for a balanced design. It is important to consider the specific characteristics of each font before adjusting the tracking. If the font you are working with has ligatures and swashes, for instance, you may need to adjust the tracking to accommodate these elements.
Use Different Tracking for Different Fonts to Maintain Visual Balance in Your Design
It is important to use different tracking for each font in your design to maintain visual balance. This means adjusting the tracking for each individual font rather than using the same tracking across all fonts in your design. This is necessary in order to create a balanced and cohesive design.
Combine Tracking with Kerning and Leading for a Polished Look
Kerning and leading play important roles in typography as well, and it is important to consider all three elements when creating a design with text. Adjusting only one element may throw off the balance of the design, so be sure to make changes to tracking, kerning, and leading simultaneously for a polished look.
Ask for a Second Opinion from a Fellow Designer
Getting a second opinion from someone with fresh eyes can also help you determine if the tracking in your design looks balanced or if it needs further adjustment. Plus, getting feedback from both a fellow designer and non-designer can give you different perspectives on the overall look of your design.
Overall, tracking is a valuable tool for enhancing the appearance and readability of text in typography and graphic design. Experiment with different adjustments to find the right balance for your designs, and consider the differences between fonts when adjusting the tracking.
Tracking vs Kerning in Typography
Kerning refers to the adjustment of space between specific letter pairs, while tracking refers to the adjustment of space between all letters in a word or line. In addition to adjusting the tracking, professionals also use techniques such as kerning and leading to fine-tune the appearance of text in a design.
Both kerning and tracking can be used to enhance the readability and overall appearance of typography, but it is important for graphic designers to know the difference between the two techniques.
Tracking vs Leading in Typography
Leading refers to the adjustment of space between lines of text and is also known as line spacing. It can be used to improve readability and create visual balance in a block of text, but it should not be confused with tracking, which adjusts the space between letters.
Leading is useful for adjusting the overall appearance and readability of a block of text, especially if a text has long ascenders and descenders or elaborate swashes that interfere with the line of text above or below it.
Why is tracking important in typography?
Tracking is an important technique that graphic designers can hone their skills with. Tracking creates a significant impact on the overall appearance and legibility of text in typography. Adjusting the tracking can create visual balance, enhance readability, and change the texture or feel of the typography.
If you have not played with tracking in your designs before, modifying tracking is a surefire way to take your graphic design career to the next level. With each new skill you learn, the better your portfolio gets!
What’s the difference between tracking and spacing?
The terms tracking and spacing are often used interchangeably, but they technically refer to different typography adjustments. Tracking refers to the adjustment of space between all letters in a word or line, while spacing (also known as letter spacing) refers to the adjustment of space between individual letters.
Is letter spacing the same thing as tracking?
No, letter spacing and tracking are not the same. Letter spacing refers to the adjustment of space between individual letters, while tracking refers to the adjustment of space between all letters in a word or line.
Impact of Tracking on SEO
Though tracking itself does not directly affect SEO rankings, it plays a crucial role in user experience, which is increasingly considered by search engines like Google. Well-spaced, easy-to-read text enhances user experience by reducing bounce rates and increasing time spent on the page—two critical factors in SEO rankings. Poorly tracked text that is hard to read may lead to users quickly abandoning the page, which signals to search engines that your content is not providing value.
Frequently Asked Questions About Tracking in Typography
Is tracking the same as letter spacing?
Yes, tracking is often referred to as letter spacing. Both terms describe the process of adjusting the space between characters uniformly across text.
How does tracking affect readability?
Proper tracking ensures that letters are spaced appropriately, making text easier to read. Poor tracking can result in text that’s either too cramped or too loose, both of which hinder readability.
Can You Use Tracking with Any Font?
Yes, tracking can be applied to any font, but how much tracking you use should depend on the specific characteristics of the font. For example, serif fonts often benefit from looser tracking than sans-serif fonts.
Is Tracking Important for Logos?
Absolutely. Tracking can make a big difference in logo design, particularly when trying to achieve a balance between aesthetic appeal and legibility. Tight tracking often gives logos a strong, bold appearance, while looser tracking can create a more elegant, spaced-out look.
What Is Negative Tracking?
Negative tracking is the reduction of space between characters, often used in headlines or display text to create a bold, compact effect. However, it should be used sparingly, as too much negative tracking can reduce legibility.
How Do You Set Tracking for Different Devices?
Use CSS media queries to adjust tracking for different screen sizes. For smaller screens, slightly increase tracking to ensure text doesn’t appear too tight. For larger screens, consider reducing tracking to fit more text within the layout while maintaining readability.
Typography is more than just choosing a font—it involves carefully adjusting the spaces between characters to ensure readability and visual appeal. One such key adjustment is tracking, or letter-spacing, which refers to the uniform spacing between characters across a block of text.
Understanding and mastering tracking is key to becoming a proficient typographer or designer. Whether you’re designing a sleek, modern website or working on a print layout, tracking ensures that your text is not only aesthetically pleasing but also readable and functional. By adjusting the tracking to suit the font style, size, and design context, you can create text that enhances the user experience and reinforces your brand’s identity. Don’t underestimate the power of proper letter spacing—it can truly transform the quality of your design.
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