Symmetry issues in italics

[alex]

Hi Tim!

I’m facing a problem where Kern On strongly insists on having asymmetrical kerning for italic serif {H} [H] (H) — quite noticeable 0 (model) and -40 (auto) on the other side. Trying to set both sides as models to 0, and it removes one side saying “[H is too tight compared to H]”, which can’t be true as it’s all just rectangles slanted to the same degree, and 0 vs -40 is not a rounding error.

Maybe it has something to do with the vertical alignment at an angle, maybe each side takes different influences independently from each other, but either way it would be great to respect or enforce symmetry in such cases :)

[Tim Ahrens]

This seems to be essentially the same effect:
https://kern-on.com/manual/#q-slanted-italic

Hope this helps!

[alex]

Hi Tim, thank you! Hmm, I understand that for rounds and diagonals, but would you expect it to also apply to [H] of a basic rectangular design similar to the font used here?

[Tim Ahrens]

I wrote something about Looking vs Thinking here: https://kern-on.com/manual/#q-looking-thinking

Thinking that in an italic or slanted font, [H] is to be considered symmetrical, may be a case of Thinking gone wrong (i.e. an error in reasoning).

My advice would be:

• Trust your Looking
• Trust Kern On (if it really insists on something it is usually not completely wrong)
• Don’t trust your Thinking

[alex]

Hello Tim!
Good point, but I doubt it’s visually correct — please see the screenshot. Could it be that perhaps the vertical asymmetry (brackets not being aligned to cap height) affects it that way?