If you, like Deke, recoil at the sight of badly kerned text, then this weeks type-geek technique is just for you. Sure, adjusting the spacing between full-fledged characters is fairly straightforward in Photoshop: Click in between two characters with the type tool and use the Alt key in combination with the right and left arrow keys as needed. Simple, intuitive, effective. But what about the percentage symbol, for instance? Its actually made up of three sub-characters . Figuring how to kern between those three components is just the kind of challenge Deke likes to take apart. And taking apart the percent character is the key to this technique.

So imagine that you have this 100% text . Its easy enough to kern the number characters closer together, but when you do, the percent symbol looks oddly loose, as you can see indicated by the cyan circle below. The percentage symbol uses about twice the space as the other characters. Also, the fraction character is extending beyond the top and bottom of the respective small zeros, as indicated by the magenta lines below.

By changing the text to outlines, separating out the paths of the component pieces of the symbol, and adjusting them, Deke was able to create this much more aesthetically pleasing version:

Every week there is a new free technique from Deke, in which you get to benefit from Dekes obsessions as well as his creativity and Photoshop and Illustrator experience. Members of the lynda.com Online Training Library® also have access to additional exclusive techniques. In fact, this week Deke will show you how to take this painstakingly kerned text and emboss it into the wood background.

Are there similar detail-level design problems that vex you into the wee hours? What are your typographic pet peeves?