Folks Are Amused By These 30 Kerning Fails That Show How Crucial Character Spacing Is
Being positive towards anything can be difficult, especially in 2021. However, it's forever a great idea to bathe your brain with some good thoughts once in a while. It's not a secret – our world has been through a lot, and society can be particularly toxic, which is why it's important to put love above everything. Everyone deserves respect and appreciation... except for whoever was responsible for creating these kerning fails.
Jokes aside, the spacing between individual letters plays a crucial role in general – but especially when you're designing a project for print. Without kerning, things can end up looking a little rough and will most likely completely change the meaning of the text.
By all means, it's not ideal when it happens, but it will probably make someone laugh. These Reddit users decided to share character spacing disasters that they noticed on posters, clothes etc. The subreddit was created in 2012 and currently has 248K members. Here we've gathered some of the best ones!
More info: Reddit
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Limit Of Ten
It says 'ten ants only'. So the restriction applies if it's 9 or less as well.
Load More Replies...This is near my house. Used to say "tennants" and somebody who could not bear to see the mis-spelling removed an N
Can Adult Also
*Whale Emoji*
That's what happens when they stopped teaching kids to read/write cursive. Clearly not a W. It isn't connected properly to the H to be a *W*
Right? It's clearly inhale if you know how to read cursive. I had to struggle to figure out what the "mistake" was.
Load More Replies...Font fail, not kerning fail. Kerning is space between letters. The spacing here is correct. It's just a poorly designed font.
I have a shirt with pic of a person meditating that either says "imperfect" or "I'm perfect"
People buy this stuff? Regardless of the "whale" thing? I can see Captain Ahab going for it, but normal people? Do they really need a reminder?
Sounds Savory...
Took me a while to see what was wrong with this one. I was trying to figure out what "merlot" could be misinterpreted as.
Bean Outsider
Strange design to begin with. They write Be An Outsider and then draw a box around it. 🤦♂️
it's from LLBean, an outdoors store in Maine. not coffee cup specific, I had it on a bumper sticker for my car
This is on purpose. L.L.Bean is the brand. They're intending to make "Bean" and "Be an" look similar. I don't really like the design, but they meant to do it.
Oh, and Bean is a surname. The company was founded by Leon Leonwood Bean in 1912 in Freeport, Maine. I once lived a short walk from their flagship store.
Load More Replies...I think they meant to do that though? The company is LL. Bean and so I think they were going for a play on words with their brand?
as a graphic designer, teach your friends to notice poor kerning. its the cringy gift that keeps on giving
The Entry Of The Carps
Just sayin', looks like one of the carps had a hard time with the entry trunk. That tail fin looks painful.
What A Terrible Day To Have Eyes
I liked the" Xt ra Shot" if put some accent in the "r" it will look like a lot Italian :)
This has happened due to either changing fonts OR languages (but should have been caught at the printers either way....)
I remember seeing this in English words used in Asian text when I used to do format reviews on translated manuals. Fonts could be such a PITA!
Load More Replies...They turned 'cappuccino' into 5 words! It only has 4 syllables!
You Had Meat Coffee
A thick salty meat extract paste. Yummm sounds tempting!
Load More Replies...Back in the day I would get pm's from (usually) Arab men that always said "I'd like to meat you." As their opening line. Nope. I'm good bud
Well That’s A Long Word
Pipersaidastheywalkedtowardstherestaurant is the new second-longest word in the world!
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
Load More Replies...#ronics2020
Absolutely Noink In This Area
Even though I'm reading it as "Noink," somehow I'm still inferring the negative and I'm irrationally disappointed - even though I don't know what a Noink is, it sounds like something I want and it's frustrating that the sign is banning it. (I think I'm reading the n & o twice subconsciously. The blue ink makes it stand out like a seperate word, but because there's no spacing before the 'ink' my eyes go back to the beginning of the line to work out what the word is. Hence, reading it as 'No Noink" :( )
Kidsor Kidults
I feel like Kidsor Kidults is a specific person who has wronged this manufacturer, and now the manufacturer won't let them anywhere near their products.
Probably a relative of Bill Posters, who has been dodging prosecution for decades
Load More Replies...Well, I think "kidult" is a perfect term for those of us who are getting older, but are still young at heart. Kidults of the world, unite!
Oh hey, we have a nifty new gender-neutral term for "manchild": kidult!
What is it actually supposed to say, I get it says keep it away from Kids or. But I don't get the rest. What is Kidults?
A combination of a kerning/spacing fail (the main topic of this post) and a typo, I think. If I'm wrong and it's meant to be a different word, would love to know.
Load More Replies...Marezedotes and dozedotes, and little lambs eat ivy. A Kiddle eat ivy too, wouldn't you? ;)
I'm A Gine?
Even properly kerned, I can't help but think it looks like some Christian heard the pretty chord progressions of "Imagine" and never paid enough attention to realize that Lennon was saying he wished Christians (and anyone who disagreed with him on just about anything) simply didn't exist.
Back in the days our parents told us never get in a van if someone say they have free candy or puppies now I tell my kids don't get in a van with a free WiFi sign on it
Тhis Sign That Came With A Nutcracker My Mom Recently Bought
That's a lot to unpack. Completely unnecessary apostrophe, all words capitalized except the proper noun, left shifted first line with centered second line, and the ludicrous kerning.
and also "ri" replaced by "n" (this is not just an "i" close to "r", there is an "i" on the first line and it looks different and has a proprer dot)
Load More Replies...That's why you should not write when boozed. (I bet to much meat merlot)
Why is it in the font & black-border styling of the "Smoking kills"-type warnings on cigarette packs (will depend on your country)?!
Thewotldbel
I feel they got so emotional at the end there, they typed with tears in their eyes
Nearly Had A Hemorrhage Trying To Read This
"this beach is dangerous for children and non swimmers". Sorry, had to destroy the fun :(
Load More Replies...my first attempt: this be a chisd ange rous for child rena ndnons wimmers.
I Think This Belongs Here..
At least they rewrote it so you knew what D O WN TO W N C A M PU S L AU N CH meant.
Come to think of it, I'm not sure what Downtown Campus Launch means....
Load More Replies...I am on my third reading and still I can only decipher "downtown". Ok, fourth reading and I got it. Am I dyslexic or was the "layout artist" having a psychotic episode? I never even saw the white text until my fifth reading. Adobe should not be so lax in selling their software.
What is even the point of this?! You already have the title there, easy to read but let's add a confusing group of letters just for fun!
I Love A Good Activitie Shub, Me
Not to be confused the Activities Shaloub which was making 'Monk' such a great show.
Has This Been Done Yet
Does it make this kettle better, or is that beyond the powers even of tea?
Starw Arst O Re
even without the spaces it's missing an "S." Unless they meant Star Wars Tore, which can also happen I guess.
unless its all geared toward just one "star war" and not all of them
Load More Replies...If the the A and R in STARW were switched, it would be STRAW, and the you just need to remove the S from ARST and put it at the beginning of ORE. Then you have STRAW ART SORE.
A few years ago my son sent me a text to download a game that he thought i would like. Turns out there was a space in the game name that shouldn't have been there in his text. I searched for half an hour for "Wart Hunter" before he came to help me and asked if was having a stroke. it's WAR THUNDER ! ffs.
S E R I O U S L Y
It certainly wasn't well justified in this case.
Load More Replies...Never, ever right justify body text. I mean it. Don't make me have to look for you.
Dentists Notice
Here I thought the guy reading the disclaimer was the problem. He's just reading it as written.
This is the typed equivalent of the disclaimer at the end of a commercial read by an auctioneer.
a dentist invented a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong word
Listen Up Kids! The Word Of The Day Is: "Productis"
Evetime I see this stuff on clothing I can't help but think "this screams of forced child labour." :(
I just got taking a long and complicated exam on the human reproductive systems. Pretty sure "productis" was on there.
Federallaw Requires Thatthisarea Bevacated Whenneeded Bywheelchair Users
So when somebody needs the area, they have to go and find some wheelchair users to evacuate it?
Oh Microsoft…
There are some fonts that are created to be dyslexic- friendly. I wonder if this was intentional. Either way, awesome!
Load More Replies...Why is Microsoft being blamed exactly? Looking at the size of everything, the screen is clearly set to zoomed in nonsense
I've had students write like this and show their phone font as why it's okay. No, no it isn't.
Antioxid Ant
Bemy Angel
BEMY ANGEL...hey isn't that your Mom's cousin's aunt's uncle's brother?
But Not So Proud Of That Keming, I Hope
Is it just me or does the caption say "but not so proud of that keming (with the letter 'm')?
Not just you. These posts are from r/keming. The joke being that having the letters 'r' and 'n' too close together, so they're read as 'm', is one of the most common issues with bad kerning.
Load More Replies...It's only Brit *ish*, not completely Brit...
Load More Replies...I don't understand what's wrong with the sign. It says they proudly sell meat from Britain
P Lease•••
Right?? I wanna scribble in an "uh" after the P.
Load More Replies...Happy Hall Oween
Ah Yes The De Sse R Ts Menu
lol in the US toad in the hole is a completely different food (toast with a hole in the center filled with egg)
Load More Replies...Glad to see the sausages have been allowed to roam free, as nature intended.
Tumed Into Momings
I Thought The Spine Was Bad But Then There Was The Cover
Hey, at least you can r e a d it without your eyes e x p l o d e I n g
As a typesetter I cringe at most of the printed material you see today, but these make me scared.
Most of these are technically not kerning problems. Kerning is adjusting the space between a pair of letters. A lot of these are spaces missing between words, which is a different kind of problem. Some are tracking fails (tracking is the spacing between all letters in a line), primarily caused by bad justification.
I never saw the movie advertised at my local cinema "TOM BRAIDER" So I still don't know who he is.
I once saw a place called “laptop lab” but the sign really said “laptoplab”
All this crap seems almost made up... But I do own pair of china made hiking boots where the label reads "SOF TSHELL" tho
Taken individually, think a lot of people don’t notice these “out in the wild,” but a whole slew of them means either that the country’s manufacturing sector is gone and they sent their seconds off to less well-off country, or their educational system is totally broken.
Load More Replies...As a typesetter I cringe at most of the printed material you see today, but these make me scared.
Most of these are technically not kerning problems. Kerning is adjusting the space between a pair of letters. A lot of these are spaces missing between words, which is a different kind of problem. Some are tracking fails (tracking is the spacing between all letters in a line), primarily caused by bad justification.
I never saw the movie advertised at my local cinema "TOM BRAIDER" So I still don't know who he is.
I once saw a place called “laptop lab” but the sign really said “laptoplab”
All this crap seems almost made up... But I do own pair of china made hiking boots where the label reads "SOF TSHELL" tho
Taken individually, think a lot of people don’t notice these “out in the wild,” but a whole slew of them means either that the country’s manufacturing sector is gone and they sent their seconds off to less well-off country, or their educational system is totally broken.
Load More Replies...
