How can I make text appear correctly in an equation? [duplicate]

Question

The basic outline of the equation below is correct but how can I make the text appear correctly right now it appears scrunched up?

\documentclass{report}
\begin{document}
\begin{align*}
 \left.
 k_S

= \left\lbrace
\begin{array}{l}
k_{LW}    \text{if} k_{ICOMP}<k_{LW} \\
k_{ICOMP} \text {otherwise}
\end{array}
\right.
\end{align*}
\end{document}

Answer 1

Maybe this? Note I made the subscripts upright, since they seemed to be acronyms of some sort, rather than indices or variable names. I also adjusted \arraycolsep from its default, to tune the gap between the left brace and the following content.

\documentclass{report}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}
\begin{align*}
 k_S
= \left\{
\arraycolsep=1pt\relax
\begin{array}{l}
\text{$k_\text{LW}$    if $k_\text{ICOMP}<k_\text{LW}$} \\
\text{$k_\text{ICOMP}$ otherwise}
\end{array}
\right.
\end{align*}
\end{document}

Answer 2

Why no use cases of the amsmath package?

\documentclass{report}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}
\begin{align*}
  k_S=\begin{cases}
k_{\text{LW}} & \text{if } k_{\text{ICOMP}}<k_{\text{LW}} \\
k_{\text{ICOMP}} & \text{otherwise}
\end{cases}
\end{align*}
\end{document}