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Font pairing: find the perfect combination

Font pairing: find the perfect combination

It can be challenging to select typefaces for your online designs. And it's too easy to sink much time into a web design in development, replacing type after type without ever getting there. Let's look at everything you need to know about font pairing.

Combining Fonts in Your Web Design

Like so many other design parts, typography has guidelines to simplify discovering the ideal typeface pairings. We'll show you how to mix fonts, and we'll provide you with some great combinations for your business.

1. Use fonts that have different tones

Writing can convey emotion. The typefaces we use to express words impact our thoughts as well. Many fonts are serious and professional, while others are pleasant and informal. The personalities of typefaces reveal meaning to the text they display. When picking website fonts, combining various tones with typography creates visually stunning contrasts.

Consider the tone of who or what a website will be representing when choosing a font combination. A happy typeface would be appropriate for a toy firm, but it may look odd on a legal company's website. On the other hand, overly serious Serifs might be much for something lighthearted.

One of the most important factors to consider is what typeface you'll use for the headers and body copy. Heading levels provide greater leeway in style typefaces because they have a larger scale. A font that is pleasant to look at is required for body copy in smaller text sizes.

Don't be scared to use tonally opposing typefaces in your website layouts; occasionally, the contrast may pique interest.

2. Use typeface pairings that differ, but not too much

Avoid mixing typefaces in headers virtually identical to those used in the body copy. Use several typefaces that are visually distinct yet still complement each other.

What happens if we combine a typeface with calligraphic flourishes like Great Vibes, for example, and a Serif type like Merriweather? As a result, the design lacks balance and has an unpleasant sense of contrast.

Great Vibes' flourishes and loops have a soothing feel and a hint of refinement. Northwood is an informal typeface with serifs and tails, whereas Merriweather is a no-nonsense typeface with a formality conveyed by its serif letterforms. Here, the contrast is too strong for the combination to work.

Let's try a more enjoyable font combination. In the header, use Vollkorn, a somewhat fun font. Use Open Sans, a more neutral and plain sans serif typeface. This combination works well because, despite the difference in typefaces, the subtlety of both makes them visually compatible.

3. Use three or fewer distinct typefaces

In most designs, you'll apply one web typeface for the headline and another for the body. Hand lettering and more stylized typefaces might also be employed in the layout for creative purposes. Regardless of how tempted you are by all the free typefaces available, you only need three typefaces for a single website.

Many designers utilize a superfamily of typefaces for their designs. A superfamily is a typeface family related to one or more other families. It may include stylistic differences such as italics, light to heavyweights, serif, and sans serif versions, among other things. The most pleasing thing about superfamilies is that they eliminate the guessing game concerning matching typefaces because they are made to work together.

Single typefaces can be used in various ways when employed by superfamilies. Take a look at these Roboto superfamily options. The distinction between Thin 100 Italic and Regular 400 is not subtle.

Most typefaces are classified into superfamilies, which means you have many font alternatives to experiment with while still using the same style.

4. Communicate visual hierarchy through font pairing

Visualize the structure of your сommunicate hierarchy using different typeface designs, sizes, and colors. You may use typography to communicate visual information about the relative importance of other parts of your content. Headlines should be the most noticeable, followed by subheadings and body copy. Use your font combinations to add a clear sense of structure to your writing.

5. Use font size to imply order

The giant typeface represents what's most important, while decreasing font sizes represent the information hierarchy. All uppercase letters are a great way to make critical pieces like calls to action stand out. It's OK to use all caps in moderation; however, avoid making the text appear angry or hostile.

Most beginning designers integrate different font sizes to establish visual hierarchy, but there are other methods to exhibit visual scale.

6. Experiment with different weights

The relative importance is shown by greater weights, while lighter weights suggest a lower rung in the hierarchy. As we saw with the Roboto superfamily, you can accomplish a lot with a single typeface by altering its weight.

7. Vary font colors

While you don't want to use a kaleidoscope of contrasting colors in your design, varying the shades of your text might assist specific terms to stand out. More intense colors, such as red and purple, are used for headlines. The lighter variety contrasts with the darker versions, representing a copy that should be read first. Ensure that the font colors you're experimenting with aren't lost in the background.

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8. Serifs

Serif typefaces, which are legible in print, date back to the late 1700s and are initially intended for readability.

A serif is a slimline or stroke that has been added to a letter. Sans-serif typefaces have many visual cues that help readers' eyes to follow. Serif typefaces improve scanning efficiency, especially in lengthy blocks of text such as in books.

In the beginning of computing, screen resolutions that were too low for serif-based typefaces to render effectively caused problems. Graphic designers, on the other hand, may now utilize a plethora of serifs thanks to today's high-resolution displays.

Always combine a serif typeface with a sans-serif font when using one. Serif typefaces are often too similar, resulting in an unpleasant font match.

Serif typefaces are very adaptable. The following are some of the most frequent and helpful font sorts seen in the written text. They're simple to read in various sizes, making them ideal for body copy and headers.

Font pairing idea: EB Garamond and Montserrat

Combine the serif EB Garamond with Montserrat for the headline and reduce it in size for body copy. When serif fonts are used for long blocks of text, they perform better when they're smaller.

Font pairing idea: Libre Baskerville and Raleway

Libre Baskerville's more distinct serifs and angularity juxtapose Raleway's thin lines.

9. Sans serifs

The absence of extra lines distinguishes san serifs from serifs. Sans serifs can be used for paragraph or body text at a smaller size, or they may be combined with a serif in the headers.

There are a handful of typefaces to think about when it comes to font combinations.

Let's look at the most frequent sorts of typefaces and some creative possibilities you may use today.

Font pairing idea: Open Sans and Lato

Some designers may consider fonts like Open Sans and Helvetica old-fashioned, but they're famous. Open Sans is a primary yet welcome typeface that works well with various fonts. Consider its vanilla ice cream: it's the foundation on which you may construct many other delicious things.

For example, use Open Sans in the header and Lato in the body text. Use another sans serif typeface throughout the rest of the page.

10. Display fonts

If you need to get people's attention, display fonts are ideal. They're typically written in beautiful and complicated letterforms, such as big and bold or sparse and thin. Use typefaces explicitly designed for display if you want your design to stand out and leave an impression.

Font pairing idea: Bubblegum Sans and Open Sans

Bubblegum Sanc has bright letterforms that go well with the neutrality of Open Sans.

Font pairing idea: Poiret One and Lato

Poiret One is an excellent modern font if you're searching for a touch of refinement. Its subtle art deco-inspired lettering and thin linework make it a great contemporary font. This typeface looks fantastic with a more modest typeface, such as Lato. A contrast of this sort works well together with a more subtle typeface like Lato.

11. Monospaced typefaces

In a monospace typeface, all the characters are of equal width. For typefaces that have different widths, the standard horizontal measurement distinguishes them from typefaces with varying widths, giving them a sense of cohesion. Monospaced fonts have long been popular in computing because of their simplicity and adaptability to early low-resolution displays.

Font pairing idea: IBM Plex Mono and PT Sans

IBM Plex Mono is a contemporary typeface with a visual identity ideal for startups and other tech-related organizations. It was created as an homage to IBM. Sans-serif typefaces, such as this one, are easier on the eyes and make a better sense of contrast when used with PT Sans.

Font pairing idea: Roboto Mono and Roboto

Many designers prefer Roboto for its excellent readability. This font combination, which combines Roboto Mono with the regular version, is comfortable to look at.

Typography is essential for web design

Creating a solid online presence is not easy. There are several factors to consider when doing so. Take the same amount of care in matching your font pairings as you would a color palette. The typefaces you pick, the way you style them, and their legibility all contribute to a user's experience with your website. Find the coolest typefaces that mirror your project's personality and offer visitors the most pleasing way to experience it.

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