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Which is why we've compiled this list of the top 30 best font combinations utilizing Google Fonts (which are free) as well as a list of more premium font combinations.

Want to see these combinations in use? Check out the 170 main Google fonts with multiple matching font combinations, displayed in a neat "web-page" format. Font Combination Tool which utilizes TypeWolf is another great site when it comes to typeface combinations.

The Top 15 Professional Google Font Combinations

What fonts all work well together? We've taken the guess work out for you, with these tried & true font pairs.

Get inspired with these free Google font pairings!

1. Playfair Display with Source Sans Pro

2. Merriweather with Oswald

3. Montserrat with Merriweather

4. Raleway with Lato

5. Elsie with Roboto

6. Dancing Script with Josefin Sans

7. Abril Fatface with Roboto

8. Corben with Nobile

9. Spirax with Open Sans

10. Wendy One with Lato

11. Baloo with Montserrat

12. Cherry Cream Soda with Raleway

13. Amaranth with Open Sans

14. Palanquin with Roboto

15. Sansita with Open Sans

The Top 15 Professional Font Combinations

Below we share some professional font combinations that are not Google fonts. Enjoy these top font pairings.

Super Grotesk & Minion Pro

Montserrat & Courier New

Rockwell Standard & Lora

Copernicus & Proxima Nova

Century Gothic & PT Serif

Kaufmann & NeutraDemi

Brandon Grotesque & Minion Pro

Playfair Display & Museo Sans

Raleway & Lusitana

Alternate Gothic & Georgia

Helvetica & Garamond

Source Sans Pro & Times New Roman

Cubano & Nunito

Proxima Nova & Georgia

Nimbus Sans Condensed & Athelas

Related Font Posts

The Top 15 Best Google Font Combinations & Font Pairings

Playfair Display was designed by Claus Eggers Sorense, and is a Traditional Style font. We believe that it works very well with Source Sans Pro, a simpler font style. People are going back to the more traditional styles of fonts, because they look elegant and give a feeling of excellence.

This font is very easy to read, and can be altered easily for width and height. With the use of its serifs and legible text, it's sure to be a top font for the new year. Complemented with Oswald, a Sans Serif font.

Designed by Julieta Ulanovsky, Montserrat is a modern, streamlined and legible font, because it's a Sans Serif it's good to pair with a serif font like Merriweather.

A simple yet stylish sans-serif font, Raleway can be used for many different design styles, making it a versatile font to select. We have chosen to pair it with Lato, which is also a sans-serif font, however, by using it as smaller and thinner text it compliments the header text perfectly.

This is a beautiful font, it was created to celebrate the world of women and with it's flowing edges and serifs it is very elegant. It's such a detailed font it needs to be paired with something very simple. This is why a font such as Roboto is perfect, it doesn't detract away from the style of the header font.

Just as the name suggests, this script font is flowing and creative. Most script fonts really need a to be paired with a simple font, so they don't overrun the seed font.

A very unique and interesting font style, with its Didone style serifs and bold lettering, Abril FatFace really grabs your attention. When pairing it, you must have something subtle and clean like Roboto, which is a sans serif style font.

A modern and stylish font, with many curves, Corben is a bold stand out from the crowd, reminiscent of Cooper Black. Due to it's heavy font weight, it must be paired with a simple font, such as Nobile.

A unique font that gives the sense of whimsical mystery and storytelling. Designed by Branda Gallo, it works beautifully well with a simple san serif font, like Open Sans.

A bold, quirky, eye catching font, designed by Alejandro Inler. It is modern in appearance and needs to be paired with a slim font, like Lato.

Designed by Ek Type, Baloo is a bubbly, rounded font, and works well with a simple font like Montserrat, due to it's lighter weight.

A creative font, designed by Font Diner, it inspires memories of the 1950's soda craze. It's a unique style, that must be paired with a simple font like Raleway, with it's clear straight lines.

This font creates interest, because it's not just a simple straight font. It has slight curves that make the lettering eye-catching. It could be used for many different applications in design, and should be paired with a sans serif font, like Open Sans.

A very versatile font, it can be used with many different weights and heights, and still looks amazing. Designed by Pria Ravichandran, it can be paired with something similar, like Roboto.

A wavy, stylish font, created by Omnibus-Type, with a variety of sizing optio ns available. It is easily paired with a sans serif font, like Open Sans.

How to Combine Fonts, How Not To, and the Best Font Combinations

If you want to learn more, watch this video on how to combine fonts and the best font combinations.

UNLIMITED DOWNLOADS: 400,000+ Fonts & Design Assets

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Top 15 Professional Font Combinations

Typography pairing: perhaps the single most frustrating and time-consuming task you'll face as a designer when starting any new graphic design project.

For many reasons, it's something that's extremely hard to get right, and despite the fact that there are literally thousands of typefaces to choose from, it'll probably always seem as though the typeface you actually want simply doesn't exist.

Even if you do manage to pick a winning primary typeface for your design, you'll then need to begin the painstaking process all over again in order to find yet another typeface to compliment your original choice (help!).

Despite the fact that so many people struggle with this, there isn't much help out there. Sure, you can use a typographic cheat sheet (such as this one for Google Fonts), but that doesn't always get the job done.

So, we thought we'd scour the web for some stunning font combinations, with the aim of giving you some inspiration when it comes to combining type. Enjoy these top font pairings!

Super Grotesk & Minion Pro

Usually, when combining typefaces, it pays to keep things simple and follow well-established rules (such as combining a sans serif typeface with a serif one), and this is exactly what this site has opted to do.

For the large type, Minion Pro has been used. Minion Pro is a beautiful serif typeface that has an air of luxury about it. For smaller type, you can see Super Grotesk, a sans-serif typeface that appears quite thin, light and extremely modern.

It's a perfect match that creates a luxurious yet minimalistic brand.

Montserrat & Courier New

Claire Marion has opted for a very minimalistic look here by making use of Montserrat and Courier New.

Montserrat is a widely used typeface these days (you'll see it all across the web) and the reason for that is simple: it's an elegant, modern, sans-serif typeface that is perfect for a variety of uses.

Courier New on the other hand is used less on the web, and as you can see, the styling is somewhat reminiscent of the sort of type that a typewriter might produce.

Rockwell Standard & Lora

Politicians for Change has made use of two great fonts here that aren't all too different in their appearance.

Rockwell Standard (which has been used for main headings) is classified as a slab-serif typeface, whereas Lora (which is used for subheadings) is classified as a serif typeface.

They're by no means the same, but when using a slab-serif/serif combination, the similarities are more pronounced than say a serif/sans-serif combo.

Still, it's a great combination.

Copernicus & Proxima Nova

Copernicus isn't typically a typeface that you see too often, which is a shame, as it's a stunningly well-crafted typeface that deserves more attention.

In this design, it has been used primarily for headings and titles, with Proxima Nova being featured alongside it as the main body font.

The two typefaces compliment each other wonderfully (it's a classic serif + sans serif combination). Copernicus ensures that the titles are eye-catching, while Proxima Nova does a great job of displaying paragraph text in a readable manner, even at small font sizes.

Century Gothic & PT Serif

Here, we have another great sans serif + serif typeface combination, but this time we've got Century Gothic and PT Serif.

Clearly, PT Serif is the serif typeface, and it has been used primarily for the paragraph text. It's a stylish typeface that is elegantly crafted, making it perfect for this brand.

The same goes for Century Gothic; it has a certain style to it that, for whatever reason, just seems to compliment PT Serif perfectly. It's not all that dissimilar from Source Sans or even Proxima Nova.

Kaufmann & NeutraDemi

Kaufmann and NeutriDemi might not be a combination you've necessarily seen before, but as you can see from the example above, it's a combination that works extremely well.

NeutraDemi is a perfect example of a modern sans-serif typeface that oozes style and elegance, while Kaufmann adds flair to the design with it's handwritten nature.

You probably wouldn't automatically think of putting these two together as they're just so different, but for the right project, it's the perfect combo.

Brandon Grotesque & Minion Pro

We've seen Minion Pro featured already in this post (the first example) alongside Super Grotesk. Here though, it features alongside Brandon Grotesque and plays a slightly different role.

Whereas in the first example, Minion Pro was used for the large headings, here it is used predominantly as a body typeface. The great thing about Minion Pro is that it's a classic, highly readable serif typeface, making it the perfect choice for smaller text.

Brandon Grotesque us used for the headings; it's thick, bold and grabs your attention.

Playfair Display & Museo Sans

It's often difficult to find a typeface that offers elegance, class and style without being too overly flamboyant and unreadable. Luckily, Playfair Display matches that brief perfectly.

Playfair Display is a classic serif typeface, but as you can see from the image above, it's much more than that. It has a sense of class and elegance (just look at the styling of the "&" above, for example), while still coming across as a relatively simple font that isn't too "in-your-face".

Museo Sans - a sans-serif typeface - is the perfect partner, as it's simplicity helps to counteract some of Playfair Displays flair.

Raleway & Lusitana

If you've ever visited the website of any freelance SEO specialists before, you'll no doubt have come across something poorly designed that holds very little regard for typographic beauty.

Obviously, this is a bit of a generalisation, and while it's true for most of these kinds of sites, there are outliers, such as this site.

Mary has used Raleway (a free font from Google Fonts) and Lusiana to create a warm, welcoming and down-to-earth brand for herself. Again, it's a serif + sans-serif combination that hasn't been overthought.

Alternate Gothic & Georgia

Simplicity is the name of the game here, as you can tell from the minimalistic and relatively flat design of the site.

There's a reason for this simplicity too: it keeps the product centre stage and makes sure not to detract your attention with unnecessarily flamboyant design elements.

The typography used throughout the site also adheres to this design philosophy. It's yet another class sans-serif + serif combination making use of Georgia and Alternative Gothic.

Alternate Gothic is a simple sans-serif typeface, and Georgia is perhaps one of the most elegant, yet understated, serif typefaces out there. Perfect.

Helvetica & Garamond Font Combination

Here's another site that keeps things relatively simple, with the use of Helvetica and Garamond.

Helvetica is the primary typeface used throughout the site, which helps to keep things as simple as possible. It's a portfolio site, so it's important that nothing detracts from the content, which is what makes Helvetica the perfect choice.

Garamond is used sparingly and quite rightly so too, as in it's italic form, it can become overbearing when used in large quantities.

Cubano & Nunito

Cubano and Nunito isn't the most common typographic combination out there, and it's not hard to see why: it combines to create quite a unique design that would only be appropriate for certain brands.

Despite this though, it's still a stunning combination. It would work particularly well for a non-profit organisation, a charity, or perhaps a business with sustainability at its heart.

You'll notice that both of these typefaces are sans serif; this can often cause a clash of styles due to typeface similarity, but in this instance, the two fonts are so different that there's no fear of this.

Source Sans Pro & Times New Roman Font Combination

Times New Roman is seldom used on the web these days, primarily because most designers opt for newer and seemingly more modern typefaces in their designs.

However, it's important to remember that Times New Roman is a great typeface, especially if you're looking for a highly readable serif typeface that will no doubt bring a sense of familiarity to your design.

Source Sans Pro is a slightly more common typography choice, which works beautifully alongside Times New Roman, especially if you're looking to create a simple and elegant brand.

Proxima Nova & Georgia Font Combination

Proxima Nova and Georgia is becoming a classic typographic combination, especially on the web.

In fact, you've probably seen the combination across numerous websites, and there are a couple of perfectly valid reasons for this. Firstly, it's a stunning combination and secondly, it's perfectly suited to a variety of different brands and styles.

Unsurprisingly, it's a sans serif + serif combination, with Georgia being used for smaller body text, and Proxima Nova being used for headings/subheadings.

Nimbus Sans Condensed & Athelas Type Combination

If you want to create a brand that oozes elegance and luxuriousness, there aren't many typographic combinations more suitable than Nimbus Sans Condensed and Athelas.

Athelas is a stunning serif typeface that isn't all too dissimilar from Georgia, albeit with a little more class and personality to it. Nimbus Sans Condensed, on the other hand, is the complete opposite: a chunky, condensed sans-serif typeface.

As per usual in the world of typography, opposites attract, and that's certainly the case here.

UNLIMITED DOWNLOADS: 400,000+ Fonts & Design Assets

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Best Google Font Combinations & Typeface Combinations
- Bio: Josh loves typography; he spends much of his spare time sifting through Google Fonts, searching for the perfect combo for his clients. He also loves working out, keeping fit, and cooking.

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30 Best Font Combinations for Graphic Design (2021)

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Which is why we've compiled this list of the top 30 best font combinations utilizing Google Fonts (which are free) as well as a list of more premium font combinations. Want to see these combinations in use? Check out the 170 main Google fonts with multiple matching font combinations, displayed in a neat "web-page" format.

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Finding the perfect font pairings isn't easy. The ideal scenario is to identifying fonts that complement each other, without fighting for attention, and sit together in perfect harmony. But if you're stuck on which fonts to choose, remember the age-old rule: concord or contrast, but don't conflict.

If you need a bit of help choose the perfect font pairings, we're here to help, having trawled through the many typefaces available to bring you the best font duos right here. However, if you want to pick your own, below we've got some top tips for doing just that. If not, jump straight to our font pairing examples. And you can find top fonts for pairing in our comprehensive list of the best free fonts around.

Font pairings: Top tips to choose the perfect match
01: Use font superfamilies
The easiest way to find perfect font pairings is by using different fonts within the same overarching typeface family. Find a so-called 'super-family' and you'll have a ready-made range of weights, styles and classifications that are specifically designed to work together.

A good super-family will include serif and a sans serif version of the same typeface: famous examples include Lucida/Lucida Sans and Meta/Meta Sans.
02: Pair contrasting typefaces
Contrast, as the name implies, is about finding totally different - but still complementary - typefaces that are each fit for their intended application. Traditionally, this involves pairing a serif with a sans serif.

Typefaces will generally conflict if they are too similar: two ever-so-slightly different serifs or sans serifs rarely create nice font pairings.

As a designer, the important thing is to establish a clear hierarchy. This could be as simple as varying the size and weight of the same typeface - but where the typeface varies, careful font pairing is crucial. If you have a display face packed with unique personality, you'll need something more neutral to do the hard work.
03: Pair type sub-categories
Of course, 'serif' and 'sans serif' are themselves broad classifications - each split into several sub-categories. Generally speaking, Old Style serifs such as Bembo, Caslon and Garamond will combine well with Humanist sans serifs, such as Gill Sans and Lucida Grande.

Meanwhile, Transitional serifs have a stronger contrast between thick and thin strokes - examples include Bookman, Mrs. Eaves, Perpetua and Times. These pair with Geometric sans serifs such as Avant Garde, Avenir, Century Gothic, Eurostile, Futura and Univers.

Finally, Modern serifs have an often very dramatic contrast between thick and thin for a more pronounced, stylised effect, as well as a larger x-height. Included in this third sub-category are Bodoni, Didot, New Century Schoolbook and Walbaum. Again, Geometric sans serifs marry best with these.

If you need to brush up on your typography knowledge, take a look at our typography tutorials, and you can browse a huge collection of fonts that don't cost a thing with our free fonts roundup. Read on for our pick of the best font pairings...

Font pairings: 36 perfect examples

01. Calvert and Acumin

(Image credit: Robert Slimbach (Adobe Originals) / Monotype)

Calvert is a punchy slab serif from Monotype, named after its creator Margaret Calvert. It comes in six styles: Calvert Pro and Standard, each with Light, Regular and Bold variants. For an ideal font pairing, try sans-serif Acumin. This typeface comprises a massive 90 different fonts (still confused about the difference? See our explanation of font vs typeface). It has been designed by Robert Slimbach as part of the Adobe Originals initiative, and to access it you'll need a Creative Cloud subscription.

02. Montserrat and Courier New

Google Font Montserrat was designed specifically for use online, while Courier New is a classic typewriter font. On paper (metaphorically), you might not think they'd make the ideal font pairing, but you'd be wrong. Montserrat's light, modern sans-serif letterforms offset Courier New's heavier, retro vibe perfectly.

03. Skolar Latin and Proxima Nova

(Image credit: Rosetta Type Foundry / Mark Simonson)

Skolar's type foundry, Rosetta, describes it as "a typeface for complex typography". To back that up, it boasts a vast character set, and comes in Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, Devangari and Gujarati scripts. The typface itself sports low contrast, a relatively large x-height and robust serifs, which means it remains legible even when used at small sizes. Our font pairing is popular web font Proxima Nova. This was designed, by Mark Simonson, to mix modern proportions with a geometric appearance.

04. Alegreya Sans SC and Source Sans Pro

Alegreya is a super-family that includes sans and serif sister families alongside this small caps version, designed by Juan Pablo del Peral for Huerta Tipográfica. The family has a slightly calligraphic edge, and is designed to be suitable for long blocks of text. However, the small caps variant is best suited to headers. We suggest pairing it with Source Sans Pro, Adobe's first open source typeface family, designed by Paul D. Hunt.

05. Pacifico and Quicksand

For a delightful font pairing with an unintentionally tropical theme, try Pacifico and Quicksand. The former is a pleasingly free and flamboyant brush font that's ideal for use in headings. The latter is a sans-serif with rounded terminals and some quirky touches - including that distinctive descender on the uppercase 'Q'. Quicksand was actually also designed as a display typeface, but it's clear enough to work well at small sizes, too.

06. Julius Sans One and Archive Narrow

If you're aiming for a professional look, this is a great font pairing to try. Julius Sans One works only comes in one weight and is an all-caps font, but it's a top choice for a display font, with its fine stroke and broader baseline. The more geometric Archivo Narrow is a perfect match. It has been designed to work equally well in print and digital.

07. Playfair Display and Raleway

Display font Playfair draws inspiration from the period in the 18th century when quills were being replaced by pointed steel pens. This, alongside printing developments, led to high-contrast letterforms with delicate hairlines becoming popular. Elegant sans serif Raleway makes a perfect font pairing.

08. Oswald and Lato

Oswald was launched in 2011 as a reworking of the 'Alternate Gothic' sans-serif type style. It makes a great pairing with Lato (which translates as 'summer' in Polish), a warm yet stable sans serif. Both are available in a range of different weights and variants, making this font pairing nice and versatile.

09. Super Grotesk and Minion Pro

The ever-popular serifed Minion Pro works perfectly as a headline font when coupled with the nimble sans-serif Super Grotesk for body copy. Together, these fonts create a modern sense of effortless elegance.

10. Libre Franklin and Libre Baskerville

These two libre typefaces make a great font pairing if you're after a traditional feel. Both Libre Baskerville and Libre Franklin have been optimised for use on screen. The former is nice and readable, so ideal for use as body text, while the latter is better suited to headlines. Nine different weight options make it nice and versatile.

11. Freight Sans and Freight Text

Working within superfamilies makes it easy to find harmonious font pairings. GarageFonts' Freight is a great example. It's available in a large range of weights and styles, including Sans, Text, Display and Micro versions - giving you a versatile typographic toolkit to work with.

12. Kaufmann and NeutraDemi

If you're after something more unexpected, how about this duo? The flowing stylings of Kaufmann add a touch of handwritten flair to this odd couple, and offset the straight and angular sans-serifed NeutraDemi perfectly. This font pairing might not be the most obvious match, but that doesn't stop them playing off one another beautifully.

13. Brandon Grotesque and Minion Pro

Due to its versatility, the reliable Minion Pro appears a few times in this list. This time it's playing second fiddle to the bold and attention-grabbing Brandon Grotesque. This is a classic serif and sans-serif font pairing, with both typefaces remaining crisp and easy to scan in any page layout.

14. Josefin Slab and Patrick Hand

When creating Josefin Slab, designer Santiago Orozco wanted something between Kabel and Memphis, but with modern details. The final typeface has distinctive, typewriter-style details, and is ideal for use in headlines. Combine it with body copy in Patrick Hand for a font pairing packed with character. The latter, based on the designer's own handwriting, has a neat, friendly vibe.

15. Helvetica Neue and Garamond

This is a famously harmonious duo, combining ubiquitous Neo-Grotesque sans serif Helvetica Neue for headlines with the classic Old Style serif Garamond for text. Mix up different weights and sizes between the two neutral families to establish hierarchy within your designs.

16. Caslon and Myriad

Another classic font pairing, this time between an 18th century Old Style serif and a late-20th century Humanist sans serif. Myriad is famously used in Apple's corporate communication, as well as in the Rolls Royce logo.

17. Nova Mono and Lato

Nova Mono is only available in one style, but that style is ideal for making a statement. Pair it with versatile sans serif Lato to stop things getting too crazy. Lato designer Łukasz Dziedzic wanted something that was nice and clear at small sizes (as we'd suggest using it within in this font pairing), but revealed some stylised effects when used larger.

18. Fontin and Fontin Sans

Time for another superfamily, this time from Dutch foundry exljbris. Fontin has been designed specifically for use at small sizes, and features loose spacing and a tall x-height. Fontin Sans makes an ideal partner for it.

19. Minion and Poppl-Laudatio

Two typefaces both have plenty of personality, but bond perfectly. An Old Style serif typeface, Minion was designed in 1990 but inspired by late Renaissance-era type. Although technically a sans-serif, Poppl-Laudatio's subtle flared details give it a quirky edge.

20. Liberation Serif and Liberation Sans

Superfamily Liberation was intended as an open-source substitute for many commonly used Windows fonts, such as Arial, Times New Roman and Courier New. The Serif and Sans versions make a smart font pairing, but there are also other variations to play around with, including Sans Narrow and Mono.

21. Trade Gothic Bold and Sabon

This pairing is particularly effective when Trade Gothic is used in its Bold weight for headlines, to set off Jan Tschichold's classic Old Style serif face for text. Both typefaces are highly readable, with a tall x-height, and combine well together to give a pleasing effect.
Next page: More perfect font pairings to explore
22. Gilroy and Jura

This pair of sans serifs pair nicely to create a trendy, industrial look. Gilroy's geometric style in ExtraBold weight is ideal for headers, while Jura Light has a wiry, structured shape that offsets it nicely. The combination is ideal for adding a strong, technical feel to your creative projects.

23. Orpheus Pro and Twentieth Century

In the 2020s, how about looking back at the 1920s with this typeface from designer Sol Hess for Monotype? The typeface has an eye-catching Art Deco vibe (it's subtle here, but the glamour really gets amped up in the Twentieth Century Std Poster MT variant). Our pick for a perfect type pairing is Orpheus Pro from Canada Type. This typeface was planned as a new version of Walter Tiemann's Orpheus and its italic companion font Euphorion, but ended up being much more elaborate - if you're using it for display purposes, there are plenty of extensions, alternates, swashes, and ligatures to explore.

24. Playfair Display and Source Sans Pro

Dedicated display typeface Playfair Display sports high-contrast that exude old-fashioned charm. Source Sans Pro is a modern sans-serif designed specifically for use in user interfaces. Together, they make a perfect pairing of old and new, with the understated Source Sans Pro letting Playfair Display really shine.

25. Scala and Scala Sans

FontFont's superfamily Scala started with a serif version in 1990, followed in 92 by its sans serif companion. With small caps, various ligatures and old-style figures, this family is hugely versatile and widely used in publishing.

26. Bebas Neue and Montserrat Light

Its clean, condensed letterforms make Bebas Neue an excellent choice for headlines. It's free to download and open source - so you can edit it to your own particular needs through the GitHub repo, if you have the desire and skills to do so. Montserrat offers a nice contrast; especially the Light version.

27. Rockwell Bold and Bembo

One of the classic slab serifs, Rockwell was designed in the 1930s and has a huge amount of personality and attention-grabbing potential when used bold. The much more conservative serif Bembo is neutral but versatile, making for a perfectly contrasting font pairing.

28. Myriad Black and Minion

Myriad and Minion have already cropped up in different font pairings elsewhere in this list, but this combination is definitely worth a look. The shouty, ultra-bold Black version of the former and the text weight of the latter can help you create a clear hierarchy in your designs.

29. Souvenir and Futura Bold

Mixing two strong typographic personalities rarely works, as they end up fighting. However, this is an exception. Souvenir is softer and more playful than many of its Old Style serif counterparts, while Futura Bold is quirky without being too dominant.

30. Dax Bold and Caslon

One of the most versatile Old Style serifs, Caslon has also appeared elsewhere on this list. Its neutrality plays off against the informal, modern Dax Bold, enabling the latter to deliver its strong personality. Dax Bold is a great choice for a headline, and the understated Caslon won't compete for attention.

31. Roboto and Montserrat

These two simple sans-serif typefaces make for a clean and modern font pairing. Roboto combines geometric forms with friendly, open curves, and has been designed to offer a natural reading rhythm. Montserrat - named after designer Julieta Ulanovsky's neighbourhood in Buenos Aires - has various options in its family, giving you plenty of options to play around with.

32. Antique Olive Bold and Chaparral

Initially designed as an alternative to Helvetica and Univers, Antique Olive has a very tall x-height with short ascenders and descenders, which make it highly distinctive in display form. Chaparral has a modern feeling but is a much more neutral slab serif. The two together work in perfect harmony.

33. Aviano and Aviano Sans

Only available in all-caps varieties, Aviano has sharp, edgy serifs that give it a distinctive personality. Its sans-serif variant is smoother. Combine these two tilting typefaces together to create create hierarchy in your designs.

34. TheSerif and TheSans

The rather straightforward naming strategy within LucasFonts' Thesis typeface superfamily makes the foundry's intentions pretty clear. These two variants are totally complementary, and each comes with its own sub-varieties.

35. Renault Light and Apex-New

An ideal font pairing for formal or corporate use. Both Renault and Apex-New have a very similar ratio of x-height to body height for an effortless partnership between contemporary sans serif and authoritative serif.

36. Calluna and Calluna Sans

An exljbris creation, Calluna was born out of an experiment in adding slab serifs to Museo, giving designer Jos Buivenga the idea of 'serifs with direction'. The result is a highly distinctive text face that later spawned a sans-serif companion.
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Finding the perfect font pairings isn't easy. The ideal scenario is to identifying fonts that complement each other, without fighting for attention, and sit together in perfect harmony. But if you're stuck on which fonts to choose, remember the age-old rule: concord or contrast, but don't conflict.

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Every design project is unique and requires a typeface that matches the visual aesthetics and compliments the content. However, there are some typefaces that designers try to steer clear of, because they find them ugly, outdated or overused.

Today's post showcases a cool series of posters by Creative Market titled "Fonts designers love to hate". Bear in mind that some of these typefaces might be detested by one set of designers but adored by another. Check them out below.

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Have a font in mind that should be on (or off) this list? Share this post and your views in the comments below.

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Every design project is unique and requires a typeface that matches the visual aesthetics and compliments the content. However, there are some typefaces that designers try to steer clear of, because they find them ugly, outdated or overused. Today's post showcases a cool series of posters by Creative Market titled "Fonts designers love to hate".

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When it comes to recognizing good design, many designers (and clients) say they know it “when they see it.” So when it comes to the act of designing, maybe it’s why some designers jump straight to the computer and move boxes around the page until the stars align.

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Since 2008, a reference platform for typographic and graphic posters.

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2 TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR TYPOGRAPHY RIGHT NOW

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Quick summary ↬ The article will cover 5 main principles which will provide you with the practical guidance how to select, apply and mix different fonts. In the end, you will learn how to pick the right typeface and what it requires.

For many beginners, the task of picking fonts is a mystifying process. There seem to be endless choices - from normal, conventional-looking fonts to novelty candy cane fonts and bunny fonts - with no way of understanding the options, only never-ending lists of categories and recommendations.

Selecting the right typeface is a mixture of firm rules and loose intuition, and takes years of experience to develop a feeling for. Here are five guidelines for picking and using fonts that I've developed in the course of using and teaching typography.

1. Dress For The Occasion

Many of my beginning students go about picking a font as though they were searching for new music to listen to: they assess the personality of each face and look for something unique and distinctive that expresses their particular aesthetic taste, perspective and personal history. This approach is problematic, because it places too much importance on individuality.

The most appropriate analogy for picking type. (Photo credit: Samuuraijohnny. Used under Creative Commons license.)

For better or for worse, picking a typeface is more like getting dressed in the morning. Just as with clothing, there's a distinction between typefaces that are expressive and stylish versus those that are useful and appropriate to many situations, and our job is to try to find the right balance for the occasion. While appropriateness isn't a sexy concept, it's the acid test that should guide our choice of font.

My "favorite" piece of clothing is probably an outlandish pair of 70s flare bellbottoms that I bought at a thrift store, but the reality is that these don't make it out of my closet very often outside of Halloween. Every designer has a few favorite fonts like this - expressive personal favorites that we hold onto and wait for the perfect festive occasion to use. More often, I find myself putting on the same old pair of Levis morning after morning. It's not that I like these better than my cherished flares, exactly... I just seem to wind up wearing them most of the time.

Every designer has a few workhorse typefaces that are like comfortable jeans: they go with everything, they seem to adapt to their surroundings and become more relaxed or more formal as the occasion calls for, and they just seem to come out of the closet day after day. Usually, these are faces that have a number of weights (Light, Regular, Bold, etc) and/or cuts (Italic, Condensed, etc). My particular safety blankets are: Myriad, Gotham, DIN, Akzidenz Grotesk and Interstate among the sans; Mercury, Electra and Perpetua among the serif faces.

A large type family like Helvetica Neue can be used to express a range of voices and emotions. Versatile and comfortable to work with, these faces are like a favorite pair of jeans for designers.

More after jump! Continue reading below ↓

Meet Image Optimization, Addy Osmani's brand new practical guide to optimizing and delivering high-quality images on the web. From formats and compression to delivery and maintenance: everything in one single 528-pages book.

Jump to table of contents ↬

2. Know Your Families: Grouping Fonts

The clothing analogy gives us a good idea of what kind of closet we need to put together. The next challenge is to develop some kind of structure by which we can mentally categorize the different typefaces we run across.

Typefaces can be divided and subdivided into dozens of categories (Scotch Modern, anybody?), but we only really need to keep track of five groups to establish a working understanding of the majority of type being used in the present-day landscape.

The following list is not meant as a comprehensive classification of each and every category of type (there are plenty of great sites on the web that already tackle this, such as Typedia's type classifications) but rather as a manageable shorthand overview of key groups. Let's look at two major groups without serifs (serifs being the little feet at the ends of the letterforms), two with serifs, and one outlier (with big, boxey feet).

1. Geometric Sans

I'm actually combining three different groups here (Geometric, Realist and Grotesk), but there is enough in common between these groups that we can think of them as one entity for now. Geometric Sans-Serifs are those faces that are based on strict geometric forms. The individual letter forms of a Geometric Sans often have strokes that are all the same width and frequently evidence a kind of "less is more" minimalism in their design.

At their best, Geometric Sans are clear, objective, modern, universal; at their worst, cold, impersonal, boring. A classic Geometric Sans is like a beautifully designed airport: it's impressive, modern and useful, but we have to think twice about whether or not we'd like to live there.

Examples of Geometric/Realist/Grotesk Sans: Helvetica, Univers, Futura, Avant Garde, Akzidenz Grotesk, Franklin Gothic, Gotham.

2. Humanist Sans

These are Sans faces that are derived from handwriting - as clean and modern as some of them may look, they still retain something inescapably human at their root. Compare the 't' in the image above to the 't' in 'Geometric' and note how much more detail and idiosyncrasy the Humanist 't' has.

This is the essence of the Humanist Sans: whereas Geometric Sans are typically designed to be as simple as possible, the letter forms of a Humanist font generally have more detail, less consistency, and frequently involve thinner and thicker stoke weights - after all they come from our handwriting, which is something individuated. At their best, Humanist Sans manage to have it both ways: modern yet human, clear yet empathetic. At their worst, they seem wishy-washy and fake, the hand servants of corporate insincerity.

Examples of Humanist Sans: Gill Sans, Frutiger, Myriad, Optima, Verdana.

3. Old Style

Also referred to as 'Venetian', these are our oldest typefaces, the result of centuries of incremental development of our calligraphic forms. Old Style faces are marked by little contrast between thick and thin (as the technical restrictions of the time didn't allow for it), and the curved letter forms tend to tilt to the left (just as calligraphy tilts). Old Style faces at their best are classic, traditional, readable and at their worst are... well, classic and traditional.

Examples of Old Style: Jenson, Bembo, Palatino, and - especially - Garamond, which was considered so perfect at the time of its creation that no one really tried much to improve on it for a century and a half.

4. Transitional and Modern

An outgrowth of Enlightenment thinking, Transitional (mid 18th Century) and Modern (late 18th century, not to be confused with mid 20th century modernism) typefaces emerged as type designers experimented with making their letterforms more geometric, sharp and virtuosic than the unassuming faces of the Old Style period. Transitional faces marked a modest advancement in this direction - although Baskerville, a quintessential Transitional typeface, appeared so sharp to onlookers that people believed it could hurt one's vision to look at it.

In carving Modernist punches, type designers indulged in a kind of virtuosic demonstration of contrasting thick and thin strokes - much of the development was spurred by a competition between two rival designers who cut similar faces, Bodoni and Didot. At their best, transitional and modern faces seem strong, stylish, dynamic. At their worst, they seem neither here nor there - too conspicuous and baroque to be classic, too stodgy to be truly modern.

Examples of transitional typefaces: Times New Roman, Baskerville.

Examples of Modern serifs: Bodoni, Didot.

5. Slab Serifs

Also known as 'Egyptian' (don't ask), the Slab Serif is a wild card that has come strongly back into vogue in recent years. Slab Serifs usually have strokes like those of sans faces (that is, simple forms with relatively little contrast between thick and thin) but with solid, rectangular shoes stuck on the end. Slab Serifs are an outlier in the sense that they convey very specific - and yet often quite contradictory - associations: sometimes the thinker, sometimes the tough guy; sometimes the bully, sometimes the nerd; sometimes the urban sophisticate, sometimes the cowboy.

They can convey a sense of authority, in the case of heavy versions like Rockwell, but they can also be quite friendly, as in the recent favorite Archer. Many slab serifs seem to express an urban character (such as Rockwell, Courier and Lubalin), but when applied in a different context (especially Clarendon) they strongly recall the American Frontier and the kind of rural, vernacular signage that appears in photos from this period. Slab Serifs are hard to generalize about as a group, but their distinctive blocky serifs function something like a pair of horn-rimmed glasses: they add a distinctive wrinkle to anything, but can easily become overly conspicuous in the wrong surroundings.

Examples of Slab Serifs: Clarendon, Rockwell, Courier, Lubalin Graph, Archer.

3. Don't Be a Wimp: The Principle of Decisive Contrast

So, now that we know our families and some classic examples of each, we need to decide how to mix and match and - most importantly - whether to mix and match at all. Most of the time, one typeface will do, especially if it's one of our workhorses with many different weights that work together. If we reach a point where we want to add a second face to the mix, it's always good to observe this simple rule: keep it exactly the same, or change it a lot - avoid wimpy, incremental variations.

This is a general principle of design, and its official name is correspondence and contrast. The best way to view this rule in action is to take all the random coins you collected in your last trip through Europe and dump them out on a table together. If you put two identical coins next to each other, they look good together because they match ( correspondence). On the other hand, if we put a dime next to one of those big copper coins we picked up somewhere in Central Europe, this also looks interesting because of the contrast between the two - they look sufficiently different.

What doesn't work so well is when put our dime next to a coin from another country that's almost the same size and color but slightly different. This creates an uneasy visual relationship because it poses a question, even if we barely register it in on a conscious level - our mind asks the question of whether these two are the same or not, and that process of asking and wondering distracts us from simply viewing.

When we combine multiple typefaces on a design, we want them to coexist comfortably - we don't want to distract the viewer with the question, are these the same or not? We can start by avoiding two different faces from within one of the five categories that we listed above all together - two geometric sans, say Franklin and Helvetica. While not exactly alike, these two are also not sufficiently different and therefore put our layout in that dreaded neither-here-nor-there place.

If we are going to throw another font into the pot along with Helvetica, much better if we use something like Bembo, a classic Old Style face. Centuries apart in age and light years apart in terms of inspiration, Helvetica and Bembo have enough contrast to comfortably share a page:

Unfortunately, it's not as simple as just picking fonts that are very, very different - placing our candy cane font next to, say, Garamond or Caslon does not guarantee us typographic harmony. Often, as in the above example of Helvetica and Bembo, there's no real explanation for why two faces complement each other - they just do.

But if we want some principle to guide our selection, it should be this: often, two typefaces work well together if they have one thing in common but are otherwise greatly different. This shared common aspect can be visual (similar x-height or stroke weight) or it can be chronological. Typefaces from the same period of time have a greater likelihood of working well together... and if they are by the same designer, all the better.

4. A Little Can Go a Long Way

'Enough with all these conventional-looking fonts and rules!' you say. 'I need something for my rave flyer! And my Thai restaurant menu! And my Christmas cards!' What you're pointing out here is that all the faces I've discussed so far are 'body typefaces', meaning you could conceivably set a whole menu or newspaper with any of them; in the clothing analogy presented in part one, these are our everyday Levis. What of our Halloween flares?

Periodically, there's a need for a font that oozes with personality, whether that personality is warehouse party, Pad Thai or Santa Claus. And this need brings us into the vast wilderness of Display typefaces, which includes everything from Comic Sans to our candy-cane and bunny fonts. 'Display' is just another way of saying ' do not exceed recommended dosage ': applied sparingly to headlines, a display font can add a well-needed dash of flavor to a design, but it can quickly wear out its welcome if used too widely.

Time for another clothing analogy:

(Photo credit: Betsssssy. Used under Creative Commons license.)

Betsey's outfit works because the pink belts acts as an accent and is offset by the down-to-earthiness of blue jeans. But if we get carried away and slather Betsey entirely in pink, she might wind up looking something like this:

(Photo credit: Phillip Leroyer). Used under Creative Commons license.)

Let's call this the Pink Belt Principle of Type: display faces with lots of personality are best used in small doses. If we apply our cool display type to every bit of text in our design, the aesthetic appeal of the type is quickly spent and - worse yet - our design becomes very hard to read. Let's say we're designing a menu for our favorite corner Thai place. Our client might want us to use a 'typically' Asian display face, like Sho:

So far, so good. But look what happens when we apply our prized font choice to the entire menu:

Enough already. Let's try replacing some of the rank-and-file text copy with something more neutral:

That's better. Now that we've reined in the usage of our star typeface, we've allowed it to shine again.

5. Rule Number Five Is 'There Are No Rules'

Really. Look hard enough and you will find a dazzling-looking menu set entirely in a hard-to-read display font. Or of two different Geometric Sans faces living happily together on a page (in fact, just this week I wound up trying this on a project and was surprised to find that it hit the spot). There are only conventions, no ironclad rules about how to use type, just as there are no rules about how we should dress in the morning. It's worth trying everything just to see what happens - even wearing your Halloween flares to your court date.

In Conclusion

Hopefully, these five principles will have given you some guidelines for how to select, apply and mix type - and, indeed, whether to mix it at all. In the end, picking typefaces requires a combination of understanding and intuition, and - as with any skill - demands practice. With all the different fonts we have access to nowadays, it's easy to forget that there's nothing like a classic typeface used well by somebody who knows how to use it.

Some of the best type advice I ever received came early on from my first typography teacher: pick one typeface you like and use it over and over for months to the exclusion of all others. While this kind of exercise can feel constraining at times, it can also serve as a useful reminder that the quantity of available choices in the internet age is no substitute for quality.

Other Resources

You may be interested in the following articles and related resources:

Further Reading on SmashingMag:

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What Font Should I Use? 5 Principles for Choosing and Using Typefaces - Smashing Magazine

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Quick summary ↬ The article will cover 5 main principles which will provide you with the practical guidance how to select, apply and mix different fonts. In the end, you will learn how to pick the right typeface and what it requires. For many beginners, the task of picking fonts is a mystifying process.

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How can you quickly apply typographic rules to regain control of your layouts by following these 10 golden rules of typography? These rules are distilled down from the things that I learned by going to Art Center College of Design.

Generally speaking, there are two types of typography- expressive typography (type is visual, carries the meaning of the word and sometimes appears as physical shapes) and functional typography (type that is meant to be read). I will focus on the latter.

When starting out, it is best to learn the fundamentals of good design: hierarchy (primary, secondary and tierchiary reads), flow (how a person "reads" the layout by following the movement of their attention), legibility (in Western culture, type is read top to bottom, left to right so it's important to arrange type accordingly), grouping (organizing blocks of type in intelligent and logical groups) and interest, achieved through contrast (scale, texture, color, density, negative space).

Rule 01

When in doubt, always justify type left, sometimes right (appropriate for aligning currency figures), but never force justify (popular in newspaper columns but creates "rivers" of oddly spaced blocks of text). The reason why you should justify type left is because it is easier to read. The hard left edges make the beginning of paragraphs easier to find. For that reason, I also prefer not to indent the first line of a paragraph. Instead, I prefer adding an extra space after each paragraph.

Rule 02

Use one font. Until you have mastered the principles of typography, I would recommend not using more than one font. Reduce the number of options and it will allow you to focus on making a great layout.

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How can you quickly apply typographic rules to regain control of your layouts by following these 10 golden rules of typography? These rules are distilled down from the things that I learned by going to Art Center College of Design.

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This project required students to select, research and analyze an existing typeface as a point of departure to create their own system of related letterforms. Students selected one of the following letterform groupings to explore their systems: model letters (n h m r u), bowls (b d g p q),obliques (k v w x y z ), cursives (a c e o s), and verticals (i f j l t).

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Place letters in the square modules:

Black letters into white squares and white letters into black squares.

Use variety of typefaces.

Rotate and resize them. Change the weight of the letterforms.

Crop!!!!! Cropping creates interest!!!

To crop:
1. Position the letter over a square.
2. Convert letterform into shape: Type > Create Outlines.
3. Select the letterform and the square.
4. In Pathfinder palette (Window>Pathfinder): Divide
5. Object > Ungroup (or right-click)
6. Deselect
7. Delete all extra shapes.

Each module should be visually interesting.

Design 1: Create a pattern of equally balanced modules.

Design 2: Create a "value scale" by managing black and white shapes. Amount of black should go from maximum in the top module to the minimum in the bottom.

Design 3: Create a value gradation from light to dark to light.

Arrange all three designs together and print them!

Questions? Figure them out!

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Place letters in the square modules: Black letters into white squares and white letters into black squares. Use variety of typefaces. Rotate and resize them. Change the weight of the letterforms. Crop!!!!! Cropping creates interest!!! To crop: 1. Position the letter over a square. 2. Convert letterform into shape: Type > Create Outlines.

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Dozens of title treatment sketches by the renowned lettering artist and designer have found a home at the Archive.

Process material for Moana, 2011.

There are designers who choose to master their craft for a specific industry. And then there are designers, like Michael Doret, who refuse to stay in one lane. Doret brings his lettering talent to a range of clients: designing logos for sports teams, fast food chains, titles for comic books, children's animations, drama movies, and typefaces. He sees each project as a unique design challenge: embracing the differences and running with them to come up with the most exciting solution possible. To put it simply, nothing is out of Doret's reach. In 2018, Doret donated half of his working archive to Letterform Archive and the other half to the Herb Lubalin Center in New York. We are honored that Doret's final proofs for early movies, as well as developmental sketches and inked comps for Disney and Pixar animated features, have found a home in our growing collection of process material.

Selections of early titles

Early on in his career, Doret dove into the world of movie promotion, designing titles for (1972), Zardoz (1973), Alien (1979), and Wolfen (1980). For Savages, the Merchant Ivory Productions' feature, Doret drew on Art Deco forms and designed an exclusive typeface, which was used in the movie's credits, on posters, and on title cards in the movie. A year later, Doret designed the title for Zardoz, directed by John Boorman. Doret described the logo, which features geometric letterforms with razor-sharp edges, as one of his best title treatments for ironically "one of the worst sci-fi films ever made." Fans of Academy Award-winning movie Alien might not recognize Doret's title, since it was not used much for promotion. Together with pop-surrealist artist Todd Schorr, Doret created a highly detailed title that captured the look and feel of the veiny, skeletal alien characters. For Wolfen, Doret approached the title as a "tongue-in-cheek take" on '40s and '50s horror movies - a style which can also be found in our collection of German movie programs from the period - with letters that looks like ripped flesh and dripping blood.

After Wolfen, it was more than 20 years before Doret worked on title treatments again. This time, he was commissioned by two of the best animation studios in the world: Disney and Pixar. Doret's first title treatment projects for Disney were in 2005 for the DVD of Lady and the Tramp and the re-release of The Little Mermaid. In 2012, Creative Director and Disney Executive Vice President of Creative Print, John Sabel, approached Doret to design the title treatment for Wreck-It Ralph. The logo stands out as a turning point in the Disney portfolio, with bitmap letters and a pixelated portrait of Ralph inspired by 1970s arcade games.

Title exploration for Wreck-It Ralph, 2011.

Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

"Up until that time, the title treatments for Disney movies were conservative and rather tame. We broke out of that mold with a title completely different from anything Disney had done before. We tried to shake up the status quo, and that success led to a long string of assignments," he recalled. From there, he went on to contribute designs for more animated features. His playful work for Oz the Great and Powerful, Maleficent, Inside Out, Tomorrowland, Moana, Coco, Big Hero 6, Zootopia, and many more reimagines the ways lettering can represent a movie.

Title treatment sketch for Zootopia with illustrations by Laura Smith.

Zootopia (2016)

Everyone knows that Disney and Pixar movies take several years - and several hundred creative professionals - to produce, involving everyone from writers and concept artists to art directors and animators. Where does Doret fit into the timeline? It varies from project to project, but there is usually quite a bit of lead time. He began Wreck-It Ralph in the summer of 2011, and the movie was released in the fall of 2012. With Moana, he was brought in very early on, two years before the release date in 2016. Working with a huge team, there are many moving parts, with many stakeholders weighing in on almost every aspect of the design process. As a result, there are times when Doret's titles "just end up on the cutting room floor."

Big Hero 6 (2014)

Regardless of the outcome, Doret believes it's his responsibility as a designer to generate multiple ideas. "It has always been puzzling to me that many design studios provide large numbers of digital iterations of designs with only minute tweaks between the designs. I have always endeavored to provide as many real alternatives as I can when working on design projects - especially in the early stages when the client may not be sure of the direction in which they would like to go," he said. Looking at sketch after sketch, you begin to understand how much Doret honors and enjoys this process. He doesn't sacrifice quality for quantity - each sketch is a comprehensive exploration of a new idea.

Title treatment sketch for Moana, 2014.

The amount of information Doret receives about each movie, whether visual or narrative, also varies. He was provided many references for Moana, including indigenous patterns, tattoos from the character Maui, and 3D renderings of Moana's boat. However, for most movies, he received only bits of narrative info and was tasked to pursue his own research. "For Coco, the visual research I did centered on Day of the Dead, other types of Mexican graphics, and my memories of visiting the city of Oaxaca during el Día de los Muertos," he said. This shows up in his lettering treatments referencing decorative skulls, papel picado lace paper designs, and marigold flowers. Most of the time, however, Doret is on his own - following his intuition and "making it up as [he] goes along."

Title exploration for Coco, 2015.

With letters and words as his fundamental puzzle pieces, Doret begins to play - testing the limits of these forms and the ways they can relate to one another. He has clearly mastered a range of lettering styles - from serifs to scripts to styles of his own invention, like letterforms that reference the muscular character Ralph. Doret also adds depth to the lockups by considering how words and graphic elements can be framed. As seen in his work for Wreck-It Ralph and Zootopia, molding the stylized letters into shapes like triangles, circles, ovals, arcs, fisheyes, and crests adds another dimension of personality and dynamism to his compositions.

Another distinguishing element of what makes a Doret piece distinctively "Doret" is his color palette, seen in the vibrant renderings of Zootopia and Coco. Their palettes are inspired in large by his experiences growing up in Brooklyn near Coney Island and spending time in his father's office in Times Square, surrounded by bright lights, dazzling signage, and brilliant colors. From letterform and word, to shape and color - all of Doret's details thoughtfully relate to one another, and the sum of the parts merge together as one confident, unifying lockup.

More selections from the Doret Collection

While some of Doret's titles did not make it to the big screen, his sketches offer a peek into his mind and creative process. In his own eyes, these projects were some of the most exciting work he has done in his career, and his joy is evident in the overflowing folders of pencil drawings, inkings, and comps. The Archive is humbled to preserve this part of his portfolio. Flipping through page by page, from conceptual rough sketches to refined variations, you can follow his journey wondering what he will come up with next. You might question when you will reach the end of the pile, and perhaps even ask yourself if he really found all of the possible ways of lettering a one- or three-word title. But this is exactly what is inspiring and admirable about Doret: just when you think he's done, he proves to be a never-ending well of ideas, powered by a wholehearted enthusiasm to bring them to life.

- Florence Fu, Editorial Associate

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This Just In: Michael Doret's Disney and Pixar Title Treatments

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There are designers who choose to master their craft for a specific industry. And then there are designers, like Michael Doret, who refuse to stay in one lane. Doret brings his lettering talent to a range of clients: designing logos for sports teams, fast food chains, titles for comic books, children's animations, drama movies, and typefaces.

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