Pairing Typefaces, step by step
Two faces is usually enough. A third needs a reason.
- Choose the text face firstIt carries the reading. Everything else is chosen to fit it.
- Look for contrastTwo faces that nearly match read as a mistake rather than a choice.
- Match x-height and colourSet both at one size; the grey of the two settings should agree.
- Check awkward charactersNumerals, ampersands, question marks and the italic lowercase a.
- Try a superfamilyA serif and sans designed together already share their proportions.
One face with a real range of weights beats a bad pairing. The number of typefaces is not a measure of effort.
Questions about the Pairing Typefaces poster
- What’s on the Pairing Typefaces poster?
- 5 numbered steps. Two faces is usually enough. A third needs a reason. Choose the text face first — It carries the reading. Everything else is chosen to fit…; Look for contrast — Two faces that nearly match read as a mistake rather than a choice.; Match x-height and colour — Set both at one size; the grey of the two settings should…; Check awkward characters — Numerals, ampersands, question marks and the italic lowerc…; Try a superfamily — A serif and sans designed together already share their proportions.. One face with a real range of weights beats a bad pairing. The number of typefaces is not a measure of effort.
- Who is the Pairing Typefaces poster for?
- Pairing Typefaces belongs to the Art & Design section rather than to a school year, because design is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning typography can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Pairing Typefaces poster?
- Use it when a project needs a display face alongside a text face. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Pairing Typefaces belongs on the wall where that design work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Pairing Typefaces?
- Legibility & Readability, The Baseline Grid and Dashes & Quotes sit alongside Pairing Typefaces in the Art & Design section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.Legibility & ReadabilityThe Baseline GridDashes & Quotes
- Is the Pairing Typefaces poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Pairing Typefaces downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Art & Design section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Pairing Typefaces poster print at?
- Pairing Typefaces is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Pairing Typefaces loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Pairing Typefaces on the same wall.
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