There are many ways to put it. We talk of marrying typefaces, of finding mixtures that work, combinations that hit it off, pairings that make sense. Whatever the words, the heart of the matter is the same: we want an appropriately expressive presentation of text that works in practical terms. The look and feel of what we want to communicate depend on getting the combination right.
Overall, anyone who lays out texts faces two kinds of problems: practical-functional and aesthetic. Finding what works across the board takes time and effort, lots of it. And every designer has his or her own way of going about the “how” of it. Some rely on instinct, a “feel”, others on rules for combination drawn from experience, and still others on the winning examples of others. Yet every typographic situation is different, even unique, and success can only be measured by readers’ unconscious impressions.
The four pairings of typefaces offered here are matched in terms of: proportions (Futura and Garamond), in look or plastic quality (Farnham and Benton) and by a kind of contrapuntal interplay (Century Old Style and Sweet Sans; Chaparral and Proxima Nova). Just a word more: there are no hard and fast rules for combining typefaces. Our suggestions are meant to spark your own thinking.
