Typography

typography

Readymag Design Almanac is an educational project covering the fundamentals of design. This chapter is dedicated to font combination: it examines four classic font pairings and explains in detail why they make such a perfect match. Exploring these examples one learns how to mix and match fonts for the needs of your next project.

1

Futura

Garamond

2

Benton Sans

Farnham

About font pairing

3

Century Old Style

Sweet Sans

 

4

Proxima Nova 

Chaparral

What are font pairs?

Font Pairing

towards

combining

fonts

A letter G and a yellow square

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.

Futura + Garamond

Font Pairing

futura

garamond

in action

Futura Medium 150 / 140 pt + Adobe Garamond Regular 24 / 28 pt  

Font pairing: Futura + Garamond

why do they

match?

The marriage of Futura and Garamond is based on a unity of opposites. Despite differences in origin and character, they combine brilliantly, thanks to their proportions, to form a powerful typographic ensemble with a rich range of possibilities.

Futura

Futura Uppercase

 

Lowercase

 

Numbers & Symbols

Garamond

 

Adobe Garamond Lowercase

 

Uppercase

 

Numbers & Symbols

1. Proportions

 

Futura and Garamond have almost identical vertical metrics — the relationship of lowercase and uppercase letters (x-height) and the length of extenders. The moderate height of the lowercase letters along with the height of the ascenders give, in addition to a feeling of “slimness,” a sense of space between lines even where there is little leading.


The capitals of both typefaces use the classical proportions of Roman capital letters, each letter of which derives from a simple geometric form: triangle, circle, square (or one of their segments). The drawing of this kind of face is rhythmically complex. The “voice” is never monotonous.


Garamond's lowercase letters are noticeably different in width, a feature deriving in part from the not quite extinguished link to the proportions of humanist minuscule, the basis for the first serif typefaces of the 15th–16th centuries, which were much influenced by Renaissance ideas of “beautiful form”. Odd as it may seem, the proportions of the lowercase letters of Futura, a face of quite a different time and character, are very close to those of Garamond. But, for Futura, a typeface meant to last long after the era of its creation, use of the time-tested classical proportions was entirely natural and wise.

 

 

2. Details

 

Like many other handwriting-based Renaissance serifs transformed by the chisel into type, the letters of Garamond have a direct, expressive link to their origin in script.
On the other hand, Futura is one of the first typefaces whose letters are based on the idea of “pure” geometry. But Futura's geometry is a matter more of the eye than
of mathematics — a geometry created with compass and ruler but adjusted countless times before reaching final typographic acceptability. 

Benton Sans + Farnham

Font Pairing

Benton Sans + Farnham

Font Pairing

farnham

benton sans