The Joy Of Typography

Classic Typeface Pairings 8 April 2024

Over the weekend, I was working on a brief for a client, when I was faced with the old dilemma of picking the perfect font choices for the project. Which typefaces complement each other, and could be paired to create the perfect design? Now there is a question! and a question which some would argue, there is no right answer to.

Designers are often faced with this dilemma when trying to create the perfect design, ‘should I use a Sans serif with a Serif? or a Display font and a Script font?  or a Serif with a Script font?’ and so on and so forth.

Most successful designs can be linked to the designer’s choice of font pairings, for headings, sub-headings and body copy, these combinations help to create visual hierarchy leading the viewer’s eye.

But it is not by chance some of the typefaces are known to complement each other and have stood the test of time. Today we are going to explore a number of the classic typeface pairings between sans Serifs and Serif fonts, which if used together in your designs, can help create harmony and balance.

Table 1 displays ten of the classic font pairings which many graphic designers use in creating their designs.

Sans Serif	Serif(s)
Helvetica (1957)	Times New Roman, Lucida Grande, Georgia, Crimson, Arial, Gibson, Migra, Baskerville, Claredon, Woodland.
Gill Sans (1928)	Arial, Bodoni, Didot.
Avenir (1988)	Georgia, Helvetica, Poppins, Play Fair Display.
Frutiger (1968)	Minion, Baskerville, Didot.
Futura (1927)	Proxima Nova, Play Fair, Helvetica, Rockwell, Claredon (1845).
Franklin Gothic	Caslon, Promima Nova, Georgia, Arial, Merriweather, Skolar.
Trebuchet (1966)	Garamond, Verdana, lucida Grande, Helvetica Neue.
Georgia (1966)	Brandon Grotesque, Arial, Lucida Grande, Lato, Proxima Nova, Arimo.

These are just a few or the tried and tested ‘classic’ font pairing out there, some of which the purist would argue are a must and others which are more contemporary and bring a more modern feel to your designs.