How to pick a font pairing for your brand
The simple rule for pairing fonts that don't fight each other — and 6 pairings you can copy today.
- Access to Google Fonts (free)
Step by step
- 01
Use two fonts max
One for headings, one for body. A third only if you have a strong reason (e.g. a code/mono font). More than two looks chaotic.
- 02
Apply the contrast rule
Headings and body should look obviously different. Pair a serif heading with a sans-serif body, or a display font with a clean sans. Two similar fonts look like a mistake.
- 03
Match the personality
Tech / modern: Space Grotesk + Inter. Editorial: Playfair Display + Source Sans. Friendly SaaS: DM Serif Display + DM Sans. Premium: Cormorant + Lato. Bold/agency: Bricolage Grotesque + Inter.
- 04
Check readability at 16 px
Body text should be 16 px minimum. Test the pairing in a real paragraph, not just the headline. If the body font is hard to read at 16 px, swap it.
- 05
Lock the weights
Heading 700, subhead 500, body 400. Using every weight a font ships with creates noise.
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