Typography is the quickest way to make a design look professional — or amateur. The good news: you do not need to understand type history. You need two fonts that contrast in the right way, and a few rules about size and spacing.
The basic rule: contrast, not conflict
Pair fonts that are clearly different in one way — usually style or weight — and similar in mood. A bold display font for the headline plus a calm, readable font for the details is the classic pattern. Two fonts that are almost the same (for example two similar sans-serifs) look like a mistake.
Know the four families
- Serif (Playfair Display, Lora, Merriweather): small strokes at the ends of letters. Classic, trustworthy, editorial.
- Sans-serif (Inter, Poppins, Montserrat, Raleway, Nunito): clean and modern. The default for screens.
- Display (Bebas Neue, Anton, Archivo Black, Oswald): made for big headlines, not paragraphs.
- Script (Great Vibes, Dancing Script, Pacifico, Caveat): handwritten feel. Use for one or two words only.
10 pairings you can use in Ontools
| Headline | Body | Mood / use |
|---|---|---|
| Playfair Display | Inter | Elegant, editorial — quotes, restaurants |
| Montserrat (bold) | Lora | Modern but warm — flyers, blogs |
| Bebas Neue | Poppins | Bold, sporty — events, gyms |
| Anton | Inter | Loud — YouTube thumbnails, sales |
| Archivo Black | Nunito | Friendly-strong — kids, education |
| Great Vibes | Montserrat | Romantic — weddings, invitations |
| Pacifico | Nunito | Playful — parties, cafés |
| Oswald | Merriweather | News, serious announcements |
| Poppins (bold) | Poppins (regular) | Clean single-family look — tech, startups |
| Roboto Slab | Raleway | Sturdy and approachable — real estate, services |
The Font combinations section in the editor’s Text panel adds some of these as ready-made pairs.
Size and spacing rules
- Scale: make the headline at least twice the size of body text. Small differences look accidental.
- Line height: 1.1–1.2 for big headlines, 1.4–1.6 for paragraphs.
- Letter spacing: add spacing (200–400) to small uppercase labels like “NEW ARRIVAL”. Never add it to script fonts.
- Uppercase: great for short labels and display fonts; tiring for long sentences.
- Alignment: center short texts, left-align anything longer than two lines.
Common mistakes
- Using three or more fonts in one design.
- Script fonts for whole sentences — hard to read.
- Thin fonts on photos — they disappear.
- Stretching text to fill space instead of choosing a bigger size.
Ready to design?
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