How to Pair Fonts by Diagnosing What the Page Needs
Build useful contrast between roles while checking apparent size, weight, width, baseline behavior, and the metrics that make two families cooperate.
5 min read5/10/2025
70 essays on type
Type, out loud.
Friendly guides to choosing fonts and making everyday designs look their best.
70 posts
Display Fonts in Branding: Know Their Limits Before You Commit
Choose expressive lettering that survives small sizes, production demands, shared availability and real licensing requirements.
5 min read4/28/2025
A Beginner's Guide to Type Hierarchy, With a Complete Example
Build a workshop page with distinct levels for its title, practical facts, sections, body text and supporting details.
5 min read4/25/2025
Letter Spacing: Adjust the Rhythm, Not a Universal Number
Learn when tracking helps, when kerning is the real fix and why size, script and font design change the answer.
5 min read4/16/2025
What Makes a Font Look Friendly? Context Comes First
Rounded shapes can help, but audience, wording, clarity and the surrounding design determine whether type feels welcoming.
5 min read4/4/2025
Choosing a Font for Long-Form Screen Reading
Evaluate articles and documentation on real screens, with responsive layouts, accessible text and deliberate fallbacks.
5 min read4/1/2025
When to Break the Rules of Type—and How to Compare the Result
Use a conventional version as a control, make a purposeful exception and protect the information readers need.
5 min read3/29/2025
How Type Designers Get Paid: Licences, Commissions and Free Fonts
Understand the difference between free use and unpaid labour, and the funding models behind open and commercial type.
5 min read3/20/2025
The Quiet Power of Italic Type
Use italics to express meaning, distinguish editorial roles, and create contrast—and learn why a designed oblique is not a fake italic.
5 min read3/8/2025
Five Free Script Fonts, and Where Each Works Best
Compare Dancing Script, Caveat, Pacifico, Allura, and Great Vibes by lettering style, practical use, and the details that need checking.
5 min read2/27/2025
What Designers Get Wrong About All-Caps
Capital letters are useful in the right setting. Judge their length, spacing, language, and purpose instead of following blanket rules.
5 min read2/24/2025
A History of the Sans-Serif
Follow sans-serif type from early printing specimens through transport lettering, modernist experiments, and contemporary digital families.
5 min read2/21/2025