Bob Potter's Profile

One of the easiest ways to quickly create balance and contrast in typography is to choose a serif and sans serif pairing.

Look for typefaces that were designed on similar principles. For instance, despite looking quite different, Futura and Bodoni can make a great pair because they were both inspired by simple geometric forms.

Choosing typeface families with a good selection of weights and styles gives you more flexibility without needing to introduce more typefaces.

There are many free fonts out there, but most of them are free for a reason: They’re often fine at display sizes, but kerning and hinting might not be up to snuff and many aren’t complete or robust enough to be used in a serious way. Solid typefaces, like almost anything else of quality, usually cost money.