The Non-Designer’s Design Book, Third Edition

Chapter 9. Type (& Life)

Type is the basic building block of any printed page. Often it is irresistibly compelling and sometimes absolutely imperative to design a page with more than one typeface on it. But how do you know which typefaces work effectively together?

In Life, when there is more than one of anything, a dynamic relationship is established. In Type, there is usually more than one element on a page—even a document of plain body copy typically has heads or subheads or at least page numbers on it. Within these dynamics on the page (or in Life), a relationship is established that is either concordant, conflicting, or contrasting.

A concordant relationship occurs when you use only one type family without much variety in style, size, weight, ...