Use Superfamilies for Easy Pairing
Superfamilies include serif and sans-serif variants built on the same skeleton, so they pair harmoniously with no guesswork.
Popular superfamilies:
- FF Tisa + FF Tisa Sans
- Calluna + Calluna Sans
- Freight Text + Freight Sans
- Adelle + Adelle Sans
- FF Meta + FF Meta Serif
- FF Scala + FF Scala Sans
- Fedra Serif + Fedra Sans
- Source Serif + Source Sans
Incorrect (unrelated pair that clashes):
h1 { font-family: 'Bodoni', serif; }
body { font-family: 'Futura', sans-serif; }
/* High-contrast modern serif with geometric sans: risky */Correct (superfamily pair):
h1 { font-family: 'Source Serif Pro', serif; }
body { font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', sans-serif; }
/* Same design DNA, guaranteed harmony */Most superfamily sans-serifs are humanist, since readable text serifs are usually humanist and need a humanist sans counterpart.