Font pairing is the art of combining two or more fonts that create a harmonious, stylish, readable, and well-balanced design.
Font pairing plays a crucial role in achieving visual appeal and readability for your creative project (such as logo, poster, flyer, invitation, social media post, website, book, journal, or presentation) that contains text.
This section will help you to understand:
Note: To maintain consistency and ease of use, all the above procedures are similar to the procedures for font search, filter, download, sync/unsync, favorite/unfavorite, or add to library.
Pair your font
Go to Browse > Fonts page.
Click the pair icon
displayed next to your preferred font to set it is as your primary font. You will get font pair suggestions based on this primary font.Note: Pair icon
is disabled for the fonts that don’t support font pairing. We are working to add font pairing support for more fonts.
You can select any one of the following options:
Headline: The font pair will include your primary font as a headline.
Body text: The font pair will include your primary font as a body text.
Apply filters to font pair search
You can apply filters to your font pair search in the same way as you apply filters to the font search.
Use the following steps to apply filters to font pair search:
Go to font pair page.
Select a filter from the left-pane to apply it to your font pair search.
Note: For font pairs, you will also get Pairs should be filter option in addition to the other filters. You can select any of the following option:
with some contrast: if you want your primary font to be paired with a font from a different family.
within the same family: if you want your primary font to be paired with a font within the same family.
Change the style of a font pair
You can use the drop-down and select a different style (like bold, regular, or thin) from the same font family to see its pairs.
Adding a font pair to My Library
Click on the plus icon + to add a font pair to My Library. The Add to my library page displays.
Click on the font list, web project or digital ad to which you want to add the font pair to. You can either create a new one or search for an existing font list. If you want to add the font pairs to the Web Project and Digital Ads, you can add them separately.
Click Done. Your pair will be added, and you will get a confirmation message with a View link.
Click View if you want to verify. The My Library page displays.
Favoriting/Unfavoriting a font pair
Select/deselect the heart icon
to favorite/unfavorite a font pair. You will get a confirmation message for the same.
Note: When selected (favorited) the heart icon appears red in color
Sync/unsync a font pair
Click the sync icon 
to sync the font pair with the Monotype Desktop App.
Dislike a font pair
Click the dislike icon 
to give feedback on font pairs you don’t like. Your input will help us to improve the quality of font pairs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is font pairing?
Font pairing is the art of combining two or more fonts that create a harmonious, stylish, readable, and well-balanced design. You can also achieve font pairing by using more than one variation of a single font.
Note: A well-balanced design is a composition of the design elements that work together or complement each other to achieve the desired effect.
For example, various styles such as document title, heading styles, body text, and caption text provides a structure to a document and makes a document readable.
Why do we need font pairing?
Font pairing is an important decision while designing your creative project. It plays a crucial role in achieving visual appeal and readability for your creative project (such as logo, poster, flyer, invitation, social media post, website, book, journal, or presentation) that contains text.
You may want to use more than one font in your creative project or different variations (such as style, width, weight, and size) of the same font to accomplish any of the following requirements for your project:
Brand your project by aligning your project with your brand guidelines.
Enhance readability and visual appeal
Develop a structure for the project by creating a type hierarchy
Highlight important information
Change the context within the project. For example, while citing any reference or providing more information.
Add complementary or contrasting emotions. For example, including quotes that relates with the personality of the speaker.
Compensate for a preferred primary font (it could be your brand voice) that doesn’t support a particular type character, style, mood or emotion.
What are the best practices for selecting a font pair?
While there are no boundaries attached with how creative a type user can get, there are few standard best practices while deciding your perfect font pair. Font pairing should be based on the following factors:
Your brand guidelines
Scope and type of your project
Objective of your project (what do you want to accomplish with the project?)
Your typography preferences (based on your project and experience in using types)
Purpose of a font pair (whether you want to enhance your brand personality or change the context within your document)
Target audience for your project
Why should I use font pairing feature of Monotype Fonts?
Our font pairing feature is free with your Monotype Fonts subscription and comes with the following benefits:
Considerable reduction in time and effort when compared with manual search for the appropriate font pair
You can save valuable time and effort spent in manually experimenting with different font combinations. The curated pairings eliminate the need for extensive trial and error, allowing you to focus more on your creative vision and less on intricate typographic decisions.
AI-driven feature trained by our type experts
The AI for font pairings has been meticulously trained by our type experts. This means that the font combinations not only look visually appealing but also come with a high degree of quality in terms of typographic harmony and readability standards. This ensures that your designs have a polished and professional finish.
Why is the font pair icon disabled for some fonts?
The font pair icon is disabled for the fonts that do not support pairing. Currently, font pairs are available for Serif and Sans Serif font styles. We will subsequently add font pairing for Display and Script styles also.
Can I preview font pairings before selecting them?
Yes, the font pairing feature provides you with the ability to visualize how selected fonts will look together in their design context through type testing. This allows you to make informed decisions and ensure that the chosen pairings meet your design objectives before deploying to your design project.
Why do I see the message: "<Font name> might not work well as a body text"?
Note: Message showing that “Gilroy Thin” (font name) might not work well as body text.
The AI engine used by Monotype Fonts for font pairing evaluates fonts and suggests suitable options for body text based on their typographic features and legibility.
Some fonts are not suitable for body text, such as bold or black style fonts. You should avoid using these fonts as body text.
Monotype Fonts platform displays this message to inform you that the font you are trying to pair as body text lacks the ideal properties for body text usage. It helps you decide if you still want to use that font for body text or choose a more suitable alternative. If you see this message, either use that font as a headline or choose another font.
How can I provide feedback or suggest improvements for the font pairing feature?
We value feedback and suggestions for improving the font pairing feature. Click Share feedback link on the top right of the font pairings page to share your thoughts and help us enhance your experience within Monotype Fonts.
Troubleshooting font pairing issues
No pairs found within the same family
When using within the same family filter to discover font pairings, you may get a No pairs found within the same family message.
A possible cause for this could be that there are no suggested pairings based on your search criteria. Because some fonts do not work well as body text based on their typographic features and legibility. These fonts are not suitable to be paired as body text.
You can click View pairs with contrast to view other recommended pairings with some contrasting fonts.
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