Typography Fundamentals

Master type hierarchy, pairing, and readability to elevate any design.

Category: Design | Type: Skills

Skills: Typography, Readability, Type Pairing

Techniques: Constraint-Based

Prompt

Typography is the voice of design. Fundamentals: 1. Hierarchy — establish three levels minimum: heading (loud), body (comfortable), caption (quiet). Each level should differ in at least two properties (size, weight, family). 2. Line Length — 45-75 characters per line for body text. Wider = eyes lose their place. Narrower = choppy reading. 3. Line Height — 1.4-1.6x font size for body text. Tighter for headings, looser for small text. 4. Pairing — contrast, don't conflict. Pair a serif with a sans-serif. Match the x-height. 5. Font Loading — use font-display: swap to prevent invisible text. Subset fonts to used characters. 6. The Squint Test — squint at your page. Can you see the hierarchy? If everything looks the same, your typography isn't working. Good typography is invisible. Bad typography is everywhere.

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