Font used in title graphic: Helvetica

With this issue of FontShop Fundamentals we debut Guest FontLists. Building on our own lists, we asked experts we admire to round up typefaces that share a common use, style, or concept.

Our first guest is Indra Kupferschmid, a German typographer and writer who lives in Bonn and teaches in Saarbrücken at the French border. As co-author of “Helvetica forever”, Indra is often asked what typeface to combine with the world’s most famous font. As Indra puts it, “Helvetica is often described as the tasteless white rice among typefaces: satisfies easily, cheap and fast. But the good thing is, you can take the design into different directions with the sauce and side dishes (the typefaces you pair with Helvetica).”

Indra shares her favorite Helvetica companions with the following guidelines in mind: “Focusing on contrast makes combining fonts easier. Better not pair Helvetica (or other Neo-Grotesques) with another sans serif (like a Humanist Sans). Instead, choose a serif or a slab. Transitional and Modern (bracketed) serifs work quite well with Helvetica. So do most Garaldes like Garamond — it all depends on what kind of atmosphere you’re aiming for. Browse the list of ideas below, or look for faces with broad proportions, a large x-height, or similar characteristics, like an uppercase ‘R’ with a vertical tail.”

If you’re looking for a text face and want to stay consistent by emphasizing the neutral, flawless feel of the Grotesk, try a Transitional serif. As their name suggests, these even, regularly proportioned typefaces “sit on the fence” — neither too playful nor too aloof.

Arnhem  

Designed by Fred Smeijers for a Dutch newspaper, Arnhem’s strong color lets it perform very well at small sizes and in less than optimal printing conditions.

FF Clifford

Farnham

ITC Charter

Romain BP  

Sturdy serifs and a relatively low stroke contrast invoke a more informal atmosphere. Clarendon is the most obvious candidate, but there are others from this category that work equally well.

RePublic

Designed in 1955 for the Czech State Department, Public was a newspaper typeface linked to Communism. Tomáš Brousil rehabilitated this unique face as RePublic in 2004 and it has become popular in contemporary magazine design. While not technically a “Clarendon”, RePublic is a square slab with a similarly informal but impactful effect.

Sutro

Jim Parkinson’s interest in early slab serifs began in the 1970s when he drew a new version of Egiziano for Roger Black at New West Magazine. The versatile Sutro family has 19 members for text and headline use, adding a modern alternative to existing Clarendons.

Belizio

Schadow

Unbracketed slab serifs in the Grotesk style play to Helvetica’s calculated, technical impression. These faces are the most similar to Helvetica and often share very similar x-height and proportions for better mixing within the same block of text.

Glypha

Adrian Frutiger’s Univers is the most natural pair for Glypha, but Helvetica plays well with it too.

Corporate E

Calvert

Helserif

Serifa

Want something more formal and austere? The elegant Didones of the late 18th century can make Helv feel quite upper crust.

Walbaum

Walbaum is often forgotten among the more common Bodonis and Didots, but its lower stroke contrast makes it a better option for text sizes and its proportions are a better match for Helvetica.

ITC Bodoni

FF Acanthus

FF Cellini

FF Holmen

No-nonsense newspaper serifs and bracketed Moderns echo Helvetica’s just-the-facts-ma’am attitude.

Escrow

Escrow sets the tone of the front page of The Wall Street Journal. A large family of text and display fonts in various widths, Escrow adds 44 striking options to the designer’s palette.

Miller

Ingeborg

Centennial

For a warmer, more friendly touch, choose an open Garalde or a typeface made for books. These are the most readable of the bunch, designed for long passages of text.

Swift

Though it was designed at the end of the 1980s, Gerard Unger’s most popular design doesn’t look more than a day old. Its sharp serifs and open forms counter Helvetica’s stoic posture to create a more contemporary feeling.

Plantin

Proforma

FF Parable

FF Milo Serif

View Indra's FontList online: Helvetica Companions »

Nick Sherman

Fonts for Small Sizes
“Since the earliest days of typography, there have been efforts to render text at small sizes, usually to fit within limited spacial constraints. This list consists of fonts that have been designed specifically to compensate for issues that arise at small sizes, or those that just to happen work well at small sizes due to their clear and open forms.”

Florian Hardwig

School Scripts
“What fascinates me about infant scripts is the fact that every state, every culture has its own tradition. You can easily distinguish the Spanish style from Anglo-American ones, and detect ‘dialects’ of handwriting. Even in this seemingly negligible field of school letterforms, a lot of history is reflected.”

QUICK POLL

Which FontLists Do You Find Most Useful?

FontLists are special collections of fonts curated by FontShop experts to help you find the type you need. Genres are based on cultural and physical characteristics, Application on their usefulness for a project, and Alternatives suggest less common and just as servicable font options in lieu of more standard typefaces.

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