Our Favorite Font Customizer Combinations

Let's talk fonts again! Did you know <em>press offers a Font Customizer plugin, which easily lets you change out the fonts you use on your site? While we built it with ease in mind (knowing most people haven't spent a ton of time learning about and using fonts), with so many choices in Font Customizer, we know it can be tough choosing which ones to pair together! So today, we thought we'd share some of our favorite combinations.

But first, a few things to keep in mind when you're assigning your fonts:

Don't go overboard. Even though you have the option to select a different font for every section in the Customizer, we find keeping the navigation and accent font the same usually looks the cleanest. Because most users will select a separate font for the Title and Body, keeping the same font for navigation and accents means you're only using three different fonts on the site. Any more than this—unless they are perfectly and expertly paired—can look a bit messy and disjointed. So even with all that options, don't be afraid to choose the same fonts between categories! You'll notice we do this a lot in our fave combos, below.
Mix it up! Try mixing serifs with sans serifs, and play with contrasts. If all your fonts have the same weight (i.e. thickness) and are also in the same style (e.g., all sans serifs), the eye has a harder time distinguishing between them. So, if your post title is a heavier font (like one of our bold fonts), try selecting a lighter weight font for your navigation and accents.
Get in character. Remember, while no one aesthetic element defines “your brand,” fonts can play a huge role in communicating the look and feel of a site. For example, stately serifs (like Prata or thinner weights from our Butler family) feel more sophisticated, editorial, even traditional. Heavy, geometric sans serifs, like Poppins or League Spartan tend to feel clean and modern, but a little whimsical too. Using a script accent like Homemade Apple or Nickainley injects a feminine, personal touch into your site, as casual scripts often communicate friendliness, approachability, or whimsy. Choosing a suite of all sans serifs fonts makes your site feel super modern and sleek. And, in some instances, condensed fonts communicate masculinity, or seriousness.
Mix it up again! As you can imagine, when you combine the elements of fonts themselves with what they communicate, the combinations are endless! Think through what your overall brand vision is (we wrote more about this here), and choose your fonts in kind.
Go Advanced. If you're an advanced WordPress user who knows a bit of code, use the Additional CSS tab in your Theme Customizer to adjust your fonts further. Change font size, add more color, make certain titles all upper or lowercase…the options are endless (which is why it pays to learn code!).

Now, onto the good stuff: 6 of our favorite font combinations!

Pairing Extra: Try using Work Sans Extra Light as your Logo font, if you've enabled the Site Title on your blog (and are not using your own logo artwork).