Deciding upon a single typeface to get your point across is easy, but figuring out which typefaces match is something even design experts often get wrong. How do you find the chocolate to Perpetua's peanut butter then, or the goose to Garamond's gander? You put them through the paces of the Type Connection, a typographic dating game.
It's actually far less silly than you'd expect. Designer Aura Seltzer, a Maryland College Institute of Art MFA student who created The Type Connection for her thesis project, explains how it works:
Start by choosing a typeface to pair. Like a conventional dating website, Type Connection presents you with potential "dates" for each main character--without the misleading profile photos and commitment-phobes. The game features well-known, workhorse typefaces and portrays each as a character searching for love. You are the matchmaker. You decide what kind of match to look for by choosing among several strategies for combining typefaces. Along the way, you explore typographic terminology, type history, and more. By playing Type Connection, you deepen your own connection with type.
Also at play are pairing strategies. When choosing a font, you can rely upon family type, similar typefaces, embracing opposites, or exploring historically linked fonts to find a match. Sometimes, the results will surprise you: the sans serif Univers and a Linotype Centennial that looks more formal and elegant because of its serifs go quite well together, for example. But just like setting up friends on a blind date, more pairings than not will just blow up in your face.
Try out Type Connection for yourself here.