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Type Families Lend Variety to Single Typeface Documents

Mix it up and tie it all together with a family of fonts

By Jacci Howard Bear, About.com

Add variety with type families

Add variety with size, color, and a single type family

Type in the same family naturally works well together but the normal, bold, ultra, and condensed versions provide contrast and visual interest.

The example in the sidebar uses a single typeface but it's far from boring with its four different members of the same type family.

Notice the angled ampersand that bleeds off the edge. It uses size, color, and placement to add interest. The nameplate uses two different fonts from the same type family but also uses the contrast of lower and upper case characters to grab attention without destroying the simplicity and cohesiveness of a single typeface document.

Larger graphic of layout

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