Typeface selection

Selection is a constraint-satisfaction problem, not a taste contest. Taste decides between the candidates that survive the constraints.

1. When to invoke

• Choosing a typeface for a product, brand, or document.
• Replacing a face that fails at some size, script, or medium.
• Building a type palette for a system.
• Auditing an inherited choice.

Do not invoke for combining faces (typeface-pairing) or for expressive critique (typography-critique).

2. Required context

Do not name a font before you have these: