Script fonts have always made an appearance in brand font palettes, wedding invitations, product packaging, and more. It’s certain that these fonts are here to stay no matter the trend or season. That is because they are versatile enough to fit into a classic, playful, grungy, or romantic aesthetic, making choosing and pairing your script fonts seem like an intricate task.
Once you’ve made your selection, pairing your script fonts can create its own challenges. Combining these fonts can either feel exciting or overwhelming as there is an abundance of options and styles to choose from. As with any fonts pairing, it takes time and commitment to find the ones that work best for your project. To get started, here are 3 tips to set you on the right path.
3 Tips for Pairing Script Fonts
Tip #1 – Choose your script font first
Since your script font will be the star of your palette, it’s easier to get started by only focusing on this font first. You can save yourself time looking for one font instead of your pair to begin. This will help you hone in on script fonts that align with your brand or project right out of the gate.
This is the time to get clear on what you want your fonts to convey. Yes, the endless choices can get overwhelming, but start thinking of each script font as having a personality. Think of words that align with the message you are trying to get across, whether that’s in your brand or project. Then go through and find script fonts that can work to visually translate that to your viewer. The most dominant design element of your font palette will be your script font, so be sure to take the time and put intention into selecting this first font.
Tip #2 – Create contrast with your pairing
With any font pairing, it’s important to create contrast to differentiate between the various fonts in your palette. Creating juxtaposition in your fonts not only creates visual interest but allows your fonts to not compete with one another. It allows them to have specific roles in the overall design and lets each portion of your text stand with purpose.
Naturally, script fonts will come across as more organic and fluid, so strive to look for contrasting fonts that are more structural, simple, and bold to pair, like in the example below. As you may know, you don’t have to follow every design rule exactly. There is room for creativity if you find fonts that look well together but aren’t contrasting enough. It depends on the unique needs of your project, fonts, and brand, so take the time to experiment with your pair.
Try to avoid fonts that do not complement each other but instead clash. This happens when 2 fonts are different but still have a few similarities in common. With script fonts pairings, this means staying away from almost all additional script fonts as it will be hard to differentiate each font from another.
Tip #3 – Consider the context of your fonts
When pairing your fonts, it’s key to understand the context of each font’s purpose. For example, if you are creating a wedding invitation, you want to consider that the script font will be large in print but used sparingly like the below example. It’s best to write out the text that will be used to see how it fits within the context of your project or brand design.
When choosing any fonts, think about the sizing, frequency, and placement of each font that will be used. Sometimes fonts can seem like they fit well in theory, but it’s not until you see how they work together in your unique situation that you can finalize them.
3 Script Pairings to Try
You can now see these font tips come to action with these 3 examples. As with any new design skill, finding the perfect match takes time, patience, and trial-and-error.
Lastly, when pairing your fonts, be sure to experiment with uppercase, lowercase, kerning, and line spacing for your non-script font, as you can see in these examples.
If you need some set guidance, you can always search for fonts that come in pairs like the above. This way, you can skip the pairing process and feel confident that your fonts are a perfect match. This pair works well together because “apothecary” is in a clean, modern line while “typewriter” adds more of a grunge look which creates beautiful contrast.
Our 2nd example is matched together also in contrast but not clashing. This is because Printed Moments is more of a free-flowing font while Glacial Indifference creates bold structure. These 2 work by not sharing any design similarities, so they each play a distinct purpose.
Lastly, these 2 fonts are paired together as they are contrasting like the rest of these examples. However, they do share an overall traditional theme while being structurally different, which creates harmony when paired together.
Download these worksheets and start practicing with simple instructions and tracing exercises.
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