Maybe you aren’t awesome at picking and pairing fonts for your projects… so this may help just a bit. Its not a guarantee that your typographic skills will be unmatched, but they will help you quite a bit. I have picked three sites that are incredibly helpful, and I hope you think so too.

When it comes to finding the perfect font for a class or client project, the process can be tough. finding the EXACT font you want can be somewhat of a nightmare if we are being honest… especially if you have thousands and thousands of fonts to choose from. Honestly, where do you even get STARTED with options like that? If you are anything like me, you have a hard drive somewhere literally stuffed full of font files, some free… some paid. Looking into that hard drive can be crazy overwhelming. Without years of industry experience, it can be downright impossible to start pairing.

So, I did some homework for you… and found some sites that not only help you choose an excellent font for any one project, but in certain cases it will help you learn how you can start making better choices about the types of font you pair with others, and understand what makes some typefaces just plain look better than others for a project.

1. My favorite… is Fontjoy!

I LOVE this setup! It was created by a Designer/Engineer Jack Quao, and uses deep learning tech to figure out the specific features of any given font, and then calculates which one would work with another best. The final output is a nicely paired set of typefaces without you having to worry about the science or magic behind it. Obviously, a good Typographer will be able to tell if the output is any good… but it’s a great place to start for a newbie!

2. Type Connection is a visual BEAST!

I absolutely love this thing. It’s got this strange approach to making YOU think about how you are pairing typefaces, and was actually built as a thesis project by Auri Weiner. It calls itself a “typographic dating game” and I just love it. You pick a font, then the software gives you a selection of different strategies not unlike dating to help you combine and pair fonts into beautiful matches. It’s kind of a trip, and worth your time to explore.

3. Google Web Fonts Typographic Project is literally an amazing idea!

Another great site that is designed to showcase some good looking combos using only Google Fonts, one of my personal favorites. It takes a really, super-interesting approach to showcasing all the font pairings you could really want to see. It uses Aespop’s Fables and displays passages making visual connections to the content and the typefaces being displayed. Rather than seeing yet ANOTHER “The quick brown fox…” line of text again, you get to actually engage in the typeface.