Superfamily Font Roundup: 40+ Serif and Sans Font Pairings
Peyton Crump, Former Design Director
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For some reason, it remains difficult to hunt down font families that have a serif and sans-serif combo. As far as I have found, none of the font sites allow you to search by this designation, yet it seems quite useful to utilize the hard work of typographers who, with great attention, have designed sets that work in this capacity. I'm not a huge student of typography, but I do understand that there's some grumbling about the use of these pairings, that using them produces less-than-ideal results or reflects a bit of laziness. I get it, and agree that some of the best combos are hand picked, but this post isn't about that. There are plenty of other font pairings that don't share a family, that work together because they contrast nicely, but again maybe a different post. This post is simply put together to identify what is available in the event that you're needing a quick sans/sans-serif harmonious combo or you're looking for wider variations within a single family style.
There isn't a clearly standardized name for serif/sans-serif paired families, but from what I can find, superfamily is the term most commonly used. You may also find references that use the terms suite, hyperfamily, type system, or family group. Following is a list compiled from other posts that I found and personal font searches. Please share superfamilies that you know of that didn't make the list, and I'll be glad to add them.
- Absara & Absara Sans
- Apex Serif & Apex Sans
- Aptifer Slab & Aptifer Sans
- Aviano Slab & Aviano Sans
- Benton Modern & Benton Sans
- Boomer Serif & Boomer Sans (follow links for actual font sample)
- Celeste & Celeste Sans
- Charlotte & Charlotte Sans
- Dancer Serif & Dancer Sans
- Dispatch & Stainless
- Eureka & Eureka Sans
- Fedra & Fedra Sans
- Freight Text & Freight Sans
- Frutiger Serif & Frutiger
- Generis Serif & Generis Sans
- Goudy & Goudy Sans Per Stephen's comment, "These are not designed to be companions. They are very different designs that were both simply named after their creator." Great point, and quite obvious once you have a good look.
- Guardian Egyptian & Guardian Sans (follow links for actual font sample)
- Legacy Serif & Legacy Sans
- Leitura Complete & Leitura Sans
- Lucida Serif & Lucida Sans
- Manual Slab & Manual Sans
- Mason Serif & Mason Sans
- Meta Serif & Meta Sans
- Nexus & Nexus Sans
- Officina & Officina Sans
- Parry & Parry Grotesque
- Poynter Text & Poynter Agate
- Prelo Slab & Prelo
- Proforma & Productus
- Rotis Serif & Rotis Sans
- Quadraat & Quadraat Sans
- Qugard Slab & Qugard Sans
- Scala & Scala Sans
- Skopex Gothic & Skopex Serif
- Stag & Stag Sans
- Stone Serif & Stone Sans
- Thesis TheSerif & Thesis TheSans
- Versa & Versa Sans
- Vista Slab & Vista Sans (All)
- Zine Serif & Zine Sans