Choosing type before choosing color
Color gets all the attention, but typography is what decides whether a page feels expensive or unfinished.
Mara Ellison
Editor
When a page feels off and nobody can say why, it is almost always the type.
Color is easy to discuss. Everyone has an opinion about blue. Typography is harder to talk about because its failures are quiet: a line length slightly too long, a heading weight slightly too light, three sizes doing the job of two.
Start with a single family and earn the second one. Set body copy first, at a size you would genuinely read for ten minutes, then build the headings around it rather than the other way around. Most pages need three sizes and two weights. If you are reaching for a fourth, you are probably solving a hierarchy problem with decoration.
Once the type is right, color becomes a much smaller decision. You are no longer using it to rescue the layout.
