What font combination works well with Montserrat?

Immanuel sent in a question:

“I’m looking for a fitting font for body text. The headings are in Montserrat (that’s required).”

In this short video, I answer his question. And here are the examples I show.

Look at the typeface’s construction

It always depends on what mood you want to create. How should your combination feel? Looking at Montserrat, it is a very geometric typeface. There is no contrast in its lines, the proportions are rather wide. And Montserrat is horribly overused 😉. When I look for a fitting font to pair it with, I always spell out the word “Megatypos”, then I look for similarities or differences in the construction of the typefaces. I describe the process in this article.

Montserrat is very geometric, has little contrast, and wide proportions.

I’ll show you three possible combinations, that create different moods. All of them are available on Google Fonts for free.

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1. Varta

Varta looks more or less like Montserrat, only narrower. A good typeface for body text, that save horizontal space, and overall stands for a very subtle combination. The only downside here is, that the bold weight of Varta is rather light.

Combining Montserrat and Varta. The letter shapes are open as well (e, s), it does not really matter if there is a single or double-storey g.

2. Zilla Slab

Zilla Slab is a slab serif typeface that is very striking and confident. It is very similar to Motserrat, the construction is almost equal, just with serifs added on top. For text heavy applications, though, it might be too much.

Montserrat paired with Zilla Slab. Bot typefaces have almost the same construction and proportions.

3. Literata

This creates a very classical or traditional vibe. Literata is a typeface crafted for screen display. It still has a vertical angle (look at the o), and for long reading text, it’s a good choice.

The serif typeface Literata combined with Montserrat. This creates a classical vibe.

If you have a question as well, happy to read in the comments below or just shoot me an email!

3 Comments

  1. I meant to write “title of this article”, not “typo of this article”, obviously.

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