Typography studies
Type as voice, rhythm, and tone. Specimens, pairings, and the small calibration that changes how a sentence reads.
- Status
- Ongoing
- Medium
- Print, web
- Updated
- February 2026
Type is voice. Two products can say the same words and read completely differently because of how those words are set.
This track collects pairings, specimen sheets, and small rhythm studies. Most of them sit unused, which is fine. The point is to keep training the eye.
01 · Notes
Pairing as decision
I try to make type pairing a decision, not a habit. That means starting from voice: who is talking, in what register, to whom.
Once that is clear, the type often picks itself. Most pairing problems are actually unresolved voice problems.
02 · Notes
Rhythm and reading
Line length, leading, and size are where rhythm lives. Most reading discomfort I see in products is fixable in those three values, before any font swap.
I run the same paragraph through three rhythm settings and see which one disappears. The one that disappears is usually right.
03 · Notes
Plates
Open questions
Open questions
- How do you brief type voice without falling back to adjectives?
- When is a custom typeface worth it for a product team?
- What does good system typography look like at scale?
If something feels off, start there.
Tell me what's going on and what a good outcome would look like. A short email is enough — I read every one and reply within two working days.