Typophile

Suggestions for serif font for use w/ FF Unit

Jim Nicholson

Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a serif font to use for body text in an instructional manual. The headers and sidebar boxes will use FF Unit, and I'd like something vaguely modern to use for the body.

The obvious choice might be FF Unit Slab, but I don't know how that might look as a body text font at low point size (probably 9.5 - 10.5 pt font) and with largish paragraphs. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks!
Jim

Nicola Caleffi

I would try FF Meta Serif - it was designed by the same team (Spiekermann and Schwartz) and shares the same contemporary lineage, while being sufficiently different. And, to me, looks like an appropriate typeface for the text of a manual - something in the line of, say, Robert Slimbach's Utopia; see this interesting page and the dedicated site: http://metaserif.com/story/

thetypographist

Hey Jim,

FF Unit and FF Unit Slab would be the perfect match, but indeed FF Unit Slab is a way to compressed for long term paragraphs. FF Meta Serif would be a great choice, too. You could try something like Adelle if you want a modern look.

Regards,
Florian

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