Typophile

Serif font to pair with Benton Sans?

DaC

Hello,

i am thinking of using Benton Sans (http://www.fontshop.com/fontlist/families/benton_sans) for a bilingual book, and i am looking for a serif font to pair it with, not only for body text but as well for display.
can anyone help me with this?

thanks a lot in advance!

Alex

Another of Morris Fuller Benton's faces, Cloister, might work...

There is a matching seriffed text face too—Benton Modern—but you have to contact Font Bureau directly for licensing.

I'd say almost all transitional typefaces will work well, so would modern bracketed ones with not too much stroke contrast like Century. Perhaps take a look at what Font Bureau is suggesting to be compatible with Benton on the right side here: http://www.fontbureau.com/fonts/BentonSans/

Benton (News Gothic shown here) lends itself to this kind of effect because, with no thinning at the joints (owing to the abrupt angle at which curves intersect with straights), it is very monolinear. Similarly, there must be no bracketing of the display didone serifs. Berthold Bodoni shown here. You have to get the relative sizes just right; for larger display type, use Bauer Bodoni.

I'm using Starling with it at the moment under Harry Parker’s advice, and it seems to work well, but I have not had a lot of experience working with Benton.

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