TYPEMATCHSEO
Launch

TYPEMATCH.

V2.1

Browse Directory
700
400
PAIRING ID: SOU-PLA // ETHOS: SERIF + SERIF

Systematizing Source Serif 4 & Playfair Display

Build a mono-category system where Source Serif 4 leads and Playfair Display keeps long-form content legible.

Display Face

Source Serif 4

Weight: 700

Body Face

Playfair Display

Weight: 400

This pairing is engineered for teams that need a clear hierarchy without sacrificing brand voice. Source Serif 4 brings adobe, text, companion energy to hero units, pricing sections, and campaign headlines. Playfair Display absorbs the heavy lifting for paragraphs, product storytelling, and UI labels with its elegant, classical, editorial texture and dependable rhythm. Together they create a typography stack that scales from high-impact landing pages to dense documentation without retooling your CSS tokens.

Typographic Hierarchy & Scale

H1The Quick Fox
H2The Quick Fox
H3The Quick Fox
PThe quick brown fox jumps over...
Dark Context
Aa

High contrast negative space.

Accent
Gg

Legibility on high-chroma.

Pairing Strategy

Systematizing Source Serif 4 & Playfair Display

Build a mono-category system where Source Serif 4 leads and Playfair Display keeps long-form content legible.

This pairing is engineered for teams that need a clear hierarchy without sacrificing brand voice. Source Serif 4 brings adobe, text, companion energy to hero units, pricing sections, and campaign headlines. Playfair Display absorbs the heavy lifting for paragraphs, product storytelling, and UI labels with its elegant, classical, editorial texture and dependable rhythm. Together they create a typography stack that scales from high-impact landing pages to dense documentation without retooling your CSS tokens.

Source Serif 4 thrives as a headline face thanks to its adobe, text, companion qualities. Use weights 700–900 for crisp editorial lockups.
Playfair Display excels in paragraphs and UI thanks to its elegant, classical, editorial traits. Keep it between weights 400–600 for optimal readability.
Hierarchy guidance: run a 1:1.2 modular scale and reserve Source Serif 4 for H1–H3 while Playfair Display powers captions, body copy, and data tables.

Best-Fit Use Cases

  • High-growth SaaS landing pages that require adobe hero statements with trustworthy product copy.
  • Editorial magazines and thought-leadership hubs where Source Serif 4 can dramatize pull quotes while Playfair Display keeps 1,500-word essays skimmable.
  • Conversion funnels or onboarding flows that need Playfair Display's elegant voice to balance Source Serif 4's attention-grabbing display.

Accessibility Notes

Maintain a minimum 4.5:1 contrast ratio for Playfair Display body copy and loosen letter-spacing to 0.01em for uppercase Source Serif 4 moments. Pairing different categories demands disciplined color pairing—test both light and dark themes to ensure Playfair Display does not bloom at small sizes.

CSS Implementation Cheatsheet

:root {
  --tm-header-family: 'Source Serif 4', serif;
  --tm-body-family: 'Playfair Display', serif;
  --tm-header-weight: 700;
  --tm-body-weight: 400;
  --tm-header-tracking: -0.01em;
  --tm-body-tracking: -0.005em;
}
Heading scale: clamp(2.75rem, 3.6vw, 5.25rem) for H1, clamp(1.5rem, 2.8vw, 3rem) for H2, and keep paragraph size at 1rem–1.125rem with 1.6 line-height.
Component guidance: Buttons inherit Source Serif 4 at 700 for momentum, while forms, tables, and footnotes stay on Playfair Display with 400 weight for predictable kerning.

FAQs

Why does Source Serif 4 make sense as the lead font?

Source Serif 4 owns the emotional register of this system. Its adobe, text, companion profile helps anchor campaign creative, meaning marketing and product teams can reuse the same voice without reinventing the scale.

Where should Playfair Display show up?

Playfair Display is the workhorse. Keep it in paragraphs, long-form editorial, knowledge bases, or anywhere legibility is non-negotiable. Its elegant, classical, editorial qualities reduce fatigue on dense layouts.

Does this pairing support complex localization?

Yes—both families are available on Google Fonts with generous glyph coverage. Test cyrillic/latin accents early, but most Latin-based locales and UI patterns are fully supported.