TYPEMATCHSEO
Launch

TYPEMATCH.

V2.1

Browse Directory
700
400
PAIRING ID: SPE-ARC // ETHOS: SERIF + SANS-SERIF

Balancing Spectral with Archivo

Build a contrast-first system where Spectral leads and Archivo keeps long-form content legible.

Display Face

Spectral

Weight: 700

Body Face

Archivo

Weight: 400

This pairing is engineered for teams that need a clear hierarchy without sacrificing brand voice. Spectral brings screen-first, efficient, rich energy to hero units, pricing sections, and campaign headlines. Archivo absorbs the heavy lifting for paragraphs, product storytelling, and UI labels with its grotesque, variable, technical 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

Balancing Spectral with Archivo

Build a contrast-first system where Spectral leads and Archivo keeps long-form content legible.

This pairing is engineered for teams that need a clear hierarchy without sacrificing brand voice. Spectral brings screen-first, efficient, rich energy to hero units, pricing sections, and campaign headlines. Archivo absorbs the heavy lifting for paragraphs, product storytelling, and UI labels with its grotesque, variable, technical 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.

Spectral thrives as a headline face thanks to its screen-first, efficient, rich qualities. Use weights 700–900 for crisp editorial lockups.
Archivo excels in paragraphs and UI thanks to its grotesque, variable, technical traits. Keep it between weights 400–600 for optimal readability.
Hierarchy guidance: run a 1:1.4 modular scale and reserve Spectral for H1–H3 while Archivo powers captions, body copy, and data tables.

Best-Fit Use Cases

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

Accessibility Notes

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

CSS Implementation Cheatsheet

:root {
  --tm-header-family: 'Spectral', serif;
  --tm-body-family: 'Archivo', sans-serif;
  --tm-header-weight: 700;
  --tm-body-weight: 400;
  --tm-header-tracking: -0.01em;
  --tm-body-tracking: 0em;
}
Heading scale: clamp(2.75rem, 4.5vw, 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 Spectral at 700 for momentum, while forms, tables, and footnotes stay on Archivo with 400 weight for predictable kerning.

FAQs

Why does Spectral make sense as the lead font?

Spectral owns the emotional register of this system. Its screen-first, efficient, rich profile helps anchor campaign creative, meaning marketing and product teams can reuse the same voice without reinventing the scale.

Where should Archivo show up?

Archivo is the workhorse. Keep it in paragraphs, long-form editorial, knowledge bases, or anywhere legibility is non-negotiable. Its grotesque, variable, technical 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.