A Font "Dating" Game

David Blatner and Anne-Marie Concepcion

They say that opposites attract, but then again, similar values and shared histories often lead to the best matches. Those axioms have held true for people, and what’s true for people is also true for typefaces.
That’s the premise of TypeConnection, a matchmaking game for fonts. Designed by Aura Seltzer as an MFA thesis project, TypeConnection is an amusing way to learn how to pair typefaces. To begin the dating game, you select from five archetypal fonts that have been given a personality type. For example, Frutiger is described as: “I am a structural engineer who dreams in grid formation.”
Select one of the five fonts, then choose from four qualities that best represent your dating strategy, such as “Embrace the Other” or “Rely on Family.”
Then, in a something akin to speed dating, your typeface can go out with one of three fonts. The two fonts then are tested for compatibility. Did you make a good match? If you see the two of them out in public — in a printed specimen — you know the two will have a harmonious relationship.
The game is fun and informative. It includes detail about the font’s history and its design. Interactive elements point out design characteristics of the fonts.

Select a font to start the game.

After choosing the “date,” see characteristics that make the fonts compatible — or not.
Are you a good matchmaker? Find out at TypeConnection.