Calligraphic humanist family

A serif and a sans drawn as one family share their pen-made proportions, so the pair feels lively and handmade yet perfectly matched.

Headings: Alegreya
Body: Alegreya Sans

The faces, live

The sample is set in the pairing's own fonts, at its own sizes and line heights. The ladder shows every step of its type scale.

Honey from the hillside orchards

Our bees spend spring in the cherry trees and summer on wild thyme, so each jar tastes of a different month. We take only what the hives can spare, spin it by hand and pour it the same afternoon. Every label is written with the field and the week it came from.

Heading in Alegreya 700 at 36px, line height 1.15. Body in Alegreya Sans 400 at 17px, line height 1.6.

Headings

Alegreya

Bold 700

Body

Alegreya Sans

Regular 400
Medium 500

The type scale

50pxHoney from the hillside orchards
36pxHoney from the hillside orchards
27pxHoney from the hillside orchards
21pxHoney from the hillside orchards
17pxHoney from the hillside orchards
15pxHoney from the hillside orchards

Copy the idea

The Calligraphic humanist family recipe — its idea, faces, scale and rules — ready to paste into a design tool or an AI assistant, or as design tokens.

# Calligraphic humanist family — type pairing recipe

## The idea
- A serif and a sans drawn as one family share their pen-made proportions, so the pair feels lively and handmade yet perfectly matched.

## Use it for
- Small food producers and markets
- Craft workshops and makers
- Heritage walks and local history

## Avoid it when
- The design must look cool, minimal or corporate
- The text is mostly tables of numbers

## The faces
- Headings: Alegreya (@fontsource/alegreya), weights 700
- Body: Alegreya Sans (@fontsource/alegreya-sans), weights 400 and 500

## Scale and rhythm
- Scale: 15px, 17px, 21px, 27px, 36px, 50px
- Heading line height: 1.15
- Body line height: 1.6

## Principles
- Use the serif for headings and the sans for reading; the shared skeleton holds them together.
- Lean into the calligraphic italics of the serif for short subtitles and quotes.
- Keep the palette and layout simple so the lively letterforms do the decorating.
- Use the medium sans weight for labels and buttons instead of a heavier bold.

Design with the "Calligraphic humanist family" type pairing.
The idea: A serif and a sans drawn as one family share their pen-made proportions, so the pair feels lively and handmade yet perfectly matched.
It suits: Small food producers and markets.
It suits: Craft workshops and makers.
It suits: Heritage walks and local history.
Do not choose it when: The design must look cool, minimal or corporate.
Do not choose it when: The text is mostly tables of numbers.
Use Alegreya in weights 700 for headings.
Use Alegreya Sans in weights 400 and 500 for body text.
Use only these type sizes: 15px, 17px, 21px, 27px, 36px, 50px.
Set headings at a line height of 1.15 and body text at 1.6.
Follow this rule: Use the serif for headings and the sans for reading; the shared skeleton holds them together.
Follow this rule: Lean into the calligraphic italics of the serif for short subtitles and quotes.
Follow this rule: Keep the palette and layout simple so the lively letterforms do the decorating.
Follow this rule: Use the medium sans weight for labels and buttons instead of a heavier bold.
Apply the idea and the rules above; do not copy any existing website.

:root {
  --font-heading: "Alegreya", sans-serif;
  --font-body: "Alegreya Sans", sans-serif;
  --type-1: 15px;
  --type-2: 17px;
  --type-3: 21px;
  --type-4: 27px;
  --type-5: 36px;
  --type-6: 50px;
  --leading-heading: 1.15;
  --leading-body: 1.6;
}

Download brief (.md)

Where it fits

Use it for

Small food producers and markets
Craft workshops and makers
Heritage walks and local history

Avoid it when

The design must look cool, minimal or corporate
The text is mostly tables of numbers

Principles

Use the serif for headings and the sans for reading; the shared skeleton holds them together.
Lean into the calligraphic italics of the serif for short subtitles and quotes.
Keep the palette and layout simple so the lively letterforms do the decorating.
Use the medium sans weight for labels and buttons instead of a heavier bold.

Back to all pairings