Instrument Sans + Petrona

Grumpy wizards make toxic brew

A standfirst set in Petrona, one size up — where a pairing starts earning trust.

The five boxing wizards jump quickly over the lazy dog, mixing jugs of quiet vodka while the jury watches. Click anywhere in this preview and type your own text to try the pairing.

“Type is a beautiful group of letters, not a group of beautiful letters.”

— Matthew Carter

Fig. 1 — Instrument Sans over Petrona, in the wild.

Instrument Sans 600 / Petrona 400 — click any section and type your own copy.

Why it works

Instrument Sans's slightly condensed, mechanical grotesque makes a structured, modern-brand headline, and Petrona's plain, slab-leaning serif carries the body with steady, unornamented reading. The precise sans over the utilitarian serif reads as clean editorial design — nothing decorative, everything purposeful — which suits documentation and reportage that wants to look considered but not fussy.

More about each face: Instrument Sans · Petrona

Use this pairing

HTML — Google Fonts embed

<link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com">
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.gstatic.com" crossorigin>
<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Instrument+Sans:wght@600&family=Petrona:wght@400;600&display=swap" rel="stylesheet">

CSS

h1, h2, h3 {
  font-family: 'Instrument Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
  font-weight: 600;
}

body {
  font-family: 'Petrona', Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;
  font-weight: 400;
}

Next.js — next/font

import { Instrument_Sans, Petrona } from "next/font/google";

const heading = Instrument_Sans({
  subsets: ["latin"],
  weight: "600",
  variable: "--font-heading",
});

const body = Petrona({
  subsets: ["latin"],
  weight: "400",
  variable: "--font-body",
});

From the same deskKeychord— keyboard shortcuts for every app

Why it works

Use this pairing

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