Instrument Serif + Figtree

elegantmodernminimal

Grumpy wizards make toxic brew

A standfirst set in Figtree, 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 Serif over Figtree, in the wild.

Instrument Serif 400 / Figtree 400 — click any section and type your own copy.

Why it works

This is the defining pairing of recent portfolio and startup design: Instrument Serif's condensed, high-contrast letterforms give headlines an editorial polish at its single regular weight, and Figtree's calm UI geometry handles everything else. Because Instrument Serif only ships in one weight, hierarchy comes from size rather than boldness, which naturally produces the large, airy headline typography the style is known for.

More about each face: Instrument Serif · Figtree

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+Serif:wght@400&family=Figtree:wght@400;600&display=swap" rel="stylesheet">
CSS
h1, h2, h3 {
  font-family: 'Instrument Serif', Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;
  font-weight: 400;
}

body {
  font-family: 'Figtree', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
  font-weight: 400;
}
Next.js — next/font
import { Instrument_Serif, Figtree } from "next/font/google";

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

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