Here are five ways to alter the personality of a typeface, simply by changing the company it keeps.

A chic condensed sans, the Peristyle typeface can be bright, elegant, flinty, or funky. Choosing the right companion typeface helps bring out some characteristics and quiet others — here’s how:

Proportion. To heighten Peristyle’s verticality, pair it with a compact, tightly-fitted font like Sentinel, whose ample curves and introverted curlicues deliver similar density but a contrasting texture. See more.

Squareness. A typeface with ‘square curves’ such as Vitesse reinforces Peristyle’s own broad shoulders, creating a palette that’s consistently athletic at sizes both large and small. See more.

Sharpness. Look inside a typeface to find design motifs that are echoed in other fonts. Here, the triangular serifs of Mercury Display bring out Peristyle’s sharpness, from the wedge of its K to the counters of its N. See more.

Roundness. Contrasting Peristyle’s sharpness is its roundness, embodied by the big enclosed counters of its lowercase. The circular silhouettes and rounded ‘ball terminals’ of Archer have a similar generosity, helping to draw out Peristyle’s softer side. See more.

Darkness. To amplify the rhythm of Peristyle’s darks and lights, look for a typeface that moves to a similar beat. Surveyor Black has the same insistent pattern of bold stems and delicate hairlines, but a sinewy line that makes for a complex and engaging counterpoint. See more.

How the typeface designers at H&Co navigate the benefits and shortcomings of systematized lettering, to create a new type family that’s engaging, vibrant, and stylish. Watch the film