EB Garamond

EB Garamond is a faithful revival of Claude Garamont's 16th-century types — a warm, classical old-style serif with moderate contrast, graceful proportions, and the small x-height typical of its era. It's a body face at heart: elegant and highly readable across long passages, the kind of type that makes an essay feel considered. That classical character shapes how you pair it. A clean modern sans heading gives it crisp hierarchy and a contemporary edge; a fellow Garamond-family serif like Cormorant gives it an all-serif system of unusual cohesion. The one constant to manage is its small x-height — most modern partners run larger, so EB Garamond usually needs sizing up to stay balanced.

Classification: serif · Designer: Georg Duffner & Octavio Pardo · Released 2011 · 10 styles (variable)
Try EB Garamond in the Studio View specimens & weights
THE TOP MATCH

EB Garamond's best companion

RANKED #01
81%
MATCH SCORE
EB Garamond + Cormorant
serif   +   serif

Both faces descend from Garamond, so they share a visual language — and crucially they share a small x-height, which makes this the one EB Garamond pairing where the usual sizing problem simply disappears. Cormorant's higher contrast and display proportions let it lead as elegant headings while EB Garamond carries the body, giving you a fully classical, beautifully cohesive all-serif system.

View pairing Open in Studio
SET IN EB GARAMOND & CORMORANT
EB Garamond + Cormorant

Both faces descend from Garamond, so they share a visual language — and crucially they share a small x-height, which makes this the one EB Garamond pairing where the usual sizing problem simply disapp...

Ag × Ag
PAIRINGS · MATCH INDEX

The best companions for EB Garamond

10 typefaces ranked by how cleanly they sit beside EB Garamond — strong headings up top, comfortable body down the page.

RANKED 01–10
#SPECIMENPAIRINGMATCHVIEW
02
Ag Ag
EB Garamond + Raleway sans-serif Body

Raleway is an elegant geometric sans whose refined, thin character complements EB Garamond's classical grace rather than fighting it — modern headings, classical body, both reading...

81%
View
03
Ag Ag
EB Garamond + Source Sans 3 Body

Source Sans is a neutral humanist sans that recedes as crisp, modern headings, letting EB Garamond's classical body supply the warmth and character. The class contrast carries the...

80%
View
04
Ag Ag
EB Garamond + Montserrat sans-serif Body

This is the high-contrast, editorial-luxury pairing: Montserrat's clean modern geometry against EB Garamond's classical old-style warmth. The tension between contemporary and class...

80%
View
05
Ag Ag
EB Garamond + Work Sans Body

Work Sans brings a low-contrast, slightly contemporary grotesque to the headings, giving EB Garamond's classical body a more modern, editorial frame. The class contrast keeps the r...

80%
View
06
Ag Ag
EB Garamond + Lato sans-serif Body

Lato's humanist warmth is a natural match for EB Garamond's classical warmth — the two share a gentle temperament, so the pairing feels coordinated rather than merely contrasted. L...

80%
View
07
Ag Ag
EB Garamond + Nunito Sans sans-serif Body

Nunito Sans's rounded, friendly headings soften EB Garamond's formality, making a classical body feel more approachable. The sans/serif contrast still supplies clean hierarchy.

80%
View
08
Ag Ag
EB Garamond + Roboto sans-serif Body

This is the modern-meets-classical pairing: Roboto's clean, contemporary headings over EB Garamond's warm old-style body. The tension between the two registers feels considered and...

79%
View
09
Ag Ag
EB Garamond + Poppins sans-serif Body

This is the modern-meets-classical pairing: Poppins's clean geometry over EB Garamond's warm old-style body. The tension between contemporary and classical feels considered and a l...

79%
View
10
Ag Ag
EB Garamond + Oswald sans-serif Body

Oswald's tall, condensed caps against EB Garamond's wide, classical body is a strong magazine-style pairing — the width and class differences both drive hierarchy, and Garamond bri...

78%
View
SCORED ON CONTRAST · RHYTHM · PROPORTION 10 PAIRINGS
WHY IT WORKS  //  PAIRING LOGIC

Why EB Garamond pairs so well.

EB Garamond is a faithful revival of Claude Garamont's 16th-century types — a warm, classical old-style serif with moderate contrast, graceful proportions, and the small x-height typical of its era. It's a body face at h...

EB Garamond's strength is as a refined, readable body, so most of its best pairings cast it underneath a sans-serif heading that supplies the contrast and modern note its classical forms don't. The catch is mechanical and worth stating plainly: EB Garamond has a small x-height, and most contemporary sans-serifs have tall ones, so at equal point sizes the body looks undersized. Size EB Garamond up a notch and open the line-height and the pairing turns elegant; ignore the x-height gap and even a good combination reads as a mistake. The exception is pairing it with another classical serif like Cormorant, whose matching small x-height lets the two harmonise without adjustment.

WHEN IT'S TIME TO SHIP

Build with EB Garamond.

Pick a partner and preview the pair on real layouts — headings, body, captions. No setup, no signup.

Open in Studio