Open Sans × Crimson Pro
Crimson Pro is an old-style serif made for book-length reading, and beneath a clean Open Sans headline it gives the body a literary, classic warmth. The neutral sans frames the page while the serif carries comfortable lo...
How Open Sans and Crimson Pro score across four checks — class contrast, role clarity, x-height harmony and mood affinity. Higher is better.
Crimson Pro is an old-style serif made for book-length reading, and beneath a clean Open Sans headline it gives the body a literary, classic warmth. The neutral sans frames the page while the serif carries comfortable long-form text.
Where it shines
Essays, journals and long-form editorial wanting a modern headline over a classic reading body.
Crimson Pro's x-height is a touch smaller than Open Sans — size the body up slightly and give it generous line-height.
Add the fonts, then two rules — Open Sans for headings, Crimson Pro for everything you read.
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com"> <link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Open+Sans:wght@500;700&family=Crimson+Pro:wght@400;500&display=swap" rel="stylesheet">
h1, h2, h3 { font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: -0.01em; } body, p { font-family: "Crimson Pro", serif; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.7; }
Open Sans is the neutral humanist workhorse of the web, and under Playfair it does exactly what a body font should — disappear. Close tall x...
Lora's warm, moderate-contrast serif headings give a literary feel over Open Sans's clean humanist body. Softer than Playfair, Lora makes a...
Cormorant is a high-contrast display serif with real elegance, and over Open Sans's neutral body it creates a refined, editorial hierarchy —...
Get the pairing notes, weekly.
One short email a week — a new pairing, a specimen, and a tip. No spam.