typeface-selectionlisted

# Typeface selection Selection is a constraint-satisfaction problem, not a taste contest. Taste decides between the candidates that survive the constraints. ## 1. When to invoke - Choosing a typeface for a product, brand, or document. - Replacing a face that fails at some size, script, or medium. - Building a type palette for a system. - Auditing an inherited choice. **Do not** invoke for combining faces (`typeface-pairing`) or for expressive critique (`typography-critique`). ## 2. Required context Do not name a font before you have these: - **Roles required** — body, UI, display, data, code. Different constraints each. - **Smallest and largest** sizes it must work at. - **Scripts and languages** required, now and planned. - **Weights and styles** genuinely needed (including true italics). - **Figure requirements** — tabular for data, oldstyle for prose. Confirm the file actually ships them (`../type/references/opentype-features.md`). - **Licence and budget** — web, app, desktop, redistribution. - **Performance budget** — see `font-loading-and-performance`. - **Brand tone**, and any existing system constraint. - **Medium** — screen, print, low-DPI, e-ink, embedded. ## 3. Invariant principles - **Constraints first, taste last.** Script coverage, licensing, weights, and figures eliminate most candidates before aesthetics is consulted. - **Judge at the size of use**, in the medium of use, with real content. - **Serif vs. sans is not a legibility decision.** Research