Font pairing worksheet ruined my art block

Last Tuesday I was stuck on a poster for a local band show, so I grabbed a free font pairing worksheet from some design blog. It had all these rules about serif with sans and x-heights that sounded smart but made my layout look like a bad 90s menu. I threw it out and just picked two typefaces I liked because one reminded me of my dad's old truck decal. The final poster sold out the gig, and now I wonder if I should just trust my gut over those PDFs. Anyone else ditched a template that made things worse?

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cora_scott771mo ago

Those worksheet rules always assume your audience is a grid, but people connect with personality before they ever notice a typeface choice. The truck decal memory gave you a hook that no template can manufacture, and that emotional pull is what made the poster feel alive. Sometimes the best design advice is the stuff that reminds you why you started making things in the first place.

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