Type Systems for Product Teams

Typography is where a product’s character lives — and where most design systems quietly fall apart. This session builds a type system the way a Swiss typesetter would: a small number of faces, a modular scale, and rules strict enough to be boring.

We begin with anatomy and pairing. Using the faces your product already ships, we evaluate weight, x-height, and optical size, then construct a scale — not a menu of every font size, but a rhythm of steps that map to hierarchy. We cover the practical decisions: when two families earn their place, how to handle numerals and tabular data, and why line length beats font size for readability.

The session ends with a collaborative exercise: refining a real interface’s type stack for legibility and tone, then locking it into a documented scale your team can apply without debate.

Key Takeaways

• Type anatomy and how it drives pairing decisions
• Building a modular type scale, not a font-size list
• Readability levers: measure, leading, and optical sizing
• Locking the system so design reviews stop arguing about size 17