If you have never heard of a font super-family before, now is the time to take a look into this concept. Google uses font super-families as a means of tying in fonts in order to create a more coordinated look. A font super-family is a set of typefaces that were designed to look aesthetically pleasing together. The type designers create these families of fonts in order to have them stand out and combine well in terms of style, weight and versatility. When you pick and choose from a font super-family, you get a page that has less visual clutter and is easier to read.
The font super-family is much like a mannequin. You can dress it in different outfits such as serif, bold, italic or a different size. The result is a visually cohesive finish that makes the set easy to use together on a design project. Font super-families came from a surprising origin. Dating all the way back to the times of the Romans in 79 AD, evidence shows that the government used variations in the size of letters in order to create a visual hierarchy. They made titles bigger than the relevant text in order to attract attention to what was important.
In the 1800s, typefaces were made to be compatible across many languages. Some of those typefaces could be considered prototypes of the fonts that are in widespread use today. In the 1900s, typesetters created a lot of sans-serif typefaces. This made for more variation. The Romulus project of WWII involved the first thorough set of typefaces designed purposely for compatibility.
In Google, there are 10 major font super-families that designers should be aware of. Those super-families include Quattrocento, Roboto Condensed, Roboto Mono, PT Sans and PT Serif, Oxygen Mono and Oxygen, Source Sans Pro and Source Serif Pro, Josefin Slab and Josefin Sans, Encode Sans Semi Condensed and Encode Sans, Alegreya and Alegreya Sans and Montserrat and Montserrat Alternates. When you choose one of these super-families for your site, you can build a page that looks harmonious and focuses the user's attention on the informative content. For more information click here https://www.designyourway.net/blog/design/low-hanging-design-fruit-why-you-should-use-google-font-superfamilies/.