Lynda Weinman offers a free Color-safe Palette. Typography is an essential part of Graphic Design while the mutual verbo - visual support conveys the communication. Some characters designed in the 16th c. are still popular today, i.e. Garamond. This is a rule and not a law, and it is your creativity that makes the form. A text printed in italic , and even more when it is italic script brings the author nearer to his audience because it pretends to be hand-written.
Good typography depends on the balance between background and text.
An other important part of the typographic design is the rhythmic presentation, it is good when the eye 'dances' over the words. Although it is nice to have so many possibilities, the risk is that to much diversity makes a text unreadable. Don't forget to enlarge it till min. Type can be considered as a visual element, for that reason it can be combined with each of the elements that you are familiar with already. This combinations can strengthen or weaken each other.