Set font with setmainfont to something other than regular and use textbf

Question

I have a font which comes in many different styles. Ive got

• Light
• Medium
• Regular
• Bold
• Thin
• ....

Now i would like to choose the "Light" version as main font for my document. I have done that with

\setmainfont{Gothic A1 Light}

But after that, i am not any longer be able to use bolf fonts with \textbf{} I could rename the Light font on file level to regular. But i think there must be an other way to achieve this.

Hope someone can help :)

Thanks

Answer 1

If you’re using a light font as your main font, you should use its medium or possibly its demibold weight as the bold. I don’t know the Gothic A1 font you mention, but here’s an example with Alegreya Sans:

\documentclass[20pt]{beamer}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setsansfont{Alegreya Sans Light}[
  ItalicFont={* Italic},
  BoldFont={Alegreya Sans Medium},
  BoldItalicFont={Alegreya Sans Medium Italic}]
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
  I’m light and \textit{italic,} but \textbf{I can be bold.}

  \bfseries I’m bold and upright, and \textit{also italic.}
\end{frame}
\end{document}

Answer 2

You can also use:

\setmainfont{Gothic A1}[
  UprightFont = * Light ,
  BoldFont = * Medium ]

And so on for Italic, Bold Italic, etc.