# African Barbershop Sign × Ghost Signs — composed image prompt
# IndexStyle — https://indexstyle.org/compose?ids=barbershop-sign+ghost-signs
# African Barbershop Sign carries the structure. Ghost Signs appear as accents, each further back than the last.
# Style descriptors only. Never imitates a specific artist, studio, brand or work.

An original image that takes its structure from African Barbershop Sign (Style, 1950s–) and its accent from Ghost Signs (Style, 1880s–1950s / rediscovery). Structural cues: Grids of haircut samples; Flat repeated faces; Numbers and hand lettering; Enamel on plywood. Accent cues, used sparingly: Paint applied straight to brick; Fading and peeling; Craftsman lettering; Layers of overpainting. Composition: Grid of equal frames with every face drawn at the same angle. Type and lettering: Number each cut and paint only the shop name large by hand. Let one material quality come from the second style: Brushed straight onto brick, assuming the least stable colors fade first. Mood: Intimacy, Play, Trust, Nostalgia, Calm. Color: build on #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615 with a single accent drawn from #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615. Constraints: do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. Produce an original composition in the general period languages described above.

# Where the two fight
# - Both belong to Signage and Display, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.

# Cautions carried from each entry
# - African Barbershop Sign: Individualizing the faces as portraits breaks the catalogue function, and customers can no longer use the board to order.
# - Ghost Signs: Applying an even wash of distress falsifies the direction of fading and the order of overpainting, and the intended age reads as fake.

# Design specs: https://indexstyle.org/styles/barbershop-sign/design.md · https://indexstyle.org/styles/ghost-signs/design.md