Compose two styles
Rather than blending two styles into a middle, this assigns them roles: one carries the structure, the other appears as an accent. Where the two fight, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow ACT UP Graphics: One symbol and one short line, legibility at distance taking priority
- Type
- Set in ACT UP Graphics's manner (Heavy sans capitals with signs like the equals mark set as words), and let Atelier Populaire's lettering (Near-handdrawn bold letters, one short line filling the sheet) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in ACT UP Graphics's material (Artwork built to survive black and white copying, free reproduction assumed); bring in exactly one thing from Atelier Populaire (One silkscreen color on cheap stock, misregistration accepted).
- Colour
- Build on #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615 and admit one accent from #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615.
Where they fight
- Both belong to Printmaking and Social Movements, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.
Caution
- ACT UP Graphics Lifting the symbol without stating a demand strips out the movement's claim and leaves an emblem of sympathy.
- Atelier Populaire Once a signature and a price are attached the principle drains away and only a protest-looking graphic is left standing.
Image prompt
An original image that takes its structure from ACT UP Graphics (Style, 1987–1990s) and its accent from Atelier Populaire (Style, May–June 1968). Structural cues: The pink triangle inverted; Advertising grammar seized; Declarative typography; Free reproduction. Accent cues, used sparingly: One-color silkscreen; Simplified figures; Declarative slogans; Anonymous mass production. Composition: One symbol and one short line, legibility at distance taking priority. Type and lettering: Heavy sans capitals with signs like the equals mark set as words. Let one material quality come from the second style: One silkscreen color on cheap stock, misregistration accepted. Mood: Rebellion, Trust, Exhilaration, Intimacy. 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.
Related entries
- ACT UP Graphics 1987–1990s / Style / Printmaking and Social Movements
The visual strategy of the AIDS-crisis direct-action movement. The pink triangle of SILENCE=DEATH, a clarity seized from advertising's own grammar and the principle of free reproduction forged activist graphics as strong as the ads they stood against.
- Atelier Populaire May–June 1968 / Style / Printmaking and Social Movements
In the Paris uprising of May '68 students occupied the art school and ran its print workshop. One-color silkscreens, simple figures and declarative slogans came off the press nightly under rules of anonymity, no sale and street posting, which became the prototype of protest graphics.
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