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 Corporate Modernism's lettering (One type family fixed, the name locked as artwork down to its letterspacing) 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 Corporate Modernism (Single color as the default, hues assigned by use rather than by business unit).
- Colour
- Build on #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615 and admit one accent from #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615.
Where they fight
These two are already listed as related, so the join should come easily.
Caution
- ACT UP Graphics Lifting the symbol without stating a demand strips out the movement's claim and leaves an emblem of sympathy.
- Corporate Modernism A manual with no one checking application lets exceptions pile up in the field and the force of unity goes first.
Image prompt
An original image that takes its structure from ACT UP Graphics (Style, 1987–1990s) and its accent from Corporate Modernism (Style, 1950s–1970s). Structural cues: The pink triangle inverted; Advertising grammar seized; Declarative typography; Free reproduction. Accent cues, used sparingly: Abstract geometric marks; Standards manuals; Gridded application discipline; Single-color strength. 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: Single color as the default, hues assigned by use rather than by business unit. Mood: Rebellion, Trust, Exhilaration, Technology, Luxury. 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.
- Corporate Modernism 1950s–1970s / Style / Contemporary Branding
The golden age of corporate identity established by Rand, Chermayeff and their peers: geometric marks, gridded standards manuals and disciplined application speaking for corporations in modernism's abstract language.
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