Compose styles
Rather than blending styles toward a middle, this gives them roles. The first one carries the structure, the next comes in as the accent, and anything after that shows up in a single detail. Where they fight each other, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Brutalist Architecture: Divide large masses into repeated units and expose circulation outside
- Type
- Set in Brutalist Architecture's manner (Cast or incise signage into the same surface as the concrete), and let Web Brutalism's lettering (Keep the default face and push only the headings to full page width) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Brutalist Architecture's material (Leave board marks, tie holes and joints as the finish); bring in exactly one thing from Web Brutalism (White or one flat ground, images left compressed and placed at actual size).
- Colour
- Build on #bdbdbb, #918777, #2f2d2c and admit one accent from #ffffff, #0000ee, #000000.
Where they fight
These are already listed as related entries, so the join should come easily.
Caution
- Brutalist Architecture Applying a rough grey surface without designing drips and water paths leaves black streaks within a few years and the building simply reads as damaged.
- Web Brutalism Tidying only the margins and line lengths while posing as the browser default makes the plainness read as staging, and readers quit while still hunting for a reason behind the mess.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Brutalist Architecture (style, 1950s–1970s) and their accent from Web Brutalism (style, 2014–). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Brutalist Architecture exists for: giving a lasting face to public buildings such as universities and libraries, or making a building whose services and structure explain how it works. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Brutalist Architecture - Raw exposed concrete - Massive volumes - Exposed structure - Repeating units Composition: Divide large masses into repeated units and expose circulation outside. Type and lettering: Cast or incise signage into the same surface as the concrete. ## Accent comes from Web Brutalism, used sparingly - Default headings and links - Blue underlined links - Extreme jumps in size - Rules and white space without ornament Let one material quality come from it: White or one flat ground, images left compressed and placed at actual size. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #bdbdbb, carry the structure in #918777 and #2f2d2c, and let a single accent come from #0000ee. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: rebellion, trust, calm. ## What goes wrong - Brutalist Architecture: Applying a rough grey surface without designing drips and water paths leaves black streaks within a few years and the building simply reads as damaged. - Web Brutalism: Tidying only the margins and line lengths while posing as the browser default makes the plainness read as staging, and readers quit while still hunting for a reason behind the mess. ## Across the four Keep the roles fixed in all four. Vary the framing, the scale and the arrangement so the set shows what this pairing can do rather than four versions of one picture. ## Constraints - Do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. - Do not reproduce the composition of an existing work. - Produce original compositions in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Brutalist Architecture 1950s–1970s / Style / Modern Architecture
A postwar ethic of public building that leaves béton brut exposed and hides neither structure nor services. Bound up with the ideals of the welfare state, it is now the subject of preservation campaigns.
- Web Brutalism 2014– / Style / UI Expression
Puts the browser's default rendering straight on screen and refuses the finished look of templates. The bare structure of the HTML becomes the style itself.
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