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 Calligram: Convert the sentence into contour, path and density; mark where reading begins
- Type
- Set in Calligram's manner (One face or one hand, keeping the words continuous), and let Concrete Poetry's lettering (One face at one size, emphasis from position and repetition only) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Calligram's material (Letter and paper as two colors; the shape itself is the star); bring in exactly one thing from Concrete Poetry (White paper and one black ink, quality carried by register and margin).
- Colour
- Build on #eee8dc, #2b2925, #87969b and admit one accent from #f1eee5, #74716a, #151515.
Where they fight
These are already listed as related entries, so the join should come easily.
Caution
- Calligram Don't fix a silhouette first and stuff words in. Let the text's rhythm generate the form.
- Concrete Poetry When making a shape comes first, the meaning of the words stops answering their position, and the piece is only letters poured into a picture.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Calligram (technique, antiquity–modernism) and their accent from Concrete Poetry (layout, 1950s–1970s). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Calligram exists for: making a short poem or title physically felt, or A symbolic image from letters alone. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Calligram - Text drawing a contour - Shifting reading direction - Meaningful blank space - Poem fused with figure Composition: Convert the sentence into contour, path and density; mark where reading begins. Type and lettering: One face or one hand, keeping the words continuous. ## Accent comes from Concrete Poetry, used sparingly - Repeated words - Shapes made of letters - Large blanks - Dismantled reading order Let one material quality come from it: White paper and one black ink, quality carried by register and margin. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #eee8dc, carry the structure in #87969b and #2b2925, and let a single accent come from #74716a. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: intimacy, play, calm, rebellion. ## What goes wrong - Calligram: Don't fix a silhouette first and stuff words in. Let the text's rhythm generate the form. - Concrete Poetry: When making a shape comes first, the meaning of the words stops answering their position, and the piece is only letters poured into a picture. ## 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
- Calligram antiquity–modernism / Technique / Lettering
Arranges words into the shape of what they say, so that reading and seeing happen in the same moment.
- Concrete Poetry 1950s–1970s / Layout / Experimental Typography
Treats the placement, repetition, blank space and sound of words as the poem itself, not only what they mean.
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