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 Concrete Poetry: Place words on a grid so reading can start from any direction
- Type
- Set in Concrete Poetry's manner (One face at one size, emphasis from position and repetition only), and let Lettrism's lettering (Invented alphabets, asemic glyphs and salvaged type mixed without hierarchy) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Concrete Poetry's material (White paper and one black ink, quality carried by register and margin); bring in exactly one thing from Lettrism (Ink, paint and scratched film or paper—letters applied as physical marks).
- Colour
- Build on #f1eee5, #74716a, #151515 and admit one accent from #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615.
Where they fight
- Both belong to Experimental Typography, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.
Caution
- 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.
- Lettrism Laying out unreadable letters as decoration alone drops the claim and leaves pattern. One legible word left in the field reinstates the meaning the work exists to suspend.
Image prompt
An original image that takes its structure from Concrete Poetry (Layout, 1950s–1970s) and its accent from Lettrism (Style, 1946–1970s). Structural cues: Repeated words; Shapes made of letters; Large blanks; Dismantled reading order. Accent cues, used sparingly: Surfaces paved with unreadable characters; Handwriting mixed with type; Hypergraphy of proliferating signs; Letters handled as painterly material. Composition: Place words on a grid so reading can start from any direction. Type and lettering: One face at one size, emphasis from position and repetition only. Let one material quality come from the second style: Ink, paint and scratched film or paper—letters applied as physical marks. Mood: Rebellion, Calm, Play, Technology. Color: build on #f1eee5, #74716a, #151515 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
- 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.
- Lettrism 1946–1970s / Style / Experimental Typography
A Paris-born movement that freed the letter from its duty of carrying meaning, treating sound and shape themselves as the material of the work. From surfaces paved with unreadable characters, to hypergraphy's proliferating signs, to marks scratched directly into film stock, it expanded the experiment of handling letters as physical matter.
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