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 Experimental Type: Run type to the edges and partially conceal it
- Type
- Set in Experimental Type's manner (Variable, stretched, dismantled — support with a plain text face), and let Phototypesetting's lettering (Track headlines until counters almost touch, leave body text alone) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Experimental Type's material (Monochrome plus one color; warps and scanlines); bring in exactly one thing from Phototypesetting (Reproduce photographic blacks and smooth contours through to the halftone).
- Colour
- Build on #f0eee7, #1c1c19, #3b62ff and admit one accent from #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615.
Where they fight
- Experimental Type and Phototypesetting share no intent, so the contrast has to become the subject rather than something to smooth over.
Caution
- Experimental Type Break everything and the way in disappears. Always keep one readable layer.
- Phototypesetting Squeezing the body text as well as the headline destroys word spacing, leaving a page that is nostalgic and unreadable at the same time.
Image prompt
An original image that takes its structure from Experimental Type (Style, 1980s–) and its accent from Phototypesetting (Technique, 1924–1990s). Structural cues: Distorted letterforms; Overlaps; Extreme letterspacing; Tension with legibility. Accent cues, used sparingly: Enlarging and reducing by lens; Tight letterspacing; Condensed, extended, oblique; Smooth contours. Composition: Run type to the edges and partially conceal it. Type and lettering: Variable, stretched, dismantled — support with a plain text face. Let one material quality come from the second style: Reproduce photographic blacks and smooth contours through to the halftone. Mood: Rebellion, Exhilaration, Technology, Nostalgia. Color: build on #f0eee7, #1c1c19, #3b62ff 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
- Experimental Type 1980s– / Style / Avant-garde
Pushes letters from something read toward something seen and felt.
- Phototypesetting 1924–1990s / Technique / Type Classification
Composition by lens and glass matrix printed letters optically, bringing tight setting, distortion and smooth contours that metal type had never allowed.
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