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 Heraldry: The shield divided by the grammar, one charge to each part
- Type
- Set in Heraldry's manner (Motto lettering sits outside the arms, never on the shield itself), and let Signal Flags's lettering (Shapes limited to divisions, crosses and discs, with no fine detail) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Heraldry's material (Metals and a short list of colors, color never laid on color); bring in exactly one thing from Signal Flags (Saturated red, yellow and blue set hard against white and black).
- Colour
- Build on #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615 and admit one accent from #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615.
Where they fight
- Both belong to Symbol Systems, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.
- Roughly 1845 years apart. Keep one of them recognisably period rather than letting both drift into the middle.
Caution
- Heraldry Choosing tinctures by eye breaks the rule about metal on color, and the result can no longer be described as arms at all.
- Signal Flags Borrowing the palette while complicating the shapes collapses the outline when reduced or backlit, and recognition at range fails.
Image prompt
An original image that takes its structure from Heraldry (Style, 12th century–) and its accent from Signal Flags (Style, 1857–). Structural cues: Limited tincture colors; The grammar of shield divisions; Describability in blazon; Stylized animal poses. Accent cues, used sparingly: High-contrast geometry; Designed for distance; One flag, one letter; Hoists strung to the masthead. Composition: The shield divided by the grammar, one charge to each part. Type and lettering: Motto lettering sits outside the arms, never on the shield itself. Let one material quality come from the second style: Saturated red, yellow and blue set hard against white and black. Mood: Trust, Luxury, Nostalgia, Technology, Exhilaration. 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
- Heraldry 12th century– / Style / Symbol Systems
Europe's armorial system, born from the need to tell one man from another on the battlefield. Exact description in the language of blazon, the rule of a limited set of tinctures and a grammar of division and combination add up to a design system that has run for 800 years.
- Signal Flags 1857– / Style / Symbol Systems
The flag system for spelling letters and set phrases at sea. High-contrast geometry chosen solely for distant legibility became a masterpiece collection of abstraction born from function.
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