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 Isotype: Fix the unit per symbol; show change by count, never by size
- Type
- Set in Isotype's manner (Short labels and clear figures; prose stays outside the chart), and let Scrollytelling's lettering (Keep the body in one column. The scroll sets the pace, not the page, so hold the measure narrow and place headings only at joints in the story.) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Isotype's material (Few meaningful colors, equal line weights, aligned baselines); bring in exactly one thing from Scrollytelling (Build only changes that can run backwards, such as opacity crossfades and map moves, each tied one to one with scroll distance.).
- Colour
- Build on #eee7d3, #b9362c, #2c4e72 and admit one accent from #000000, #FFFFFF, #4A4A4A.
Where they fight
- Roughly 92 years apart. Keep one of them recognisably period rather than letting both drift into the middle.
Caution
- Isotype Never scale one big symbol to show a difference. Always show unit, base and source.
- Scrollytelling Tying a one shot animation to the scroll leaves a reader who scrolls back looking at nothing, and makes the middle of the article impossible to reread.
Image prompt
An original image that takes its structure from Isotype (Layout, 1920s–1940s) and its accent from Scrollytelling (Layout, 2012–). Structural cues: Unified pictograms; Repetition of signs; Axes of comparison; Restricted color. Accent cues, used sparingly: A graphic that holds still on screen while a single narrow column of text passes over it; Changes made by opacity and by moving a map, so that scrolling back undoes them in the same order; Photography, video and data visualization sharing one article; A path that is either straight through or branches into an optional deeper detour and returns. Composition: Fix the unit per symbol; show change by count, never by size. Type and lettering: Short labels and clear figures; prose stays outside the chart. Let one material quality come from the second style: Build only changes that can run backwards, such as opacity crossfades and map moves, each tied one to one with scroll distance.. Mood: Trust, Technology, Intimacy. Color: build on #eee7d3, #b9362c, #2c4e72 with a single accent drawn from #000000, #FFFFFF, #4A4A4A. 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
- Isotype 1920s–1940s / Layout / Information Design
Translates quantity into repeated same-size symbols, making comparison readable before language.
- Scrollytelling 2012– / Layout / Reading on the Web
A web page form in which the reader's scroll position is the clock of the story, with graphics, maps and video changing as the page moves and reversing when the reader scrolls back. Visualization researchers treat it as the web equivalent of long form journalism and describe its structure as either linear or elastic, the elastic kind letting a reader dive deeper on demand. News outlets including the New York Times, the BBC and The Economist built the form out.
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