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 Italian Bel Design: Concentrate the mechanism at one point and free the remaining silhouette
- Type
- Set in Italian Bel Design's manner (One logo only, set small and following the curve of the body), and let Memphis's lettering (A chunky geometric sans) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Italian Bel Design's material (Mix molded plastic, aluminium and marble, adding one high chroma color); bring in exactly one thing from Memphis (Pink, yellow, teal, black speckles).
- Colour
- Build on #f0e8de, #e5070b, #282627 and admit one accent from #f5cfda, #f4c62f, #2a9e9a.
Where they fight
These are already listed as related entries, so the join should come easily.
Caution
- Italian Bel Design When odd shapes and primary colors come first, the object grows awkward to hold and easy to break, reading as a prank rather than wit.
- Memphis Don't stop at background pattern. Map the figures to navigation and units of meaning.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Italian Bel Design (style, 1950s–1970s) and their accent from Memphis (style, 1980s). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Italian Bel Design exists for: presenting a lamp or small appliance as sculpture without losing its function, or putting one bold invention into a mass produced object to make it memorable. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Italian Bel Design - Sculptural products - Bold color and wit - Alliances of firms and designers - Material experiment Composition: Concentrate the mechanism at one point and free the remaining silhouette. Type and lettering: One logo only, set small and following the curve of the body. ## Accent comes from Memphis, used sparingly - Zigzags - Small figures - Pastel plus primary - Speckles Let one material quality come from it: Pink, yellow, teal, black speckles. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #f0e8de, carry the structure in #e5070b and #282627, and let a single accent come from #f4c62f. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: luxury, play, exhilaration. ## What goes wrong - Italian Bel Design: When odd shapes and primary colors come first, the object grows awkward to hold and easy to break, reading as a prank rather than wit. - Memphis: Don't stop at background pattern. Map the figures to navigation and units of meaning. ## 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
- Italian Bel Design 1950s–1970s / Style / Postwar Industrial Design
The golden age of industrial products made by postwar Italian industry and its designers, who added feeling and sculptural presence to functionalism. Castiglioni's lamps and Olivetti's machines exported the product as culture.
- Memphis 1980s / Style / Pop
Laughs off functionalism and enjoys the dissonance of shape and color.
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