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 ITC Style: The headline massed into a few lines, leading closed to make one shape
- Type
- Set in ITC Style's manner (A large x-height face packed tight, with ligatures and swashes worked in), and let Swiss Punk Typography's lettering (Letterspacing opened in steps, one word repeated at several sizes) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in ITC Style's material (Printed as flat color on glossy stock that tightens the letter edges); bring in exactly one thing from Swiss Punk Typography (Layered exposures building halftone and reversal through the film).
- Colour
- Build on #f1eedc, #2e89c4, #0a0908 and admit one accent from #e7e7e7, #fb4c32, #150c06.
Where they fight
These are already listed as related entries, so the join should come easily.
Caution
- ITC Style Tracking pushed until the letters touch turns the line into pattern rather than reading and the headline stops working.
- Swiss Punk Typography Breaking a grid you never built leaves the offsets nothing to measure against, so the rebellion within discipline never happens and only mess remains.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from ITC Style (style, 1970s–1980s) and their accent from Swiss Punk Typography (style, 1970s–1980s). ## What to make Make the kind of thing ITC Style exists for: magazine feature openers where the headline itself must stand as an image, or cosmetics and music advertising giving the shape of a word gloss and lift. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from ITC Style - Huge x-heights - Tight-not-touching settings - Swashes and ligatures on stage - Letters as image Composition: The headline massed into a few lines, leading closed to make one shape. Type and lettering: A large x-height face packed tight, with ligatures and swashes worked in. ## Accent comes from Swiss Punk Typography, used sparingly - The grid dismantled - Exploding letterspacing - Stepped compositions - Layered-film textures Let one material quality come from it: Layered exposures building halftone and reversal through the film. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #f1eedc, carry the structure in #2e89c4 and #0a0908, and let a single accent come from #fb4c32. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: exhilaration, play, luxury, rebellion, technique. ## What goes wrong - ITC Style: Tracking pushed until the letters touch turns the line into pattern rather than reading and the headline stops working. - Swiss Punk Typography: Breaking a grid you never built leaves the offsets nothing to measure against, so the rebellion within discipline never happens and only mess remains. ## 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
- ITC Style 1970s–1980s / Style / Type Classification
New York in the phototype era produced a style of huge x-heights and tightly packed settings. Lubalin's conceptual typography and U&lc magazine staged letters as pictures and gave the period its face.
- Swiss Punk Typography 1970s–1980s / Style / Experimental Typography
In Basel, the home of Swiss style, Weingart took the grid apart from the inside. Exploded letterspacing, stepped settings and layered film exposures turned rebellion within discipline into New Wave typography.
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