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 Japanese Book Design (Sōtei): Slipcase, board, endpaper and title page designed as one sequence
Type
Set in Japanese Book Design (Sōtei)'s manner (The title label in one vertical line, chosen apart from the text face), and let Shin-Hanga's lettering (Keep lettering out of the image, at the margin or the seal position) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
Material
Ground in Japanese Book Design (Sōtei)'s material (Paper chosen by touch, headband and ribbon tuned to the artwork); bring in exactly one thing from Shin-Hanga (Graded bokashi on washi, rain lines carved thin on a separate block).
Colour
Build on #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615 and admit one accent from #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615.

Where they fight

These two are already listed as related, so the join should come easily.

Caution

  • Japanese Book Design (Sōtei) Lavishing care on the jacket art while leaving case and endpapers stock breaks the craft the moment the book is picked up.
  • Shin-Hanga Chasing only the mood of night and rain misses the tonal precision the carver and printer supply, and leaves nostalgia for a motif.

Image prompt

An original image that takes its structure from Japanese Book Design (Sōtei) (Style, 1900s–) and its accent from Shin-Hanga (Style, 1915–1960s). Structural cues: Slipcase and title-label design; Endpaper and headband color; Jacket art by printmakers; Paper chosen for the hand. Accent cues, used sparingly: The lyricism of night and rain; Western treatment of light; Precision of the carver-printer system; Landscapes of travel. Composition: Slipcase, board, endpaper and title page designed as one sequence. Type and lettering: The title label in one vertical line, chosen apart from the text face. Let one material quality come from the second style: Graded bokashi on washi, rain lines carved thin on a separate block. Mood: Luxury, Intimacy, Calm, Nostalgia. 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

  • Japanese Book Design (Sōtei) 1900s– / Style / Publishing and Editing

    A Japanese tradition of designing the book as a craft object, from Yumeji's song-sheet covers to Onchi Kōshirō's abstraction. Slipcase, endpapers, title label and headband are designed as one, making a book something the hands enjoy before the eyes read it.

  • Shin-Hanga 1915–1960s / Style / Japanese Woodblock Prints

    The woodblock revival led by publisher Watanabe Shōzaburō: ukiyo-e's carver-printer division joined to Western light and atmosphere. Hasui's nights and rains became the beloved image of a lyric Japan abroad.

Share this pairing:
https://indexstyle.org/compose?ids=japanese-book-design+shin-hanga

Back to index position