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 Memphis: Scatter small motifs, anchor with one large shape
- Type
- Set in Memphis's manner (A chunky geometric sans), and let Neo-Geo's lettering (Cold, engineered geometric sans, spaced like a diagram label) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Memphis's material (Pink, yellow, teal, black speckles); bring in exactly one thing from Neo-Geo (Fluorescent and synthetic hues in enamel-smooth industrial finishes).
- Colour
- Build on #f5cfda, #f4c62f, #2a9e9a and admit one accent from #eeeee9, #c0e72c, #332d5e.
Where they fight
- Memphis and Neo-Geo share no intent, so the contrast has to become the subject rather than something to smooth over.
Caution
- Memphis Don't stop at background pattern. Map the figures to navigation and units of meaning.
- Neo-Geo Avoid sincere formalism—without the quotation marks around its geometry, Neo-Geo becomes exactly the tasteful abstraction it set out to critique.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Memphis (style, 1980s) and their accent from Neo-Geo (style, 1984–1992). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Memphis exists for: softening a stiff subject, or A young, sunny personality. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Memphis - Zigzags - Small figures - Pastel plus primary - Speckles Composition: Scatter small motifs, anchor with one large shape. Type and lettering: A chunky geometric sans. ## Accent comes from Neo-Geo, used sparingly - Smooth surfaces of industrial paint - Fluorescent, artificial colour - The gloss and finish of ready-made goods - Compositions like schematic diagrams Let one material quality come from it: Fluorescent and synthetic hues in enamel-smooth industrial finishes. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #f5cfda, carry the structure in #f4c62f and #2a9e9a, and let a single accent come from #c0e72c. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: play, exhilaration, rebellion, futurity, luxury. ## Where they fight - Memphis and Neo-Geo share no intent, so the contrast has to become the subject rather than something to smooth over. ## What goes wrong - Memphis: Don't stop at background pattern. Map the figures to navigation and units of meaning. - Neo-Geo: Avoid sincere formalism—without the quotation marks around its geometry, Neo-Geo becomes exactly the tasteful abstraction it set out to critique. ## 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
- Memphis 1980s / Style / Pop
Laughs off functionalism and enjoys the dissonance of shape and color.
- Neo-Geo 1984–1992 / Style / Geometric Abstraction
A 1980s New York current that re-quoted the vocabulary of geometric abstraction and Minimalism as signs of the commodity society. Smooth industrial paint, fluorescent colour and the gloss of ready-made goods slide abstraction's purity sideways into the imagery of consumption. Geometry as critique.
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