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 Post-Modernism's lettering (Mix two or three faces from different eras) 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 Post-Modernism (Quoted images, patterns, vivid color; meaningful collisions).
- Colour
- Build on #f5cfda, #f4c62f, #2a9e9a and admit one accent from #f2dbb6, #ee5b78, #2f61a7.
Where they fight
These are already listed as related entries, so the join should come easily.
Caution
- Memphis Don't stop at background pattern. Map the figures to navigation and units of meaning.
- Post-Modernism Random is not plural. Mix only what you can justify aloud.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Memphis (style, 1980s) and their accent from Post-Modernism (style, 1970s–1990s). ## 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 Post-Modernism, used sparingly - Mixed styles - Irony - Ornament reclaimed - Unexpected color Let one material quality come from it: Quoted images, patterns, vivid color; meaningful collisions. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #f5cfda, carry the structure in #f4c62f and #2a9e9a, and let a single accent come from #ee5b78. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: play, exhilaration, rebellion. ## What goes wrong - Memphis: Don't stop at background pattern. Map the figures to navigation and units of meaning. - Post-Modernism: Random is not plural. Mix only what you can justify aloud. ## 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.
- Post-Modernism 1970s–1990s / Style / Avant-garde
Doubts the single right answer and mixes quotation, irony and ornament as play. The answers per field stand as their own entries, with Memphis in furniture, Postmodern Architecture in building, and New Wave on the page.
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