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 Modular Type System: A 4–8px base unit and three to six type steps
- Type
- Set in Modular Type System's manner (One family, developed through weight, width and size), and let Penguin Cover System's lettering (One serif face fixed, size and leading unchanged across every volume) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Modular Type System's material (Fix the rules of size, leading and margin before color); bring in exactly one thing from Penguin Cover System (Ground colors limited to the categories, one paper stock throughout).
- Colour
- Build on #eeece5, #3c64bb, #171714 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
- Modular Type System Rule-keeping is not the goal. Leave room for the content's exceptions.
- Penguin Cover System Making an exception for each title breaks the premise that the system is the product and the shelf stops reading.
Image prompt
An original image that takes its structure from Modular Type System (Layout, modernist–variable type) and its accent from Penguin Cover System (Style, 1935–). Structural cues: Ratio scales; Repeating hierarchy; Baseline grid; Variable widths. Accent cues, used sparingly: Color-coded bands; Rigorous composition rules; The Marber grid; Consistency as a series. Composition: A 4–8px base unit and three to six type steps. Type and lettering: One family, developed through weight, width and size. Let one material quality come from the second style: Ground colors limited to the categories, one paper stock throughout. Mood: Trust, Technology, Calm, Play. Color: build on #eeece5, #3c64bb, #171714 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
- Modular Type System modernist–variable type / Layout / Type Classification
Locks sizes and spacing to a few ratios, one consistent voice across changing media.
- Penguin Cover System 1935– / Style / Publishing and Editing
From the tripartite color bands of the first covers through Tschichold's composition rules to Marber's ruled grid, Penguin kept reinventing the cover as a design system. The paperback became a textbook of modern design.
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