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 1-Bit Icon Design: Rule the grid first and draw with one square standing for one pixel. Close the outline before deciding the interior, and leave one square of clearance inside the frame.
- Type
- Set in 1-Bit Icon Design's manner (Keep letters out of the picture and put the label on a separate line outside it. Any type alongside sits on the same bitmap grid, with no italics and no ornament.), and let Pictogram System's lettering (Draw every mark on one grid and stroke weight, human proportions shared) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in 1-Bit Icon Design's material (Two colours only, black and white. When a middle brightness is needed, build it by thinning the dots into a checkerboard rather than introducing gray. Leave diagonals as steps and do not smooth them.); bring in exactly one thing from Pictogram System (Single color silhouettes, minimum size and viewing distance decided first).
- Colour
- Build on #000000, #FFFFFF, #808080 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
- 1-Bit Icon Design Adding gray or midtones to widen the range costs you the hard outline that only two values can produce, and the shape stops being legible at the size it is actually used.
- Pictogram System Drawing each mark as a picture lets stroke and proportion drift, the set stops reading as a system, and meanings swap at a distance.
Image prompt
An original image that takes its structure from 1-Bit Icon Design (Technique, 1982–1990s) and its accent from Pictogram System (Style, 1964–). Structural cues: Two values only, black and white, with gray standing in as a checkerboard of alternating dots; A one pixel outline closing each shape, and an interior that is either solid or dotted, never shaded; Ordinary objects, scissors, a bin, a sheet of paper, standing in as the names of commands; Visible traces of one dot placed per grid square, so diagonals break into steps. Accent cues, used sparingly: Geometrized human figures; Uniform stroke weight; Consistency as a system; Independence from language. Composition: Rule the grid first and draw with one square standing for one pixel. Close the outline before deciding the interior, and leave one square of clearance inside the frame.. Type and lettering: Keep letters out of the picture and put the label on a separate line outside it. Any type alongside sits on the same bitmap grid, with no italics and no ornament.. Let one material quality come from the second style: Single color silhouettes, minimum size and viewing distance decided first. Mood: Intimacy, Play, Technology, Trust. Color: build on #000000, #FFFFFF, #808080 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
- 1-Bit Icon Design 1982–1990s / Technique / UI Expression
The way of drawing icons in nothing but black and white that Susan Kare established for the Macintosh. She worked each design out on graph paper with one square standing for one pixel, and restated commands as ordinary objects, a pair of scissors for cutting and a bin for deleting, so the set could be read without a caption in any country. Her sketchbook now sits in a museum collection.
- Pictogram System 1964– / Style / Information Design
Unified symbol systems that name facilities and actions without language. Tokyo 1964 systematized sport and wayfinding symbols; the AIGA/DOT transportation set became the public-domain world standard.
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