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 Punk: Deliberate misalignment and overlap; disturb even the margins
- Type
- Set in Punk's manner (Mix newsprint letters, handwriting and stamps), and let Swiss Punk Typography's lettering (Letterspacing opened in steps, one word repeated at several sizes) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Punk's material (Copier paper, tears, black plus a warning color); bring in exactly one thing from Swiss Punk Typography (Layered exposures building halftone and reversal through the film).
- Colour
- Build on #eee3cf, #ef3127, #10100f and admit one accent from #e7e7e7, #fb4c32, #150c06.
Where they fight
These are already listed as related entries, so the join should come easily.
Caution
- Punk Borrowed rebellion is hollow. Decide what you are protesting first.
- Swiss Punk Typography Breaking a grid you never built leaves the offsets nothing to measure against, so the rebellion within discipline never happens and only mess remains.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Punk (style, 1970s–1980s) and their accent from Swiss Punk Typography (style, 1970s–1980s). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Punk exists for: voicing dissent against the rules, or giving events and communities a raw voice. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Punk - Cut-and-paste letters - Photocopier noise - Handwriting - Ragged placement Composition: Deliberate misalignment and overlap; disturb even the margins. Type and lettering: Mix newsprint letters, handwriting and stamps. ## Accent comes from Swiss Punk Typography, used sparingly - The grid dismantled - Exploding letterspacing - Stepped compositions - Layered-film textures Let one material quality come from it: Layered exposures building halftone and reversal through the film. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #eee3cf, carry the structure in #ef3127 and #10100f, and let a single accent come from #fb4c32. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: rebellion, exhilaration, technique. ## What goes wrong - Punk: Borrowed rebellion is hollow. Decide what you are protesting first. - Swiss Punk Typography: Breaking a grid you never built leaves the offsets nothing to measure against, so the rebellion within discipline never happens and only mess remains. ## 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
- Punk 1970s–1980s / Style / Counterculture
A DIY objection to the authority of the tidy, made by cutting, pasting and dirtying.
- Swiss Punk Typography 1970s–1980s / Style / Experimental Typography
In Basel, the home of Swiss style, Weingart took the grid apart from the inside. Exploded letterspacing, stepped settings and layered film exposures turned rebellion within discipline into New Wave typography.
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