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 Push Pin Style: Image at the center with type following the gaps it leaves
- Type
- Set in Push Pin Style's manner (Display faces from the same period as the image, curved to its edge), and let Victorian Ornament's lettering (Ornamented serifs and small capitals) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Push Pin Style's material (Flat fields of muted secondary color inside heavy contours); bring in exactly one thing from Victorian Ornament (Deep red, green, gold, cream; repeat hairlines in steps).
- Colour
- Build on #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615 and admit one accent from #761f2e, #294f3b, #d6aa55.
Where they fight
- Roughly 117 years apart. Keep one of them recognisably period rather than letting both drift into the middle.
Caution
- Push Pin Style Choosing a historical style without the wit that justifies it turns quotation into plain nostalgia and makes the eclecticism look like a pile.
- Victorian Ornament Never mix other cultures' patterns as anonymous ornament. Research origins; quote precisely.
Image prompt
An original image that takes its structure from Push Pin Style (Style, 1954–1980s) and its accent from Victorian Ornament (Style, 1837–1901). Structural cues: Eclectic historical revival; Fat contours, ornamental color; Illustration-led composition; Wit and quotation. Accent cues, used sparingly: Dense borders; Symmetry; Botanical pattern; Chromolithography. Composition: Image at the center with type following the gaps it leaves. Type and lettering: Display faces from the same period as the image, curved to its edge. Let one material quality come from the second style: Deep red, green, gold, cream; repeat hairlines in steps. Mood: Play, Exhilaration, Nostalgia, Luxury. Color: build on #e9e6dd, #67635d, #171615 with a single accent drawn from #761f2e, #294f3b, #d6aa55. 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
- Push Pin Style 1954–1980s / Style / Illustration Styles
Glaser and Chwast's studio worked as the counterpoint to Swiss rationalism, building an illustration-led eclecticism out of historical styles, comics and popular prints. Fat contours and ornamental planes of color repainted the magazines and records of the 1960s and 70s.
- Victorian Ornament 1837–1901 / Style / Ornament
Builds a thickly layered system of ornament from many revival styles and the riches of industrial printing.
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