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 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 #f1f3ed, #05b3e0, #252629 and admit one accent from #761f2e, #294f3b, #d6aa55.
Where they fight
- Push Pin Style and Victorian Ornament stand 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
Produce four original images that take their structure from Push Pin Style (style, 1954–1980s) and their accent from Victorian Ornament (style, 1837–1901). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Push Pin Style exists for: magazine feature openers and record sleeves led by the illustration, or posters and brand imagery for theatres, bookshops and food that trade on wit. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Push Pin Style - Eclectic historical revival - Fat contours, ornamental color - Illustration-led composition - Wit and quotation 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. ## Accent comes from Victorian Ornament, used sparingly - Dense borders - Symmetry - Botanical pattern - Chromolithography Let one material quality come from it: Deep red, green, gold, cream; repeat hairlines in steps. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #f1f3ed, carry the structure in #05b3e0 and #252629, and let a single accent come from #294f3b. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: play, exhilaration, nostalgia, luxury. ## Where they fight - Push Pin Style and Victorian Ornament stand roughly 117 years apart. Keep one of them recognisably period rather than letting both drift into the middle. ## What goes wrong - 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. ## 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
- 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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