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 Supergraphics: Wrap shapes from wall onto floor and ceiling, continuing through corners
- Type
- Set in Supergraphics's manner (Size letters from the architecture and let them fill the floor height), and let Swiss's lettering (Neutral sans-serif; be bold with size contrast) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Supergraphics's material (Large fields of primary paint that override differences in substrate); bring in exactly one thing from Swiss (White space and objective photographs; almost no ornament).
- Colour
- Build on #fdfdfe, #9c2315, #1c0603 and admit one accent from #f1efe8, #ed3b22, #121210.
Where they fight
- Supergraphics and Swiss share no intent, so the contrast has to become the subject rather than something to smooth over.
Caution
- Supergraphics When the shapes fail to reckon with doors and services, the continuity of the surface breaks and the work drops to paint applied at scale.
- Swiss Too much tidiness turns anonymous. Keep one strong jump in scale.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Supergraphics (style, 1966–1970s) and their accent from Swiss (style, 1950s–). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Supergraphics exists for: changing the character and orientation of a large plain space cheaply, or making circulation across several floors read as one continuous move. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Supergraphics - Shapes crossing the architecture - Letters turning corners - Large fields of primary color - Perception manipulated Composition: Wrap shapes from wall onto floor and ceiling, continuing through corners. Type and lettering: Size letters from the architecture and let them fill the floor height. ## Accent comes from Swiss, used sparingly - Strict grid - Sans-serif type - Asymmetry - Objective photography Let one material quality come from it: White space and objective photographs; almost no ornament. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #fdfdfe, carry the structure in #9c2315 and #1c0603, and let a single accent come from #ed3b22. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: exhilaration, play, technique, trust, calm. ## Where they fight - Supergraphics and Swiss share no intent, so the contrast has to become the subject rather than something to smooth over. ## What goes wrong - Supergraphics: When the shapes fail to reckon with doors and services, the continuity of the surface breaks and the work drops to paint applied at scale. - Swiss: Too much tidiness turns anonymous. Keep one strong jump in scale. ## 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
- Supergraphics 1966–1970s / Style / Signage and Display
Environmental graphics at a scale that overruns the wall, bending geometry and letters around architecture to alter spatial perception itself. Solomon fused Swiss typography with Californian boldness at Sea Ranch.
- Swiss 1950s– / Style / Functionalism
Puts order front and center and makes the information itself the protagonist.
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