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 Swiss: 12-column grid, left-aligned, asymmetric
- Type
- Set in Swiss's manner (Neutral sans-serif; be bold with size contrast), and let Ulm School (HfG Ulm)'s lettering (One sans face, three sizes at most, everything ranged left) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Swiss's material (White space and objective photographs; almost no ornament); bring in exactly one thing from Ulm School (HfG Ulm) (Neutral surfaces with one or two colors allowed to mark function).
- Colour
- Build on #f1efe8, #ed3b22, #121210 and admit one accent from #f6f2da, #969a9a, #121110.
Where they fight
These are already listed as related entries, so the join should come easily.
Caution
- Swiss Too much tidiness turns anonymous. Keep one strong jump in scale.
- Ulm School (HfG Ulm) Borrowing the grey and the grid without deciding the reasoning leaves nobody able to justify a rule, and the system collapses as elements are added.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Swiss (style, 1950s–) and their accent from Ulm School (HfG Ulm) (style, 1953–1968). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Swiss exists for: making complex information fast to read, or giving an organization rationality and transparency. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Swiss - Strict grid - Sans-serif type - Asymmetry - Objective photography Composition: 12-column grid, left-aligned, asymmetric. Type and lettering: Neutral sans-serif; be bold with size contrast. ## Accent comes from Ulm School (HfG Ulm), used sparingly - Method and system - Grids and modules - Ornament excluded - Design as science Let one material quality come from it: Neutral surfaces with one or two colors allowed to mark function. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #f1efe8, carry the structure in #ed3b22 and #121210, and let a single accent come from #969a9a. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: trust, calm, technique. ## What goes wrong - Swiss: Too much tidiness turns anonymous. Keep one strong jump in scale. - Ulm School (HfG Ulm): Borrowing the grey and the grid without deciding the reasoning leaves nobody able to justify a rule, and the system collapses as elements are added. ## 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
- Swiss 1950s– / Style / Functionalism
Puts order front and center and makes the information itself the protagonist.
- Ulm School (HfG Ulm) 1953–1968 / Style / Postwar Industrial Design
Founded by Max Bill as the Bauhaus's successor, the school redefined design as science, method and system. Its collaboration with Braun made the functionalist face a world standard.
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