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 U.S. Web Design System's lettering (Write the action before the institution, in large plain language) 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 U.S. Web Design System (Use white and navy as the base, blue for links and red only for warning).
- Colour
- Build on #f1efe8, #ed3b22, #121210 and admit one accent from #FFFFFF, #005EA8, #1A4480.
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.
- U.S. Web Design System Borrowing patriotic colors is not public-service design. Accessibility and tested task flows must come with them.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Swiss (style, 1950s–) and their accent from U.S. Web Design System (style, 2015–). ## 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 U.S. Web Design System, used sparingly - White, navy and restrained federal red - Large plain headings and readable body text - Official-site banner - Clear forms, alerts and step indicators Let one material quality come from it: Use white and navy as the base, blue for links and red only for warning. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #f1efe8, carry the structure in #ed3b22 and #121210, and let a single accent come from #005EA8. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: trust, calm, intimacy. ## What goes wrong - Swiss: Too much tidiness turns anonymous. Keep one strong jump in scale. - U.S. Web Design System: Borrowing patriotic colors is not public-service design. Accessibility and tested task flows must come with them. ## 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.
- U.S. Web Design System 2015– / Style / Public Design
A shared system for accessible, mobile-friendly and trustworthy U.S. federal web services, built from tested public-service patterns.
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