# The Face (ザ・フェイス)

> Redraws its headline letters and section marks issue by issue, then sets them into a page of heavy rules and black bars with the same weight as the photographs.

- IndexStyle No.11 — https://indexstyle.org/styles/the-face
- Kind: Style · Family: Publishing and Editing · Era: 1980s
- Mood: Luxury, Calm
- What this family collects: Work that bets on the bound and distributed page, from monastery manuscripts to stapled zines, where the scale of the maker varies but editorial judgment shapes the object.

## Defining characteristics

- Extra bold headline letters drawn on geometry
- Heavy rules and black bars dividing the page
- Section marks that change shape issue by issue
- Large type laid over the photograph

## Best used for

- Music and fashion magazines where the type is meant to carry as much of the page as the photographs
- Publishing where the headline letters are redrawn issue by issue and the change is shown to the reader

## Composition recipe

- Typography & lettering: Draw the headline weight from geometry as extra bold, and hold the text in a small sans
- Layout & structure: Divide the page with heavy rules and black bars, and lay large type over the photograph
- Material & texture: Keep a set of section marks that change shape each issue, working in black areas and reversed white

## Colour

Read off the reference works below, so a direction rather than a fixed palette.

- Ground: #f2eee5
- The colour it is remembered by: #b9a58f
- Text and outlines: #161513

## What to avoid

When redrawing the letterforms every issue becomes the aim in itself, the marks stop working as signposts for the reader and every issue looks equally loud.

## Application checklist

Work through this before calling a piece an application of this style.

- [ ] Visible in the piece: Extra bold headline letters drawn on geometry
- [ ] Visible in the piece: Heavy rules and black bars dividing the page
- [ ] Visible in the piece: Section marks that change shape issue by issue
- [ ] Visible in the piece: Large type laid over the photograph
- [ ] The layout follows: Divide the page with heavy rules and black bars, and lay large type over the photograph
- [ ] The lettering follows: Draw the headline weight from geometry as extra bold, and hold the text in a small sans
- [ ] The material and surface follow: Keep a set of section marks that change shape each issue, working in black areas and reversed white
- [ ] The colour relation holds: #f2eee5 as ground, #b9a58f carrying the style, #161513 for text and outlines
- [ ] At least one reference work below has been studied directly
- [ ] The caution above ("What to avoid") has been addressed

## Related styles

- **New Wave (ニュー・ウェーブ)** — Keeps punk's freedom while re-editing color and grid with urban polish. → https://indexstyle.org/styles/new-wave
- **Minimalism (ミニマリズム)** — Removes elements to maximize the meaning and tension of what remains. → https://indexstyle.org/styles/minimalism

## Compose it with something else

The dictionary can put this entry in a structural role and another in an accent role, and report where the two fight: https://indexstyle.org/compose?ids=the-face+new-wave

## Further study

- Fabien Baron
- Neville Brody

## Reference works

- Terry Jones, i-D first issue, 1980 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The%20first%20issue%20of%20%22i-D%22%20Magazine%2C%20published%20in%201980.webp

## Source of record

- btrax — 50の主要デザインスタイル — https://blog.btrax.com/jp/50-design-styles/

## Machine surfaces

- JSON: https://indexstyle.org/api/styles/the-face
- Image-generation prompt (legally clean): https://indexstyle.org/styles/the-face/prompt.txt
- MCP: https://indexstyle.org/mcp (tools: search_styles, get_style, compare_styles, compose_styles, find_related_styles; prompts: image-prompt, apply-style)