# Witch House Graphics (ウィッチ・ハウス・グラフィックス)

> A 2009–2012 visual system that joined crushed night photography, treated found video, VHS decay and deliberately obstructed type into one Tumblr- and blog-circulated identity. Its form comes from digital obscurity and repetition, not from occult props alone.

- IndexStyle No.728 — https://indexstyle.org/styles/witch-house-graphics
- Kind: Style · Family: Internet Aesthetics · Era: 2009–2012
- Mood: Rebellion, Calm, Nostalgia
- What this family collects: Moods that got their names through anonymous posting and reshared images, sorted not by who made them but by the unease or comfort a viewer reports feeling.

## Brief inputs

Supply these before production. They are intentionally not invented by the style.

- Deliverable and channel: page, app screen, deck, campaign image, garment, object or space
- Subject and message: what the audience must notice or understand first
- Audience and context: where, when and at what viewing distance it will be encountered
- Format: dimensions, aspect ratio, responsive states, slide count or physical constraints
- Content hierarchy: required copy, data, actions, imagery and legal information
- Production constraints: accessibility, materials, budget, image rights and delivery deadline

## Defining characteristics

- Crushed night photography in black, gray, blue and bone
- Treated-video frames with scanlines, color bleed or vertical drag
- Short names slowed by substituted glyphs and geometric characters
- A repeated low-resolution image held at a distance by large black fields

## Best used for

- Extending music, short video and event imagery into one dark online identity
- Using night photographs and low-resolution video to design distance and obscurity rather than a literal horror story

## Composition recipe

- Typography & lettering: Obstruct only the short name with substituted glyphs; preserve searchable plain text for body copy, date and access information.
- Layout & structure: Enlarge one night image or treated-video frame, leave a wide black field and offset the short name from center.
- Material & texture: Choose one or two of VHS scanlines, compression, copier loss or color bleed and apply the same degradation rule to still and motion.

## Colour

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

- Ground: #D9D5CB
- The colour it is remembered by: #73727B
- Text and outlines: #09090C

## Evidence and rights boundary

- Treat the source of record and reference works below as evidence for understanding the style, not as assets to reproduce.
- The AI interpretation image, when present, is a browsing aid only. It is neither a reference work nor evidence for the definition.
- For a branded design system, translate hierarchy, spacing, colour roles and component logic into an unrelated fictional service. Do not copy logos, proprietary type, icons, product copy, screenshots or exact component geometry.
- For a regional, Indigenous or community-rooted tradition, retain place, authorship and historical context. Do not combine unrelated motifs or reduce the entry to generic ethnic decoration.
- For fashion and subculture, distinguish documentary context from a costume prompt; use fictional adults and avoid real labels, public figures and caricature.
- Record the rights status and intended use of every supplied image, typeface, logo and quotation before production.

## Translate it by medium

The rules below preserve the visual grammar without copying a historical artefact literally.

### Web and app

- Page structure: translate “Enlarge one night image or treated-video frame, leave a wide black field and offset the short name from center.” into the hero, section rhythm and information hierarchy.
- Type system: use “Obstruct only the short name with substituted glyphs; preserve searchable plain text for body copy, date and access information.” for display moments and short labels. Keep body copy, navigation, forms and status text in a highly legible companion when the display treatment reduces clarity.
- Components and imagery: carry “Choose one or two of VHS scanlines, compression, copier loss or color bleed and apply the same degradation rule to still and motion.” through image treatment, borders, dividers, cards and selected surfaces; do not decorate every component equally.
- Tokens: begin with #D9D5CB as the ground, #73727B as the memorable colour, and #09090C for text, outlines and high-contrast detail. Assign colours by semantic role before tuning individual components.
- Presentation: render the screen itself as the design artefact. Add a phone, browser chrome or perspective mockup only when the deliverable explicitly asks for one.
- Responsive behaviour: preserve hierarchy, alignment logic and the dominant cue when columns collapse; do not reproduce a desktop composition by merely shrinking it.
- Usability gate: keyboard focus, action labels, contrast, zoom and reduced-motion behaviour remain explicit even when the historical style did not account for them.

### Slides and decks

- Title slide: express one idea with the strongest scale, alignment or framing move from “Enlarge one night image or treated-video frame, leave a wide black field and offset the short name from center.”.
- Content slides: keep the reading layer quieter than the title layer. Use one dominant characteristic per slide and repeat the same grid, margins and type roles across the deck.
- Images and surfaces: art-direct crops, masks, rules and backgrounds with “Choose one or two of VHS scanlines, compression, copier loss or color bleed and apply the same degradation rule to still and motion.” rather than adding unrelated decoration.
- Charts and diagrams: use #D9D5CB as the ground, #73727B as the memorable colour, and #09090C for text, outlines and high-contrast detail; preserve labels and numerical contrast before stylistic treatment.
- Presentation: deliver a flat slide canvas by default. A photographed screen, laptop or conference room is a different deliverable and must be requested explicitly.
- Sequence: alternate emphatic slides with quiet explanatory slides so the style has rhythm instead of becoming constant noise.

### Image generation and art direction

- Subject: choose one concrete subject that serves one of the uses above; the style is the treatment, not the subject.
- Composition: build the frame from “Enlarge one night image or treated-video frame, leave a wide black field and offset the short name from center.”. Make the focal hierarchy readable before adding texture.
- Lettering and graphic marks: follow “Obstruct only the short name with substituted glyphs; preserve searchable plain text for body copy, date and access information.”. If text is not essential, omit it; if it is essential, use short neutral wording and reject illegible pseudo-text.
- Surface, light and finish: interpret “Choose one or two of VHS scanlines, compression, copier loss or color bleed and apply the same degradation rule to still and motion.” as material, texture, edge quality, depth and lighting rather than as a generic filter.
- Effect discipline: gradients, bloom, glass, chrome, heavy shadows, grain and distressed paper are off by default unless the material direction names or clearly requires them.
- Cliché test: remove the most obvious period prop or motif. The style should still read through composition, type, colour relation and material behaviour.
- Set direction: make a clear establishing composition, a changed crop or viewpoint, a material/detail study, and a reduced alternate. Keep the visual grammar stable while changing the framing.
- Ready-to-run prompt: https://indexstyle.org/styles/witch-house-graphics/prompt.txt

### Styling, objects and spaces

- Silhouette and proportion: translate “Enlarge one night image or treated-video frame, leave a wide black field and offset the short name from center.” into the distribution of volume, balance, symmetry or asymmetry.
- Materials and finish: start from “Choose one or two of VHS scanlines, compression, copier loss or color bleed and apply the same degradation rule to still and motion.”; choose real materials whose behaviour supports the style instead of printing a motif onto an unrelated surface.
- Graphic detail: apply “Obstruct only the short name with substituted glyphs; preserve searchable plain text for body copy, date and access information.” only where lettering, labels, trims or wayfinding have a reason to exist.
- Palette: use #D9D5CB as the ground, #73727B as the memorable colour, and #09090C for text, outlines and high-contrast detail. Let one role dominate, one support and one provide legibility or edge definition.
- Edit: carry two or three defining characteristics strongly. Avoid turning every characteristic into a literal prop or costume reference.

## What to avoid

Do not label every dark, occult, Gothic or horror image Witch House. Network circulation, treated media and typographic obstruction must coincide; do not remove religious symbols from context or reuse found footage without rights.

## Application checklist

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

- [ ] The deliverable, subject, audience, format and content priority are explicit
- [ ] One characteristic is dominant and at least two others support it
- [ ] Visible in the piece: Crushed night photography in black, gray, blue and bone
- [ ] Visible in the piece: Treated-video frames with scanlines, color bleed or vertical drag
- [ ] Visible in the piece: Short names slowed by substituted glyphs and geometric characters
- [ ] Visible in the piece: A repeated low-resolution image held at a distance by large black fields
- [ ] The layout follows: Enlarge one night image or treated-video frame, leave a wide black field and offset the short name from center.
- [ ] The lettering follows: Obstruct only the short name with substituted glyphs; preserve searchable plain text for body copy, date and access information.
- [ ] The material and surface follow: Choose one or two of VHS scanlines, compression, copier loss or color bleed and apply the same degradation rule to still and motion.
- [ ] The colour relation holds: #D9D5CB as ground, #73727B carrying the style, #09090C for text and outlines
- [ ] The result still works without the decorative layer: hierarchy, reading order and primary action remain clear
- [ ] Responsive, accessibility or physical-production constraints have been checked for the chosen medium
- [ ] No AI interpretation image has been used as evidence or copied as a visual reference
- [ ] Logos, proprietary type, exact interface geometry and existing artwork compositions have been excluded unless separately licensed
- [ ] Community, regional or subcultural context has been preserved where it is part of the style
- [ ] At least one reference work below has been studied directly
- [ ] The caution above ("What to avoid") has been addressed

## Related styles

- **Analog Horror (アナログホラー)** — A net-born video genre that builds fear out of VHS decay, emergency-broadcast formats and the voice of the classroom film. By turning the signs of public-broadcast trust inside out, it makes the format itself the thing that frightens. → https://indexstyle.org/styles/analog-horror
- **Cybersigilism (サイバーシジリズム)** — A contemporary tattoo and graphic language combining mirrored tribal curves, sharp metal-logotype thorns, and digital sigils in fine black line, spreading unreadable symbols like wings, flame, or biomechanical bone along the body's axes. → https://indexstyle.org/styles/cybersigilism

## 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=witch-house-graphics+analog-horror

## Further study

- The Guardian — witch house as a total aesthetic and curatorial genre
- The Washington Post — Travis Egedy on witch house as a visual aesthetic
- Tumblr-era circulation, treated found video and ritualised typography

## Reference works

- The Guardian — Witch house: the krunk microgenre that's more than just music — https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/aug/19/witch-house-musical-genres

## AI interpretation

An AI-generated interpretation image exists for browsing convenience only — it is not a reference work: https://indexstyle.org/ai/witch-house-graphics.jpg

## Source of record

- The Guardian — Witch house: the krunk microgenre that's more than just music — https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/aug/19/witch-house-musical-genres

## Machine surfaces

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