Style combination · Contrasts

Afrobeat Sleeve Art × Tropicália Graphic Design

Both crowd a political record sleeve with photographs and drawing, but Lemi Ghariokwu states the argument openly as captioned satire, while Tropicália hides it in irony and allegory to get past the censor.

From the research on Tropicália Graphic Design

Mix them and make something Afrobeat Sleeve Art Tropicália Graphic Design

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Afrobeat Sleeve Art, their arrangement from Afrobeat Sleeve Art, the finish from Afrobeat Sleeve Art. Not a real work, and not an image of either style.

What each style brings

Each part of the design comes from the style with the stronger say in it, and each style gives at least two.

Afrobeat Sleeve Art Tropicália Graphic Design

Type from Tropicália Graphic Design: Hand-lettering
Ornamented display
Colour from Tropicália Graphic Design: Flat fields
Full polychrome
Form from Afrobeat Sleeve Art: Distortion & exaggeration
Stylised figuration
Composition from Afrobeat Sleeve Art: Collage & layering
Horror vacui
Surface from Afrobeat Sleeve Art: Painterly brushwork

The type

Open fonts standing in for each style’s own type, which is often hand-drawn or commercial.

Display · Tropicália Graphic Design

Loud

Federant, standing in for Art Nouveau-revival hand lettering (Rogério Duarte, Caetano Veloso, 1968)

Text · Afrobeat Sleeve Art

The painted and collaged record covers of Nigerian Afrobeat, defined by Lemi Ghariokwu's sleeves for Fela Kuti from Alagbon Close (1974) onward. Each cover is a political cartoon that illustrates the album's lyrics, packing oil paint, cut-out photographs, speech balloons and caricatured soldiers and world leaders into a crowded, saturated 12-inch frame under a newly drawn title.

Archivo; Afrobeat Sleeve Art used Lemi Ghariokwu's hand-drawn album titles, redrawn for each record and Collaged lettering built from cut-out photographs

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Tropicália Graphic Design, with a counter-accent from Afrobeat Sleeve Art. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Afrobeat Sleeve Art Tropicália Graphic Design

#f6c400 ground · 36%
#161616 ink · 14%
#d6177a accent · 18%
#e8401c accent · 14%
#2a5caa accent · 10%
#00873e accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f6c400;
  --ink: #161616;
  --accent-1: #d6177a;
  --accent-2: #e8401c;
  --accent-3: #2a5caa;
  --accent-4: #00873e;
  --font-display: "Federant", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Archivo", sans-serif;
}

Use it with care

Tropicália Graphic Design: The posters and covers remain under copyright and the photographs show named, living or recently living artists: borrow the method (a cut-out photograph in a saturated drawn world, national emblems turned ironic), not a particular sleeve or face. Tropicália used bananas, parrots and the flag's colours to mock the exotic image of Brazil and nationalist good taste; using them straight as tropical decoration reverses its meaning. Since 2015 the flag and the yellow team shirt have also become widespread conservative emblems in Brazil, so a straight verde-amarelo pastiche aimed at Brazilian audiences now reads as a partisan statement.