Stylogeny combining Afrofuturist Design × Solarpunk

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Style combination · Pairs well

Afrofuturist Design × Solarpunk

Wakanda is claimed by both: Afrofuturism brings ancestral glyphs, regal figures and cosmic dark grounds, solarpunk daylight, gardens and ordinary communities; join them with the symbols' meanings intact and Black artists credited.

From the research on Solarpunk

Mix them and make something Afrofuturist Design Solarpunk

TOMORROWAfrofuturist Design × Solarpunk1970 · 2014
A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Afrofuturist Design, their arrangement from Solarpunk, the finish from Afrofuturist Design. Not a real work, and not an image of either style.

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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.

Afrofuturist Design Solarpunk

Type from Solarpunk
Colour from Afrofuturist Design
Form from Afrofuturist Design
Composition from Solarpunk
Surface from Afrofuturist Design

Solarpunk avoids chrome & 3d render: this is where the two pull against each other.

02

The type

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

Display · Solarpunk

Tomorrow

Federant, standing in for Swash, Art Nouveau-flavoured upper- and lowercase display lettering, as in Solarpunk Magazine's orange masthead (Issue #14, 2024)

Text · Afrofuturist Design

A visual language of Black futures that fuses African and diasporic iconography (pyramids and ankhs, Adinkra and Nsibidi glyphs, textile patterning) with spacecraft, cosmic fields and technology. From Sun Ra's Saturn records and Parliament-Funkadelic's comic-book sleeves to the Wakanda of Black Panther, it uses regal central figures, jewel and metallic colour on deep-space grounds, and pattern as technology to imagine liberation beyond history.

Jost; Afrofuturist Design used Wakandan script and Hand-lettered comix titling

03

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Afrofuturist Design, with a counter-accent from Solarpunk. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Afrofuturist Design Solarpunk

  • #0b0a1a ground · 36%
  • #d4a017 ink · 14%
  • #c2185b accent · 18%
  • #e8b445 accent · 14%
  • #00a6a6 accent · 10%
  • #b8652f accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #0b0a1a;
  --ink: #d4a017;
  --accent-1: #c2185b;
  --accent-2: #e8b445;
  --accent-3: #00a6a6;
  --accent-4: #b8652f;
  --font-display: "Federant", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Jost", sans-serif;
}

Use it with care

Afrofuturist Design: Afrofuturism is a self-authored vision of Black futures that draws on meaning-bearing symbols (Adinkra, Nsibidi, Kemetic and textile motifs) tied to specific peoples. Use glyphs for what they mean rather than as generic 'tribal' texture, and commission, credit or collaborate with Black and African designers.

Solarpunk: Draw original worlds rather than pastiches of Studio Ghibli films or of living illustrators such as Likhain, Fei Fei Ruan or Stephen Lillie, and do not prompt an image model with their names. Do not use the look to greenwash: Adam Flynn calls luxury condos with a green roof that price out existing communities 'fake Solarpunk urbanism', so show shared, affordable infrastructure and ordinary people. When a scene borrows architecture, dress or symbols from a specific culture (Afrofuturist, Indigenous or other), keep their meanings and credit their makers.

04

The two styles

A woman with a star-filled afro, elaborate gold jewelry and purple-and-turquoise robes raises her open hands beneath the gold title “SOLARA.” Planets, flying saucers, celestial symbols and futuristic towers with waterfalls surround her, with a sunlit waterway pictured down the center of her robes. 1970–present · North America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Global / networked Afrofuturist Design A visual language of Black futures that fuses African and diasporic iconography (pyramids and ankhs, Adinkra and Nsibidi glyphs, textile patterning) with spacecraft, cosmic fields and technology. From Sun Ra's Saturn records and Parliament-Funkadelic's comic-book sleeves to the Wakanda of Black Panther, it uses regal central figures, jewel and metallic colour on deep-space grounds, and pattern as technology to imagine liberation beyond history. An ornate illustrated poster reads “BRIGHTER TOGETHER” above a sunlit, plant-covered city with glasshouses, bridges, waterfalls, wind turbines and sailboats on a canal. In the foreground, a woman tends flowers beside a man, a child and a cat, with flowering vines framing the scene. 2014–present · Global / networked, North America, Latin America & Caribbean Solarpunk Hopeful eco-futurist imagery born online. The word dates from a 2008 blog post; the look from an August 2014 Tumblr post by the artist Olivia Louise asking for renewable technology with 'an Art Nouveau veneer'. Sunlit painted vistas, or flat, textured cover illustrations thick with foliage, show cities grown over with gardens, stained-glass solar panels, airships, wind power and shared streets full of people, in natural greens and sky blues warmed by gold. It fills book and magazine covers, concept art and animation as the daylit, communal opposite of cyberpunk's neon night.

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