Stylogeny combining American Mid-Century Modernism × Screenprinted Gig

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Style combination · Pairs well

American Mid-Century Modernism × Screenprinted Gig

Saul Bass's film posters are a favourite model of the alternative movie poster (Film Comment found the Bass homages 'far too plentiful' in 2014); borrow his one cut-paper symbol that holds the whole story.

From the research on Screenprinted Gig & Alt-Movie Poster

Mix them and make something American Mid-Century Modernism Screenprinted Gig

HELLOAmerican Mid-Century × Screenprinted Gig
A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Screenprinted Gig, their arrangement from American Mid-Century Modernism, the finish from Screenprinted Gig. 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.

American Mid-Century Modernism Screenprinted Gig & Alt-Movie Poster

Type from Screenprinted Gig

American Mid-Century Modernism avoids ornamented display: this is where the two pull against each other.

Colour from American Mid-Century Modernism
Form from Screenprinted Gig
Composition from American Mid-Century Modernism
Surface from Screenprinted Gig

02

The type

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

Display · Screenprinted Gig

Hello

Londrina Solid; Screenprinted Gig used Hand-drawn display lettering by the poster artist, drawn into the image and Condensed sans-serif and wood-type-style capitals for the band, venue and date line

Text · American Mid-Century Modernism

The American synthesis of European avant-garde form with wit, pragmatism and commercial clients, led by Paul Rand, Alvin Lustig, Lester Beall, Bradbury Thompson and Saul Bass. Asymmetric layouts, cut-paper and collaged shapes, photomontage, playful hand-drawn marks and a few bright flat colours turned book jackets, magazines, advertising, film titles and corporate work into idea-driven visual puns.

Jost; American Mid-Century Modernism used Futura and Bodoni

03

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from American Mid-Century Modernism, with a counter-accent from Screenprinted Gig. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

American Mid-Century Modernism Screenprinted Gig & Alt-Movie Poster

  • #f2ede1 ground · 36%
  • #1a1a1a ink · 14%
  • #e2a83a accent · 18%
  • #d6452f accent · 14%
  • #2f5f8a accent · 10%
  • #5c7a3e accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f2ede1;
  --ink: #1a1a1a;
  --accent-1: #e2a83a;
  --accent-2: #d6452f;
  --accent-3: #2f5f8a;
  --accent-4: #5c7a3e;
  --font-display: "Londrina Solid", cursive;
  --font-text: "Jost", sans-serif;
}

Use it with care

Screenprinted Gig & Alt-Movie Poster: Film characters, logos and band names belong to their owners: Mondo's Star Wars and Marvel posters were made under licence from Lucasfilm and Disney, so clear the rights before printing a fan 'alt poster'; gig posters are the living trade of named independent printmakers, so commission or credit them rather than generating look-alikes of a recognisable artist's hand; and when you borrow the scene's sweet-and-sinister mix, keep the sinister half to monsters, skulls and noir rather than hate symbols or real atrocities: Kozik's own art drew on the iconography of Franco's fascist regime, under which he spent his earliest years in Spain, and that is not a costume to reuse.

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The two styles

A backpacked hiker stands on a steep, black-and-cream rocky summit against a large golden sun, with blue mountain ranges, forests and pale waterways below. Large condensed lettering at the upper left reads “HIGHER GROUND” in black and red. 1940–1970 · North America American Mid-Century Modernism The American synthesis of European avant-garde form with wit, pragmatism and commercial clients, led by Paul Rand, Alvin Lustig, Lester Beall, Bradbury Thompson and Saul Bass. Asymmetric layouts, cut-paper and collaged shapes, photomontage, playful hand-drawn marks and a few bright flat colours turned book jackets, magazines, advertising, film titles and corporate work into idea-driven visual puns. A towering teal cactus bears a large cream-and-hot-pink flower whose lower petals form a skull face. A yellow disk, desert mesas and scattered stars sit behind it on a distressed black background, beneath tall pink lettering reading “NIGHTBLOOM.” 1991–present · North America, Western Europe, Global / networked Screenprinted Gig & Alt-Movie Poster Hand-pulled, numbered screenprints that revived the rock poster in Austin from 1991, led by Frank Kozik, and spread via Flatstock fairs and, from 2004, Mondo to 'alternative' film posters, for collectors as much as the show. The gig posters lean to fluorescent inks, innocent cartoons in bizarre scenes and dense psychedelic layers; the film posters, often by the same artists, to Bass-like silhouettes or a whole cast on one sheet. A few flat inks, opaque or overprinting, sometimes metallic, carry hand-drawn lettering and usually one witty idea, sweet and sinister, nostalgic and knowing.

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More combinations

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