Style combination · Contrasts

American Traditional Tattoo Flash × International Typographic Style

Rational grid and sans-serif against sentimental, hand-lettered emblems: one flash motif on a Swiss layout makes a sharp contrast.

From the research on American Traditional Tattoo Flash

Mix them and make something American Traditional Tattoo Flash International Typographic Style

Large red and blue lettering reading “OPEN WATER” sits above a stylised swallow flying to the right over curling blue waves. Yellow rectangular panels and a pale circular sun sit behind the black, red, blue and yellow bird on a cream background. — AI-generated by Stylogeny from the recipe below, and checked against it: the type from International Typographic Style, the form from American Traditional Tattoo Flash, the composition from International Typographic Style. Not a real or historical work.

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 Traditional Tattoo Flash International Typographic Style

Type from International Typographic Style: Grotesque & neo-grotesque
Type as image

American Traditional Tattoo Flash avoids grotesque & neo-grotesque: this is where the two pull against each other, which is the point of the contrast.
Colour from American Traditional Tattoo Flash: Flat fields
Limited spot colours
Form from American Traditional Tattoo Flash: Stylised figuration
Emblems & badges
Composition from International Typographic Style: Modular grid
Dynamic asymmetry
Surface from American Traditional Tattoo Flash: Flat

The type

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

Display · International Typographic Style

Order

Inter Tight, standing in for Akzidenz-Grotesk

Text · American Traditional Tattoo Flash

The stock designs of twentieth-century American tattoo shops: eagles, anchors, swallows, roses, hearts, daggers, panthers, skulls, ships, pin-ups and nautical stars, each drawn as an isolated emblem with a bold black outline, black shading and a few saturated flat colours (mainly red, yellow and green) chosen to stay legible on skin for a lifetime. Painted or printed on sheets and hung on shop walls, the designs carry vows, luck and service memories, and the look now travels far beyond the tattoo shop.

Libre Caslon Text; American Traditional Tattoo Flash used Script names and mottoes lettered in ribbon banners and Shaded and drop-shadowed block capitals in the sign writer's manner

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from American Traditional Tattoo Flash, with a counter-accent from International Typographic Style. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

American Traditional Tattoo Flash International Typographic Style

#f1e4c8 ground · 36%
#111111 ink · 14%
#f2c12e accent · 18%
#e1251b accent · 14%
#1f4e9c accent · 10%
#1f7a3a accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f1e4c8;
  --ink: #111111;
  --accent-1: #f2c12e;
  --accent-2: #e1251b;
  --accent-3: #1f4e9c;
  --accent-4: #1f7a3a;
  --font-display: "Inter Tight", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Libre Caslon Text", serif;
}

Use it with care

American Traditional Tattoo Flash: Tattoo flash is the working craft of a living community of tattooers, who still trade, copy and repaint the old sheets by their own customs, and Sailor Jerry Ltd holds the commercial rights to Collins's letters, art and flash: draw new designs in the idiom rather than lifting a named artist's flash for branding or merchandise. Period sheets also include caricatures of other peoples, exoticised hula girls and geishas, and wartime jingoism; leave those out when quoting the style.