Stylogeny combining Art Nouveau × Bitmap

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Style combination · Contrasts

Art Nouveau × Bitmap

Whiplash curves cannot survive a coarse pixel grid; staging that clash makes a memorable, deliberately jagged ornament.

From the research on Bitmap & Pixel Graphics

Mix them and make something Art Nouveau Bitmap

FutureArt Nouveau × Bitmap1890 · 1977
A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Art Nouveau, their arrangement from Art Nouveau, the finish from Bitmap. 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.

Art Nouveau Bitmap & Pixel Graphics

Type from Bitmap
Colour from Art Nouveau
Form from Art Nouveau

Bitmap avoids whiplash line: this is where the two pull against each other, which is the point of the contrast.

Composition from Art Nouveau
Surface from Bitmap

02

The type

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

Display · Bitmap

Future

Pixelify Sans, standing in for Chicago (Susan Kare, 1984)

Text · Art Nouveau

An international 'new art' that sought a modern style free of historical revival, drawing its forms from plant growth and the female figure. Graphic work flows with whiplash curves and stylised flowers, frames idealised women in arches, halos and mosaic borders, and draws custom lettering that bends to fill the space, fusing image, ornament and type into one decorative surface.

Bodoni Moda; Art Nouveau used Arnold Böcklin and Eckmann

03

The colours

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

Art Nouveau Bitmap & Pixel Graphics

  • #efe2c4 ground · 36%
  • #4b3b2a ink · 14%
  • #c9a24b accent · 18%
  • #9bbc0f accent · 14%
  • #3f7a75 accent · 10%
  • #ff55ff accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #efe2c4;
  --ink: #4b3b2a;
  --accent-1: #c9a24b;
  --accent-2: #9bbc0f;
  --accent-3: #3f7a75;
  --accent-4: #ff55ff;
  --font-display: "Pixelify Sans", monospace;
  --font-text: "Bodoni Moda", serif;
}

04

The two styles

An illustrated poster headed “RIVERBLOOM” shows a woman in a flowing green dress with long auburn hair entwined with pink flowers, reaching down to touch rippling water. Water lilies, curling foliage and an ornate botanical border surround her, with a river, distant trees and a golden sun behind her. 1890–1910 · Western Europe, Central Europe, Southern Europe, North America Art Nouveau An international 'new art' that sought a modern style free of historical revival, drawing its forms from plant growth and the female figure. Graphic work flows with whiplash curves and stylised flowers, frames idealised women in arches, halos and mosaic borders, and draws custom lettering that bends to fill the space, fusing image, ornament and type into one decorative surface. A retro pixel-art space navigation interface shows a gridded star map with a spiral galaxy, colorful stars, and green celestial bodies. A right-hand panel displays a cyan planet and its statistics, while object cards and a command menu run along the bottom. 1977–1995 · North America, East Asia Bitmap & Pixel Graphics Graphics and lettering built from the square pixels of low-resolution screens (arcade and console sprites, home-computer displays and the first graphical user interfaces), where every dot was placed by hand within tight limits of memory, resolution and palette. Designers such as Susan Kare turned those constraints into a language of legible pictogram icons, jagged bitmap fonts and dithered tones.

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More combinations

With Art Nouveau

All 28 combinations with Art Nouveau

With Bitmap

All 19 combinations with Bitmap

Every style combination