Style combination · Pairs well

Art Nouveau × Black Metal Graphics

Szpajdel's cited source: borrow Art Nouveau's vegetal, space-filling lettering and mirror it, then sharpen every curve into a thorn and drop the colour.

From the research on Black Metal Graphics

Mix them and make something Art Nouveau Black Metal Graphics

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Art Nouveau, their arrangement from Black Metal Graphics, the finish from Black Metal Graphics. 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.

Art Nouveau Black Metal Graphics

Type from Art Nouveau: Hand-lettering
Ornamented display
Colour from Black Metal Graphics: Monochrome
Dark ground
Form from Art Nouveau: Whiplash line
Biomorphic curves
Composition from Black Metal Graphics: Central symmetry
Single focal point
Surface from Black Metal Graphics: Grain & noise
Photocopy & distress

The type

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

Display · Art Nouveau

Reverie

Federant, standing in for Arnold Böcklin (Otto Weisert, 1904)

Text · Black Metal Graphics

The visual language of black metal, fixed by Norway's second wave in the early 1990s, now worldwide, since the 2010s borrowed by mainstream acts (Szpajdel's Rihanna and Metallica logos, 2016). A hand-drawn band logo, barely legible, its letters grown into thorns and branches and balanced on a central axis, sits white on black over one bleak picture: a grainy black-and-white photograph of a corpse-painted musician, a church, a forest or a Romantic painting. Early covers, xeroxed like punk's, rejected death metal's bright painted art; the tone is misanthropic, pagan or occult, never ironic.

Special Elite; Black Metal Graphics used Hand-inked thorned, mirrored logotype and Old English Text and Fraktur capitals

The colours

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

Art Nouveau Black Metal Graphics

#0a0a0a ground · 36%
#e6e2d8 ink · 14%
#6f6f6f accent · 18%
#c9a24b accent · 14%
#2a2a2a accent · 10%
#3f7a75 accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #0a0a0a;
  --ink: #e6e2d8;
  --accent-1: #6f6f6f;
  --accent-2: #c9a24b;
  --accent-3: #2a2a2a;
  --accent-4: #3f7a75;
  --font-display: "Federant", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Special Elite", monospace;
}

Use it with care

Black Metal Graphics: The Norwegian scene's early-1990s fame rests partly on real crimes: church arsons from 1992 and two murders. Varg Vikernes of Burzum, sentenced in 1994 for the murder of Euronymous and four church arsons, is credited with bringing neo-Nazi views into the scene, and a small National Socialist black metal minority still spreads them through lyrics and imagery; even Darkthrone had to remove a slogan about race from a 1994 back cover after distributors objected. Cite Burzum sleeves only as history, and take mood from the public-domain Kittelsen and Doré pictures instead. Borrow the mirrored logo, the black field and the bleak photograph, but never a burnt or burning church, a photograph of a real death, or far-right symbols: no Black Sun (Sonnenrad), winged or serifed odal rune, wolfsangel, SS runes or Totenkopf, and no slogan about race or nation in blackletter. Inverted crosses and pentagrams signal hostility to Christianity; weigh them before using them for a general audience. Logos are the commissioned, living work of named letterers such as Szpajdel: commission or credit one rather than copying a band's name or mark.

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. 1990–present · Northern Europe, Global / networked Black Metal Graphics The visual language of black metal, fixed by Norway's second wave in the early 1990s, now worldwide, since the 2010s borrowed by mainstream acts (Szpajdel's Rihanna and Metallica logos, 2016). A hand-drawn band logo, barely legible, its letters grown into thorns and branches and balanced on a central axis, sits white on black over one bleak picture: a grainy black-and-white photograph of a corpse-painted musician, a church, a forest or a Romantic painting. Early covers, xeroxed like punk's, rejected death metal's bright painted art; the tone is misanthropic, pagan or occult, never ironic.

More combinations

With Art Nouveau

All 28 combinations with Art Nouveau

With Black Metal Graphics

All 11 combinations with Black Metal Graphics

Every style combination