Style combination · Pairs well

Belle Époque Lithographic Poster × Hand-Painted Signage

Both letter by hand at street scale; combine sign-painter lettering with one bold figure for a lively event or shopfront poster.

From the research on Belle Époque Lithographic Poster

Mix them and make something Belle Époque Lithographic Poster Hand-Painted Signage

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Belle Époque Lithographic Poster, their arrangement from Belle Époque Lithographic Poster, the finish from Hand-Painted Signage. 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.

Belle Époque Lithographic Poster Hand-Painted Signage & Vernacular Lettering

Type from Hand-Painted Signage: Hand-lettering
Script
Colour from Belle Époque Lithographic Poster: Flat fields
Primary triad
Form from Belle Époque Lithographic Poster: Stylised figuration
Restrained accents
Composition from Belle Époque Lithographic Poster: Single focal point
Dynamic asymmetry
Surface from Hand-Painted Signage: Hard offset shadow
Painterly brushwork

The type

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

Display · Hand-Painted Signage

Square

Yellowtail, standing in for Brush script

Text · Belle Époque Lithographic Poster

The large colour lithographic street poster that turned Paris into an open-air gallery, from Jules Chéret's first posters of 1866 to Leonetto Cappiello before the First World War. One dominant, animated figure, flat or vaporous colour printed from a few stones, and lettering drawn by the artist directly on the stone sell cabarets, spectacles, drinks and bicycles at a glance.

Bodoni Moda; Belle Époque Lithographic Poster used Artist's lettering drawn directly on the lithographic stone and Chéret's bouncing, irregular display capitals

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Belle Époque Lithographic Poster, with a counter-accent from Hand-Painted Signage. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Belle Époque Lithographic Poster Hand-Painted Signage & Vernacular Lettering

#1b1a1a ground · 36%
#f3e7c9 ink · 14%
#f0b62b accent · 18%
#c99a2e accent · 14%
#d7322a accent · 10%
#2b4f8c accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #1b1a1a;
  --ink: #f3e7c9;
  --accent-1: #f0b62b;
  --accent-2: #c99a2e;
  --accent-3: #d7322a;
  --accent-4: #2b4f8c;
  --font-display: "Yellowtail", cursive;
  --font-text: "Bodoni Moda", serif;
}

The two styles

A dark-haired woman with red flowers in her hair dances in a flowing red dress, raising a tambourine against a golden sunburst beneath the large red word “SOLARA.” Trees frame a distant domed city skyline and an illuminated arched bridge over blue water.

1866–1914 · Western Europe Belle Époque Lithographic Poster The large colour lithographic street poster that turned Paris into an open-air gallery, from Jules Chéret's first posters of 1866 to Leonetto Cappiello before the First World War. One dominant, animated figure, flat or vaporous colour printed from a few stones, and lettering drawn by the artist directly on the stone sell cabarets, spectacles, drinks and bicycles at a glance.

An ornate rectangular sign reads “RIVER MARKET” in large cream-and-gold capital letters on a dark green background, with red shadows on the top word and blue shadows below. Gold borders and scrolling flourishes surround the lettering, with red decorative motifs in the black corners and visible painted texture throughout.

1800–present · Global / networked Hand-Painted Signage & Vernacular Lettering Letters painted by trained sign writers on fascias, windows, walls, vehicles and showcards, from Victorian gold leaf on glass to Mexican rótulos, Indian bazaar boards and Ghanaian barbershop signs. Brush-built letters with shading, drop shadows and outlines are fitted to the panel and mixed in a few styles for hierarchy, valuing legibility at a distance and the painter's flourish; vinyl displaced the craft in the 1980s and it has revived since the 2010s.

More combinations

With Belle Époque Lithographic Poster

All 11 combinations with Belle Époque Lithographic Poster

With Hand-Painted Signage

All 29 combinations with Hand-Painted Signage

Every style combination