Stylogeny combining Russian Constructivism × Mavo

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Style combination · Pairs well

Russian Constructivism × Mavo

Borrow Constructivism's heavy bars and one red ink to steady a Mavo page, but keep Mavo's hand-drawn characters and abstract machine linocuts instead of a single clear slogan.

From the research on Mavo

Mix them and make something Russian Constructivism Mavo

A distressed geometric poster reads “NEW HORIZON” in oversized angular lettering across the upper portion. Red wedges, black and gray bars, a large mustard-yellow circle, and radiating diagonal stripes cover a cream-colored background.
AI-generated by Stylogeny from the recipe below, and checked against it: the type from Mavo, the form from Mavo, the composition from Russian Constructivism. Not a real or historical work.

01

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.

Russian Constructivism Mavo

Type from Mavo
Colour from Russian Constructivism
Form from Mavo
Composition from Russian Constructivism
Surface from Mavo

02

The type

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

Display · Mavo

Now!

Big Shoulders, standing in for Blocky hand-drawn masthead letters

Text · Russian Constructivism

Constructivism rejected art for art's sake in favour of the artist-engineer building useful things for the new Soviet society. In posters, books, film publicity and state advertising it fused bold grotesque type, heavy bars, photomontage and diagonal axes into an urgent, utilitarian language of agitation that shaped modern graphic design worldwide.

Archivo; Russian Constructivism used Soviet heavy grotesques and Rodchenko's constructed block lettering

03

The colours

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

Russian Constructivism Mavo

  • #efe6d2 ground · 36%
  • #141414 ink · 14%
  • #d1261c accent · 18%
  • #c9b28a accent · 14%
  • #dbb13a accent · 10%
  • #6b6b66 accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #efe6d2;
  --ink: #141414;
  --accent-1: #d1261c;
  --accent-2: #c9b28a;
  --accent-3: #dbb13a;
  --accent-4: #6b6b66;
  --font-display: "Big Shoulders", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Archivo", sans-serif;
}

04

The two styles

1917–1934 · Eastern Europe Russian Constructivism Constructivism rejected art for art's sake in favour of the artist-engineer building useful things for the new Soviet society. In posters, books, film publicity and state advertising it fused bold grotesque type, heavy bars, photomontage and diagonal axes into an urgent, utilitarian language of agitation that shaped modern graphic design worldwide. 1923–1925 · East Asia Mavo Tokyo's anarchist avant-garde, founded in July 1923 by Murayama Tomoyoshi, back from a year in Berlin, with four former Futurists, and its magazine MAVO (seven issues, July 1924 to August 1925). Covers carry a huge hand-drawn title; inside, machine-set type collides with hand-drawn kanji, kana and Latin letters, some sideways or upside down, inside heavy black or red rules that box the page. Original linocuts of abstract machine forms sit on real newspaper sheets bound in as pages, some turned 90 degrees so horizontal newsprint crosses vertical text. One cover carried a firecracker.

05

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