Stylogeny combining Corporate Identity Modernism × Finnish Symbol Poster

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Style combination · Pairs well

Corporate Identity Modernism × Finnish Symbol Poster

The same makers drew national logos (Finnair, Alko, the Nordic Council); combine the poster sign with a corporate identity programme.

From the research on Finnish Symbol Poster (the 'Finnish School', 1954–1995)

Mix them and make something Corporate Identity Modernism Finnish Symbol Poster

NoticeCorporate Identity × Finnish Symbol Poster
A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Finnish Symbol Poster, their arrangement from Corporate Identity Modernism, the finish from Corporate Identity Modernism. Not a real work, and not an image of either style.

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.

Corporate Identity Modernism Finnish Symbol Poster (the 'Finnish School', 1954–1995)

Type from Corporate Identity Modernism
Colour from Finnish Symbol Poster
Form from Finnish Symbol Poster
Composition from Corporate Identity Modernism
Surface from Corporate Identity Modernism

02

The type

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

Display · Corporate Identity Modernism

Notice

Inter Tight, standing in for Helvetica

Text · Finnish Symbol Poster

Finnish poster and symbol design, 1950s to 1990s, in which one reduced picture, often an animal, an object or a visual pun, carries the whole message on an empty ground. Varis aimed for posters with no text; his were called sign-like and visually reduced. Dry humour (Bruun's tongue-in-cheek Finnair salmon, 1958) sits beside a love of Finnish nature. Unlike its parent it also campaigns: the social posters of the 1960s–70s, Varis's Your Lifemeter (1970), Piippo's Ruanda (1994). The same makers drew national logos; Mykkänen's book covers are a typographic side strand.

Inter; Finnish Symbol Poster used No type at all and Slab-serif capitals in Bruun's The Salmon Flight (1958)

03

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Finnish Symbol Poster, with a counter-accent from Corporate Identity Modernism. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Corporate Identity Modernism Finnish Symbol Poster (the 'Finnish School', 1954–1995)

  • #f3efe6 ground · 36%
  • #151515 ink · 14%
  • #ee8a1d accent · 18%
  • #d7261e accent · 14%
  • #0a4fa0 accent · 10%
  • #a4a9ad accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f3efe6;
  --ink: #151515;
  --accent-1: #ee8a1d;
  --accent-2: #d7261e;
  --accent-3: #0a4fa0;
  --accent-4: #a4a9ad;
  --font-display: "Inter Tight", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Inter", sans-serif;
}

04

The two styles

A blue circle sits above two mirrored red tapered shapes separated by a widening white gap. Large, bold black lettering reading “Apex” appears underneath on a white background. 1955–1990 · North America, Western Europe, Global / networked Corporate Identity Modernism Modernist reduction applied to corporate communication. A company's whole public face (trademark, logotype, stationery, packaging, vehicles and signage) was unified by an abstract symbol, a single typeface and one colour, all policed by a graphic standards manual. Pioneered by Paul Rand, Chermayeff & Geismar, Unimark and Lippincott & Margulies, it made the reductive mark and the grid the visual language of multinational business and government. A large red silhouette of a moose facing right fills most of a cream background, with broad branching antlers and a small cream eye. The word “NORTH” appears in large blue capital letters at the upper left. 1954–1995 · Northern Europe Finnish Symbol Poster (the 'Finnish School', 1954–1995) Finnish poster and symbol design, 1950s to 1990s, in which one reduced picture, often an animal, an object or a visual pun, carries the whole message on an empty ground. Varis aimed for posters with no text; his were called sign-like and visually reduced. Dry humour (Bruun's tongue-in-cheek Finnair salmon, 1958) sits beside a love of Finnish nature. Unlike its parent it also campaigns: the social posters of the 1960s–70s, Varis's Your Lifemeter (1970), Piippo's Ruanda (1994). The same makers drew national logos; Mykkänen's book covers are a typographic side strand.

05

More combinations

With Corporate Identity Modernism

All 28 combinations with Corporate Identity Modernism

With Finnish Symbol Poster

Every style combination