Stylogeny combining Corporate Identity Modernism × Milanese Industrial Modernism

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Style combination · Contrasts

Corporate Identity Modernism × Milanese Industrial Modernism

American corporate identity policed one mark through a manual, while Milan let artists vary the language; compare the two when deciding how strict a brand system should be.

From the research on Milanese Industrial Modernism (Olivetti, Pirelli, Studio Boggeri)

Mix them and make something Corporate Identity Modernism Milanese Industrial Modernism

IndexCorporate Identity × Milanese Industrial
A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Milanese Industrial Modernism, their arrangement from Corporate Identity Modernism, the finish from Milanese Industrial 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 Milanese Industrial Modernism (Olivetti, Pirelli, Studio Boggeri)

Type from Corporate Identity Modernism
Colour from Corporate Identity Modernism
Form from Milanese Industrial Modernism
Composition from Corporate Identity Modernism
Surface from Milanese Industrial 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

Index

Inter Tight, standing in for Helvetica

Text · Milanese Industrial Modernism

The Milan-centred school that married Bauhaus- and Swiss-trained discipline with Italian painterly wit for enlightened industrial patrons such as Olivetti, Pirelli and La Rinascente. Studio Boggeri, Giovanni Pintori, Max Huber and Bob Noorda built posters, ads and signage from geometric primitives, numerals, transparent colour planes and photomontage on white grounds, held together by a house sensibility rather than a rulebook.

Inter; Milanese Industrial Modernism used Akzidenz-Grotesk and Semplicità

03

The colours

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

Corporate Identity Modernism Milanese Industrial Modernism (Olivetti, Pirelli, Studio Boggeri)

  • #ffffff ground · 36%
  • #111111 ink · 14%
  • #d7261e accent · 18%
  • #f0b41c accent · 14%
  • #0a4fa0 accent · 10%
  • #a4a9ad accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #ffffff;
  --ink: #111111;
  --accent-1: #d7261e;
  --accent-2: #f0b41c;
  --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. An abstract geometric print with the words “più avanti” at upper left, a large yellow circle at upper right, and blue circles increasing in size from left to right. Red-orange, magenta, blue, and black wedges converge near the lower-left edge against an off-white background. 1933–1975 · Southern Europe Milanese Industrial Modernism (Olivetti, Pirelli, Studio Boggeri) The Milan-centred school that married Bauhaus- and Swiss-trained discipline with Italian painterly wit for enlightened industrial patrons such as Olivetti, Pirelli and La Rinascente. Studio Boggeri, Giovanni Pintori, Max Huber and Bob Noorda built posters, ads and signage from geometric primitives, numerals, transparent colour planes and photomontage on white grounds, held together by a house sensibility rather than a rulebook.

05

More combinations

With Corporate Identity Modernism

All 28 combinations with Corporate Identity Modernism

With Milanese Industrial Modernism

Every style combination