Stylogeny combining Corporate Identity Modernism × Supergraphics

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Style combination · Pairs well

Corporate Identity Modernism × Supergraphics

Use its disciplined identity colours and sans type to make an architectural graphic read as a brand.

From the research on Supergraphics

Mix them and make something Corporate Identity Modernism Supergraphics

PublicCorporate Identity × Supergraphics1955 · 1966
A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Supergraphics, 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 Supergraphics

Type from Supergraphics
Colour from Corporate Identity Modernism
Form from Supergraphics
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 · Supergraphics

Public

Jost, standing in for Futura (typical, not documented)

Text · 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.

Inter; Corporate Identity Modernism used Helvetica and Univers

03

The colours

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

Corporate Identity Modernism Supergraphics

  • #ffffff ground · 36%
  • #111111 ink · 14%
  • #d7261e accent · 18%
  • #f6b800 accent · 14%
  • #0a4fa0 accent · 10%
  • #a4a9ad accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #ffffff;
  --ink: #111111;
  --accent-1: #d7261e;
  --accent-2: #f6b800;
  --accent-3: #0a4fa0;
  --accent-4: #a4a9ad;
  --font-display: "Jost", 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. Huge black letters spelling “MOVE” fill a slanted cream band across a geometric poster. Red, blue, yellow and teal shapes surround the lettering, with a large yellow circle above, three cream dots at upper right and diagonal blue-and-cream stripes below. 1966–2026 · North America Supergraphics Oversized stripes, numerals, letters and abstract shapes painted directly onto walls, floors and ceilings, wrapping across architectural planes so that a room reads larger, deeper or differently shaped. It took Swiss-trained flat colour and sans-serif type off the page and made the graphic the surface of the building. It later became a standard tool of environmental graphic design for wayfinding and branding.

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More combinations

With Corporate Identity Modernism

All 28 combinations with Corporate Identity Modernism

With Supergraphics

Every style combination