Stylogeny combining Dada × HfG Ulm Systematic Design

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Style combination · Contrasts

Dada × HfG Ulm Systematic Design

Dada's chance operations expose what Ulm's method suppresses; one deliberately random element can humanise an over-engineered system.

From the research on HfG Ulm Systematic Design

Mix them and make something Dada HfG Ulm Systematic Design

OrderDada × HfG Ulm1916 · 1953
A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from HfG Ulm Systematic Design, their arrangement from Dada, the finish from Dada. Not a real work, and not an image of either style.

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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.

Dada HfG Ulm Systematic Design

Type from Dada

HfG Ulm Systematic Design avoids eclectic mixing: this is where the two pull against each other, which is the point of the contrast.

Colour from HfG Ulm Systematic Design
Form from HfG Ulm Systematic Design
Composition from Dada

HfG Ulm Systematic Design avoids collage & layering: this is where the two pull against each other, which is the point of the contrast.

Surface from Dada

02

The type

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

Display · Dada

Order

Alfa Slab One; Dada used Found wood poster type and Mixed grotesques, Egyptians and Fraktur from the jobbing printer's case

Text · HfG Ulm Systematic Design

The Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm (1953–1968) was founded as the successor to the Bauhaus. Under Tomás Maldonado it turned that legacy into a scientific discipline: visual communication was treated as information design, governed by semiotics, ergonomics and methodical planning rather than artistic intuition. Its work for Braun and Otl Aicher's Lufthansa programme set the template for the corporate design system: a strict grid, one grotesque family, a coded colour palette and a manual governing every application.

Inter; HfG Ulm Systematic Design used Akzidenz-Grotesk and Helvetica

03

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from HfG Ulm Systematic Design, with a counter-accent from Dada. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Dada HfG Ulm Systematic Design

  • #f4f4f1 ground · 36%
  • #1b1b1b ink · 14%
  • #f2b01e accent · 18%
  • #c62a1e accent · 14%
  • #8a8d8f accent · 10%
  • #c7a76a accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f4f4f1;
  --ink: #1b1b1b;
  --accent-1: #f2b01e;
  --accent-2: #c62a1e;
  --accent-3: #8a8d8f;
  --accent-4: #c7a76a;
  --font-display: "Alfa Slab One", serif;
  --font-text: "Inter", sans-serif;
}

04

The two styles

1916–1924 · Central Europe, Western Europe Dada Born in wartime Zurich at the Cabaret Voltaire in 1916 and spreading to Berlin, Hanover, Cologne and Paris, Dada used chance, absurdity and provocation against the culture that had produced the war. Its journals, posters and photomontages tumbled found type, ads and photographs into anarchic compositions that treated every letter as raw material and every rule of legibility as a target. A magazine cover titled “Urban Systems” features oversized black lettering above two geometric graphics on an off-white background. Rows of gray, navy and yellow circles sit beside a stylized navy street map with a yellow route and circular stops. 1953–1968 · Central Europe HfG Ulm Systematic Design The Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm (1953–1968) was founded as the successor to the Bauhaus. Under Tomás Maldonado it turned that legacy into a scientific discipline: visual communication was treated as information design, governed by semiotics, ergonomics and methodical planning rather than artistic intuition. Its work for Braun and Otl Aicher's Lufthansa programme set the template for the corporate design system: a strict grid, one grotesque family, a coded colour palette and a manual governing every application.

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More combinations

With Dada

With HfG Ulm Systematic Design

Every style combination