Style combination · Contrasts

Dazibao × Guochao

Both make huge characters the whole message; compare the handwritten political urgency of the big-character poster with guochao's polished commercial heritage.

From the research on Guochao (China-Chic National Trend)

Mix them and make something Dazibao Guochao

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Guochao, their arrangement from Dazibao, the finish from Dazibao. Not a real work, and not an image of either style.

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.

Dazibao (Big-Character Posters) Guochao (China-Chic National Trend)

Type from Guochao: Brush & pen calligraphy
Type as image
Colour from Guochao: Jewel & metallic
Limited spot colours
Form from Guochao: Folk & sacred symbols
Stylised figuration
Composition from Dazibao: All-over field
Collage & layering
Surface from Dazibao: Painterly brushwork
Paper & letterpress bite

The type

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

Display · Guochao

Souvenir

Kaushan Script, standing in for Bold brush calligraphy (kaishu and xingshu) for hero characters

Text · Dazibao

Handwritten wall posters in large brush characters that turned the walls of Mao-era China into a public forum for criticism, denunciation and, at the Democracy Wall, dissent. Written by anyone, in black or red ink on white or red paper, without printed type or pictures, they were pasted edge to edge and over each other until walls, mat screens and corridors became one dense, ever-changing field of text. The right to write them was struck from the constitution in 1980.

Shippori Mincho; Dazibao used Freehand brush kaishu and xingshu and Imitations of Mao Zedong's cursive calligraphy for headings

The colours

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

Dazibao (Big-Character Posters) Guochao (China-Chic National Trend)

#161616 ground · 36%
#f3ead8 ink · 14%
#e3b33b accent · 18%
#c3272b accent · 14%
#e3cf72 accent · 10%
#3c8d72 accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #161616;
  --ink: #f3ead8;
  --accent-1: #e3b33b;
  --accent-2: #c3272b;
  --accent-3: #e3cf72;
  --accent-4: #3c8d72;
  --font-display: "Kaushan Script", cursive;
  --font-text: "Shippori Mincho", serif;
}

Use it with care

Dazibao (Big-Character Posters): Dazibao were instruments of denunciation: in the Anti-Rightist campaign and the Cultural Revolution they named, humiliated and incited violence against real people, many of whom were persecuted or died. Do not use the look as playful 'Chinese protest' decoration or for mock denunciations of real individuals, have any Chinese text written or checked by a fluent writer, and treat surviving posters and photographs as testimony.

Guochao (China-Chic National Trend): Guochao often lifts ethnic-minority crafts (Miao silverwork and embroidery, Dai and Mongolian motifs) and intangible-heritage techniques as packaging finishes. Credit and pay the communities and craftspeople whose patterns are used, commission or collaborate with practitioners rather than copying motifs, and remember that dragons, imperial yellow and national symbols carry political as well as decorative meaning.

The two styles

1957–1980 · East Asia Dazibao (Big-Character Posters) Handwritten wall posters in large brush characters that turned the walls of Mao-era China into a public forum for criticism, denunciation and, at the Democracy Wall, dissent. Written by anyone, in black or red ink on white or red paper, without printed type or pictures, they were pasted edge to edge and over each other until walls, mat screens and corridors became one dense, ever-changing field of text. The right to write them was struck from the constitution in 1980.

An ornate red, gold and green label features large gold Chinese characters in a central cartouche, flanked by two white cranes with raised wings. Green mountains, a golden sun, curling clouds and flowering branches fill the surrounding space inside elaborate decorative borders.

2018–present · East Asia Guochao (China-Chic National Trend) A Chinese branding and fashion trend, usually dated from Li-Ning's 'China Li-Ning' show at New York Fashion Week in February 2018, that redraws heritage motifs as finishes for sneakers, apparel, cosmetics and museum merchandise. Huge brush or block characters become the picture, framed like seals and crossed with streetwear lockups, in palace red, imperial yellow, jade and gold with auspicious clouds, waves, dragons and lotus; the tone is nostalgic, premium and openly patriotic.