East German Poster and Gebrauchsgrafik × Polish Poster School

Borrow its metaphorical single image while keeping the East German sober lettering.

From the research on East German (DDR) Poster and Gebrauchsgrafik

Mix them and make something East German Poster and Gebrauchsgrafik Polish Poster School

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Polish Poster School, their arrangement from East German Poster and Gebrauchsgrafik, the finish from Polish Poster School. 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.

East German (DDR) Poster and Gebrauchsgrafik Polish Poster School

Type from Polish Poster School: Hand-lettering
Colour from East German Poster and Gebrauchsgrafik: Limited spot colours
Flat fields
Form from Polish Poster School: Distortion & exaggeration
Stylised figuration
Composition from East German Poster and Gebrauchsgrafik: Single focal point
Dynamic asymmetry
Surface from Polish Poster School: Painterly brushwork

The type

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

Display · Polish Poster School

Index

Londrina Solid; Polish Poster School used Henryk Tomaszewski's casual handwritten capitals and Brush- and crayon-drawn title lettering

Text · East German Poster and Gebrauchsgrafik

Poster and applied graphics (Gebrauchsgrafik) of the German Democratic Republic, made by named designers for theatre, film and exhibitions. The range took in graphics, collage, montage and later photography; the central tendency was a quiet typographic idiom: one focal image, few flat colours, plain sans or hand lettering. Unlike commercial plakatstil it was state-commissioned and authored, under Ministry of Culture oversight in a one-party state where it coexisted with propaganda.

Inter; East German Poster and Gebrauchsgrafik used Neo-grotesque and humanist sans-serifs and Hand-lettered theatre and film titles

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from East German Poster and Gebrauchsgrafik, with a counter-accent from Polish Poster School. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

East German (DDR) Poster and Gebrauchsgrafik Polish Poster School

#efe9dc ground · 36%
#1b1b1b ink · 14%
#d9a62b accent · 18%
#d4352b accent · 14%
#2c4f7c accent · 10%
#7b4b2a accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #efe9dc;
  --ink: #1b1b1b;
  --accent-1: #d9a62b;
  --accent-2: #d4352b;
  --accent-3: #2c4f7c;
  --accent-4: #7b4b2a;
  --font-display: "Londrina Solid", cursive;
  --font-text: "Inter", sans-serif;
}

The two styles

A stylized blue-and-cream woman holds books and looks upward in front of a large yellow sun. Red buildings, slender trees and converging paths occupy the lower right, with the red word “MORGEN” across the upper right.

1946–1990 · Central Europe East German (DDR) Poster and Gebrauchsgrafik Poster and applied graphics (Gebrauchsgrafik) of the German Democratic Republic, made by named designers for theatre, film and exhibitions. The range took in graphics, collage, montage and later photography; the central tendency was a quiet typographic idiom: one focal image, few flat colours, plain sans or hand lettering. Unlike commercial plakatstil it was state-commissioned and authored, under Ministry of Culture oversight in a one-party state where it coexisted with propaganda.

A large, elongated dark face has an open-topped head containing a hilltop town with blue, cream and ochre buildings, slender trees and a pale sun against a red sky. Rough brush lettering reading “Inner City” fills the cream space at the lower left.

1950–1990 · Eastern Europe Polish Poster School A painterly, metaphorical poster culture that flourished in communist Poland, chiefly for film, theatre, opera and circus. Working for state publishers, free of commercial pressure but under censorship, designers such as Henryk Tomaszewski, Jan Lenica and Roman Cieślewicz replaced star photographs with a single witty or unsettling visual idea, painted or collaged by hand and lettered in the artist's own handwriting.

East German Poster and Gebrauchsgrafik × Polish Poster School

What each style brings

The type

The colours

As CSS

The two styles

More combinations

With East German Poster and Gebrauchsgrafik

With Polish Poster School