Stylogeny combining De Stijl × Mechano-Faktura

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Style combination · Pairs well

De Stijl × Mechano-Faktura

Shared flat colour and orthogonal discipline; swap the Dutch primaries for red-black-white.

From the research on Mechano-Faktura & Polish Constructivist Advertising

Mix them and make something De Stijl Mechano-Faktura

GRIDDe Stijl × Mechano-Faktura1917 · 1923
A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from De Stijl, their arrangement from Mechano-Faktura, the finish from De Stijl. 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.

De Stijl Mechano-Faktura & Polish Constructivist Advertising

Type from De Stijl
Colour from Mechano-Faktura
Form from De Stijl
Composition from Mechano-Faktura
Surface from De Stijl

02

The type

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

Display · De Stijl

Grid

Rubik Mono One; De Stijl used Theo van Doesburg's rectilinear alphabet and Vilmos Huszár's block-letter De Stijl masthead

Text · Mechano-Faktura

Henryk Berlewi's system of two-dimensional pictures built mechanically from rhythmic parallel lines, circles and squares in black, white and red. It rejected the illusion of space and was promptly applied to commercial advertising, brochures and packaging by the agency Reklama-Mechano. Unlike Russian Constructivism, it was a theory of mechanical surface texture sold to business, with no photomontage, diagonals or agitprop. Berlewi quit the research in 1926 and returned to figurative art.

Jost; Mechano-Faktura used Lettering not verified; no typeface attribution confirmed and Geometric sans-serif display lettering is an unconfirmed assumption

03

The colours

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

De Stijl Mechano-Faktura & Polish Constructivist Advertising

  • #ffffff ground · 36%
  • #111111 ink · 14%
  • #d62718 accent · 18%
  • #f4c20d accent · 14%
  • #1f4ea1 accent · 10%
  • #9e9e9a accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #ffffff;
  --ink: #111111;
  --accent-1: #d62718;
  --accent-2: #f4c20d;
  --accent-3: #1f4ea1;
  --accent-4: #9e9e9a;
  --font-display: "Rubik Mono One", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Jost", sans-serif;
}

04

The two styles

A geometric poster features the words “NEW ORDER” in heavy black capitals at the upper left. Thick black bars divide an off-white background into unequal rectangles filled with red, blue, yellow, grey, and white. 1917–1931 · Western Europe De Stijl A Dutch movement formed around Theo van Doesburg's journal De Stijl and Piet Mondrian's Neoplasticism, which sought universal harmony through the most elementary means: horizontal and vertical lines, rectangles, the three primaries and black, white and grey. In typography it produced block-constructed letters and orthogonal, asymmetric layouts whose principles flowed directly into the Bauhaus and the New Typography. An abstract poster on a white background features the geometric word “RITMO” across the top, beside a large red circle. Black vertical stripes and stepped rows of black rectangles contrast with diagonal rows of red circles that shrink toward the right. 1923–1926 · Eastern Europe, Central Europe Mechano-Faktura & Polish Constructivist Advertising Henryk Berlewi's system of two-dimensional pictures built mechanically from rhythmic parallel lines, circles and squares in black, white and red. It rejected the illusion of space and was promptly applied to commercial advertising, brochures and packaging by the agency Reklama-Mechano. Unlike Russian Constructivism, it was a theory of mechanical surface texture sold to business, with no photomontage, diagonals or agitprop. Berlewi quit the research in 1926 and returned to figurative art.

05

More combinations

With De Stijl

With Mechano-Faktura

Every style combination