Stylogeny combining Total Design × Jeepney Art

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Style combination · Contrasts

Total Design × Jeepney Art

Systematic transit signage is the rational opposite of owner-by-owner jeepney lettering; contrast the two when designing public-transport identities.

From the research on Jeepney Art

Mix them and make something Total Design Jeepney Art

FormTotal Design × Jeepney Art1963 · 1946
A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Total Design, their arrangement from Total Design, the finish from Jeepney Art. 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.

Total Design & Dutch Functionalism Jeepney Art

Type from Jeepney Art

Total Design avoids ornamented display: this is where the two pull against each other, which is the point of the contrast.

Colour from Total Design
Form from Total Design
Composition from Total Design

Jeepney Art avoids modular grid: this is where the two pull against each other, which is the point of the contrast.

Surface from Jeepney Art

02

The type

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

Display · Jeepney Art

Form

Yellowtail, standing in for Flowing brush scripts for names

Text · Total Design

The Dutch strand of systematic modernism took shape when Wim Crouwel, Benno Wissing, Friso Kramer and Paul and Dick Schwarz founded Total Design in Amsterdam in 1963 as the country's first multidisciplinary studio. It pushed Swiss grid logic towards the mechanical: visible grids, alphabets constructed on the same module as the page, and one cool, programmatic order applied to museums, airports and corporations alike.

Inter; Total Design used New Alphabet and Univers

03

The colours

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

Total Design & Dutch Functionalism Jeepney Art

  • #ffffff ground · 36%
  • #111111 ink · 14%
  • #e4352a accent · 18%
  • #1e50a2 accent · 14%
  • #bdbdbd accent · 10%
  • #2e8b57 accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #ffffff;
  --ink: #111111;
  --accent-1: #e4352a;
  --accent-2: #1e50a2;
  --accent-3: #bdbdbd;
  --accent-4: #2e8b57;
  --font-display: "Yellowtail", cursive;
  --font-text: "Inter", sans-serif;
}

04

The two styles

Oversized lowercase lettering reads “urban rhy thm” in black, red and blue on an off-white background with fine grey grid lines. Rectangles, repeated bars and large blue and black circular segments fill the remaining space. 1963–1990 · Western Europe Total Design & Dutch Functionalism The Dutch strand of systematic modernism took shape when Wim Crouwel, Benno Wissing, Friso Kramer and Paul and Dick Schwarz founded Total Design in Amsterdam in 1963 as the country's first multidisciplinary studio. It pushed Swiss grid logic towards the mechanical: visible grids, alphabets constructed on the same module as the page, and one cool, programmatic order applied to museums, airports and corporations alike. An ornate rectangular sign reads “BAYANI” in huge silver, yellow and red shaded letters. Mirrored rearing white horses, a radiant sun, gold stars, tropical mountain-and-water scenes and red hibiscus flowers surround the lettering within colorful curling borders. 1946–present · Southeast Asia Jeepney Art The decoration of the Philippine jeepney, the shared taxi built from surplus US Army jeeps after 1945 and later from locally fabricated stainless-steel bodies by firms such as Sarao and Francisco Motors. Owners turn each vehicle into a rolling signboard of airbrushed murals, chrome horses and trim, pinstripes, saints, cartoon heroes, family names and route lettering, competing for passengers in Manila traffic.

05

More combinations

With Total Design

With Jeepney Art

Every style combination