Style combination · Contrasts

Egyptian Cigarette Packaging × International Typographic Style

Set one heraldic, bordered lid against an asymmetric grotesque grid to show the jump from trading-house guarantee to objective information.

From the research on Egyptian Cigarette Packaging (Cairo Tobacco Houses)

Mix them and make something Egyptian Cigarette Packaging International Typographic Style

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Egyptian Cigarette Packaging, their arrangement from International Typographic Style, the finish from Egyptian Cigarette Packaging. 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.

Egyptian Cigarette Packaging (Cairo Tobacco Houses) International Typographic Style

Type from Egyptian Cigarette Packaging: All caps
Eclectic mixing

International Typographic Style avoids eclectic mixing: this is where the two pull against each other, which is the point of the contrast.
Colour from International Typographic Style: Limited spot colours
Flat fields
Form from Egyptian Cigarette Packaging: Borders & frames
Emblems & badges
Composition from International Typographic Style: Modular grid
Dynamic asymmetry

Egyptian Cigarette Packaging avoids dynamic asymmetry: this is where the two pull against each other, which is the point of the contrast.
Surface from Egyptian Cigarette Packaging: Flat

The type

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

Display · Egyptian Cigarette Packaging

Public

Bungee Shade, standing in for Shaded, outlined and spurred serif capitals for the maker's name ('M. MELACHRINO & Co.')

Text · International Typographic Style

A post-war refinement of the New Typography in which the mathematical grid, objective photography and neo-grotesque sans-serifs were used to communicate with clarity and neutrality. Taught at the Basel and Zurich schools, it became the default language of international corporate and institutional communication.

Inter; International Typographic Style used Akzidenz-Grotesk and Helvetica

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from International Typographic Style, with a counter-accent from Egyptian Cigarette Packaging. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Egyptian Cigarette Packaging (Cairo Tobacco Houses) International Typographic Style

#f2f0e9 ground · 36%
#111111 ink · 14%
#e1251b accent · 18%
#1f4e9c accent · 14%
#c9a23f accent · 10%
#7a7a7a accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f2f0e9;
  --ink: #111111;
  --accent-1: #e1251b;
  --accent-2: #1f4e9c;
  --accent-3: #c9a23f;
  --accent-4: #7a7a7a;
  --font-display: "Bungee Shade", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Inter", sans-serif;
}

Use it with care

Egyptian Cigarette Packaging (Cairo Tobacco Houses): These boxes sold an Orientalist fantasy of Egypt to Western smokers: the turbaned pipe smoker and the jewelled odalisque are stereotypes, and pharaonic gods and statues were turned into trade marks, so do not reuse them as neutral 'Egyptian' decoration or as a picture of Egyptian life. The crescent and star (an Ottoman and Egyptian state emblem, now widely read as a sign of Islam) and the Arabic inscriptions are state and religious signs, not ornament: do not scatter them or fake Arabic lettering as exotic texture. Tobacco branding is now restricted by advertising bans and plain-packaging laws in many countries, so do not use the style to make real cigarette packs look attractive, and Camel is a live trade mark: draw new marks rather than copying any brand's crest or name.