Stylogeny combining Fluxus Graphics × International Typographic Style

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Style combination · Contrasts

Fluxus Graphics × International Typographic Style

Both rely on a sans and a rectilinear grid, but Swiss design spends white space where Maciunas abolished margins and mixed many faces within one name; set the two side by side to decide whether order should breathe or fill.

From the research on Fluxus Graphics (Maciunas)

Mix them and make something Fluxus Graphics International Typographic Style

IndexFluxus Graphics × International Typographic
A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Fluxus Graphics, their arrangement from International Typographic Style, the finish from Fluxus Graphics. 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.

Fluxus Graphics (Maciunas) International Typographic Style

Type from Fluxus Graphics

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
Form from Fluxus Graphics
Composition from International Typographic Style
Surface from Fluxus Graphics

02

The type

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

Display · Fluxus Graphics

Index

Anton, standing in for IBM Executive condensed sans typewriter (nearly all running text for about eight years, published straight from the machine and enlarged by photostat; the machine's owners, La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela, say Maciunas had some letters custom-replaced with broader ones; after 1968 a newer IBM with changeable faces added bold and italic, still sans serif)

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

03

The colours

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

Fluxus Graphics (Maciunas) International Typographic Style

  • #f2f0e9 ground · 36%
  • #111111 ink · 14%
  • #e1251b accent · 18%
  • #cbd04f accent · 14%
  • #1f4e9c accent · 10%
  • #b3905f accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f2f0e9;
  --ink: #111111;
  --accent-1: #e1251b;
  --accent-2: #cbd04f;
  --accent-3: #1f4e9c;
  --accent-4: #b3905f;
  --font-display: "Anton", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Inter", sans-serif;
}

04

The two styles

A distressed black, cream, mustard and yellow poster features enormous condensed lettering reading “SILENT LUNCH” surrounded by a tightly packed grid of photographs, diagrams and symbols. Repeated images show a man eating, chairs, bowls and spoons, alongside a clock, arrows, numbered schedules and a crossed-out speech bubble. 1962–1978 · North America, Central Europe, Western Europe Fluxus Graphics (Maciunas) The house graphics George Maciunas made from 1962 until his death in 1978 for Fluxus, a network of artists who staged events and sold cheap multiples. Running text came straight off an IBM Executive typewriter in one condensed sans, enlarged by photostat. Headlines, credits and puzzle monograms were pressed from dry-transfer letters in mismatched faces and packed into tight rectilinear blocks running to the edge of the sheet, printed almost always in black alone on kraft or coloured stock beside old engravings borrowed from a public picture library. The words “Urban Systems” appear in large black and red lettering at the upper left of an off-white cover. Tall blue, black and grey rectangular blocks rise from the bottom, with fine vertical dividing lines and a red circle at the upper right. 1950–1975 · Central Europe 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.

05

More combinations

With Fluxus Graphics

With International Typographic Style

All 97 combinations with International Typographic Style

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