Style combination · Pairs well

Instagram Slideshow Activism × Isotype Pictorial Statistics

Turn a slide of bullet-point statistics into rows of counted pictograms so the numbers are shown, not just asserted, without losing the friendly flat look.

From the research on Instagram Slideshow Activism (Social-Justice Infographics)

Mix them and make something Instagram Slideshow Activism Isotype Pictorial Statistics

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Isotype Pictorial Statistics, their arrangement from Instagram Slideshow Activism, the finish from Isotype Pictorial Statistics. 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.

Instagram Slideshow Activism (Social-Justice Infographics) Isotype Pictorial Statistics

Type from Instagram Slideshow Activism: Type as image
Humanist & Garalde serif
Colour from Instagram Slideshow Activism: Pastel
Flat fields
Form from Isotype Pictorial Statistics: Pictogram
Stylised figuration
Composition from Instagram Slideshow Activism: Sequential narrative
Full bleed
Surface from Isotype Pictorial Statistics: Flat

The type

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

Display · Instagram Slideshow Activism

Together

DM Serif Display; Instagram Slideshow Activism used Large display serifs on the title card and Ovo (Nicole Fally, Sorkin Type, 2011), a medium-contrast serif with soft serifs and old-style letter widths

Text · Isotype Pictorial Statistics

A method of visual education developed by Otto Neurath, Marie Neurath (Reidemeister) and Gerd Arntz in Red Vienna from 1925, which turns statistics into rows of identical pictograms where a greater quantity is shown by more signs, never by bigger ones. Continued in The Hague and Oxford until 1971, its standardised symbols, flat colours and sans-serif captions laid the foundations of modern information graphics and pictogram systems.

Jost; Isotype Pictorial Statistics used Futura and Gerd Arntz's linocut pictogram set (c. 4,000 signs), used like a fount of picture-type

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Instagram Slideshow Activism, with a counter-accent from Isotype Pictorial Statistics. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Instagram Slideshow Activism (Social-Justice Infographics) Isotype Pictorial Statistics

#fdf6ec ground · 36%
#1e1e1e ink · 14%
#c9962c accent · 18%
#c8372d accent · 14%
#b9d7ee accent · 10%
#2c5aa0 accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #fdf6ec;
  --ink: #1e1e1e;
  --accent-1: #c9962c;
  --accent-2: #c8372d;
  --accent-3: #b9d7ee;
  --accent-4: #2c5aa0;
  --font-display: "DM Serif Display", serif;
  --font-text: "Jost", sans-serif;
}

Use it with care

Instagram Slideshow Activism (Social-Justice Infographics): The look grew out of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, and critics such as the sociologist Eve Ewing warned that slides flatten complex problems and summarise the work of often Black authors without credit: name and link every source, credit the people whose work you condense, and check claims before posting. Do not turn the names and faces of people killed by police into decorative or shareable motifs; Vox quotes a warning that the look can 'commodify tragedy and obfuscate revolutionary messages' and notes that Breonna Taylor's death 'devolved into a meme'. Do not dress brand marketing in the look to perform allyship without action, and remember that its friendly packaging works for any message, including an army's messaging in an armed conflict (the IDF slideshow of May 2021) and misinformation, which text inside images makes hard to moderate. Write the slide text into the caption or alt text so screen-reader users can follow it.