Style combination · Pairs well

Islamic Geometric × Iranian Modernist Graphic Design

Set one calligraphic word or a fragment of girih against flat colour and a modernist grid instead of reproducing whole tile panels.

From the research on Islamic Geometric & Calligraphic Tradition

Use girih geometry as the hidden construction grid for stretched and interlocked calligraphic letters.

From the research on Iranian Modernist Graphic Design

Mix them and make something Islamic Geometric Iranian Modernist Graphic Design

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Islamic Geometric, their arrangement from Islamic Geometric, the finish from Islamic Geometric. 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.

Islamic Geometric & Calligraphic Tradition Iranian Modernist Graphic Design

Type from Iranian Modernist Graphic Design: Brush & pen calligraphy
Hand-lettering
Colour from Iranian Modernist Graphic Design: Limited spot colours
Earth & mineral
Form from Islamic Geometric: Non-representational
Geometric tessellation
Composition from Islamic Geometric: All-over field
Central symmetry
Surface from Islamic Geometric: Flat

The type

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

Display · Iranian Modernist Graphic Design

Calm

Rakkas, standing in for Nastaʿlīq

Text · Islamic Geometric

A visual system shared across the Islamic world in which proportioned calligraphy, compass-and-straightedge geometry and the vegetal arabesque carry meaning and beauty in place of figurative imagery. Star-and-polygon tilings repeat across whole surfaces as if continuing beyond the frame, while Kufic, Thuluth and Naskh inscriptions give hierarchy to buildings, manuscripts and objects.

Reem Kufi; Islamic Geometric used Kufic and Thuluth

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Iranian Modernist Graphic Design, with a counter-accent from Islamic Geometric. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Islamic Geometric & Calligraphic Tradition Iranian Modernist Graphic Design

#efe6d2 ground · 36%
#1a1a1a ink · 14%
#c49a3a accent · 18%
#b0322a accent · 14%
#1d6f8a accent · 10%
#2a9d9b accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #efe6d2;
  --ink: #1a1a1a;
  --accent-1: #c49a3a;
  --accent-2: #b0322a;
  --accent-3: #1d6f8a;
  --accent-4: #2a9d9b;
  --font-display: "Rakkas", cursive;
  --font-text: "Reem Kufi", cursive;
}

Use it with care

Islamic Geometric & Calligraphic Tradition: Qur'anic verses, the names of God and the Prophet and other sacred phrases must not be cropped, distorted, mirrored, used as texture or printed on floors, footwear or throwaway packaging; have any Arabic-script text read and approved by a fluent reader or calligrapher. Abstract geometric pattern is far less sensitive than script, but credit the traditions and makers it comes from.

The two styles

An all-over geometric pattern combines blue star-shaped rosettes, turquoise leafy flourishes, and small rust-red diamonds on a near-black ground. Cream and gold interlacing bands connect and outline the repeating motifs.

c. 690–present · Middle East & North Africa, South Asia, Southern Europe Islamic Geometric & Calligraphic Tradition A visual system shared across the Islamic world in which proportioned calligraphy, compass-and-straightedge geometry and the vegetal arabesque carry meaning and beauty in place of figurative imagery. Star-and-polygon tilings repeat across whole surfaces as if continuing beyond the frame, while Kufic, Thuluth and Naskh inscriptions give hierarchy to buildings, manuscripts and objects.

Large black Persian calligraphy fills a cream, lightly textured poster, with a golden three-leaf sprout rising in front of a red sun. A blue, rippling reflection tapers downward beneath the lettering.

1960–present · Middle East & North Africa Iranian Modernist Graphic Design Iranian graphic design came of age in the 1960s and 1970s. Morteza Momayez, Farshid Mesghali, Ghobad Shiva and Guity Novin worked for magazines, the Kanoon children's institute and film and arts festivals, and built a modern visual language from Persian calligraphy, miniature and folk imagery and the conceptual poster of the Polish school. From the 1990s Reza Abedini's generation made Persian letterforms themselves into dense, architectural poster compositions.

More combinations

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Every style combination