Style combination · Contrasts

Hebrew Poster Lettering × Socialist Realist Propaganda Poster

Both idealise the worker, the soldier and the pioneer, but the Tel Aviv posters sell juice and cigarettes beside national campaigns and keep a lighter, airbrushed commercial finish; compare them when a heroic figure must also feel approachable.

From the research on Hebrew Poster Lettering & Early Israeli State Design

Mix them and make something Hebrew Poster Lettering Socialist Realist Propaganda Poster

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Socialist Realist Propaganda Poster, their arrangement from Hebrew Poster Lettering, the finish from Hebrew Poster Lettering. 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.

Hebrew Poster Lettering & Early Israeli State Design Socialist Realist Propaganda Poster

Type from Hebrew Poster Lettering: Hand-lettering
Type as image
Colour from Socialist Realist Propaganda Poster: Full polychrome
Gradients
Form from Socialist Realist Propaganda Poster: Naturalistic depiction
Stylised figuration
Composition from Hebrew Poster Lettering: Single focal point
Isolated object
Surface from Hebrew Poster Lettering: Painterly brushwork
Flat

The type

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

Display · Hebrew Poster Lettering

Atlas

Reem Kufi; Hebrew Poster Lettering used Hand-drawn Hebrew block letters, heavy and square, drawn for each poster and label; Franz Krausz kept one consistent letter style, while the Shamir brothers fitted the lettering to each subject and Brush-written and cursive Hebrew lettering for slogans

Text · Socialist Realist Propaganda Poster

The official art doctrine of the Soviet Union from 1932, later exported across the socialist world, which replaced avant-garde experiment with legible, heroic realism 'national in form, socialist in content'. Its posters show idealised workers, soldiers and leaders on rising diagonals and low horizons, bathed in red, with bold slogans promising a radiant future; in China they merged with New Year print and calendar-poster conventions.

Zen Kaku Gothic New; Socialist Realist Propaganda Poster used Hand-drawn Cyrillic poster capitals in condensed grotesque and slab forms and Songti and Heiti display characters

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Socialist Realist Propaganda Poster, with a counter-accent from Hebrew Poster Lettering. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Hebrew Poster Lettering & Early Israeli State Design Socialist Realist Propaganda Poster

#f3e8d2 ground · 36%
#1d1d1b ink · 14%
#f2c230 accent · 18%
#0038b8 accent · 14%
#c8102e accent · 10%
#e0952e accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f3e8d2;
  --ink: #1d1d1b;
  --accent-1: #f2c230;
  --accent-2: #0038b8;
  --accent-3: #c8102e;
  --accent-4: #e0952e;
  --font-display: "Reem Kufi", cursive;
  --font-text: "Zen Kaku Gothic New", sans-serif;
}

Use it with care

Hebrew Poster Lettering & Early Israeli State Design: This is the graphic language of the Zionist movement and the new Israeli state in a land shared with Palestinian Arabs: its pioneer, settlement and tourism imagery, 'Visit Palestine' (1936) among it, served the project of Jewish immigration and statehood in the years that led to the displacement of Palestinians in 1948, the Nakba, so present it as political history rather than a neutral regional or 'Holy Land' look, and think twice before reusing it to brand places whose ownership is contested. 'Visit Palestine' is built around the Dome of the Rock, a Muslim shrine, and since David Tartakover reissued it with Krausz's permission in 1995 it has hung in Palestinian homes, shops and Palestinian Authority offices and been reworked by Palestinian artists such as Amer Shomali (2009): it now belongs to two conflicting national memories, so do not use it, or pastiches of it, as a neutral Israeli or Palestinian brand image. Its state symbols are still in force: Israel's Flag and Emblem Law of 1949 (since 2004 the Flag, Emblem and National Anthem Law) requires a permit from the Interior Ministry to produce or use the emblem, so do not adapt it or pass new work off as official. The menorah, the Shema and Torah-scroll calligraphy are also Jewish sacred forms: have any Hebrew checked by a fluent reader, and do not distort scripture or use the names of God as decoration.