Stylogeny combining Japanese Postwar Modernism × Showa and Heisei Retro Revival

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Style combination · Contrasts

Japanese Postwar Modernism × Showa and Heisei Retro Revival

Its restrained emblem-and-grid discipline opposes the cluttered, warm vernacular of retro packaging.

From the research on Showa and Heisei Retro Revival (Japanese Packaging and Kissaten Graphics)

Mix them and make something Japanese Postwar Modernism Showa and Heisei Retro Revival

MemoryJapanese Postwar × Showa and1950 · 2005
A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Japanese Postwar Modernism, their arrangement from Japanese Postwar Modernism, the finish from Showa and Heisei Retro Revival. Not a real work, and not an image of either style.

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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.

Japanese Postwar Modernism Showa and Heisei Retro Revival (Japanese Packaging and Kissaten Graphics)

Type from Showa and Heisei Retro Revival
Colour from Japanese Postwar Modernism
Form from Japanese Postwar Modernism
Composition from Japanese Postwar Modernism
Surface from Showa and Heisei Retro Revival

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The type

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

Display · Showa and Heisei Retro Revival

Memory

Zen Maru Gothic, standing in for Maru gothic (rounded gothic) display

Text · Japanese Postwar Modernism

Building on the New Typography that Hiromu Hara and the Nippon Kobo circle had absorbed in the 1930s, Japan's postwar graphic designers fused the grid, sans-serif and objective photography of European modernism with indigenous traditions of family crests (kamon), asymmetry and charged emptiness (ma). From the Graphic '55 exhibition and the Nippon Design Center to Yusaku Kamekura's Tokyo 1964 Olympic posters, it produced bold emblematic symbols, luminous flat colour fields and photography of startling precision.

Zen Kaku Gothic New; Japanese Postwar Modernism used Gothic and Mincho

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The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Japanese Postwar Modernism, with a counter-accent from Showa and Heisei Retro Revival. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Japanese Postwar Modernism Showa and Heisei Retro Revival (Japanese Packaging and Kissaten Graphics)

  • #f4f1ea ground · 36%
  • #111111 ink · 14%
  • #d7261e accent · 18%
  • #f2c340 accent · 14%
  • #c8a24a accent · 10%
  • #1d3c78 accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f4f1ea;
  --ink: #111111;
  --accent-1: #d7261e;
  --accent-2: #f2c340;
  --accent-3: #c8a24a;
  --accent-4: #1d3c78;
  --font-display: "Zen Maru Gothic", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Zen Kaku Gothic New", sans-serif;
}

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The two styles

A large red sun sits above and behind a black triangular mountain with a gold tip on an off-white background. Bold black characters reading “太陽” appear in the upper-left corner. 1950–1990 · East Asia Japanese Postwar Modernism Building on the New Typography that Hiromu Hara and the Nippon Kobo circle had absorbed in the 1930s, Japan's postwar graphic designers fused the grid, sans-serif and objective photography of European modernism with indigenous traditions of family crests (kamon), asymmetry and charged emptiness (ma). From the Graphic '55 exhibition and the Nippon Design Center to Yusaku Kamekura's Tokyo 1964 Olympic posters, it produced bold emblematic symbols, luminous flat colour fields and photography of startling precision. A vintage-style illustrated poster shows a tall glass of green soda with ice, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and a red cherry on a floral plate. Green leaves and cream flowers frame the scene, with red Japanese lettering above and a yellow checked tabletop below. 2005–present · East Asia Showa and Heisei Retro Revival (Japanese Packaging and Kissaten Graphics) A contemporary Japanese revival of mid-to-late twentieth-century everyday graphics: kissaten cafe menus and tableware, dagashi sweet packaging, reissued products and calendars. It reuses hand-lettered katakana, rounded display type, floral patterns and flat spot-colour figures, worn with faded ink, halftone and misregistration, to evoke warm, remembered ordinary life. Unlike newtro (Korean heritage-brand reissues), it is led by Japanese katakana lettering, kissaten props and a pale pastel spot-colour palette.

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