Stylogeny combining Japonisme × Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints

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Style combination · Pairs well

Japonisme × Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints

Its direct European heir: combine ukiyo-e cropping and flat colour with Western display lettering for a Japonisme poster.

From the research on Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints

Mix them and make something Japonisme Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints

AmourJaponisme × Ukiyo-e Woodblock1860 · 1670
A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Japonisme, their arrangement from Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints, the finish from Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints. 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.

Japonisme Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints

Type from Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints
Colour from Japonisme
Form from Japonisme
Composition from Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints
Surface from Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints

02

The type

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

Display · Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints

Amour

Shippori Mincho, standing in for Brush-written kana and kanji titles (gyōsho and sōsho hands)

Text · Japonisme

The Western absorption of Japanese woodblock prints, textiles and crafts after Japan reopened to trade in the 1850s. Artists and designers borrowed ukiyo-e's flat colour, bold contours, off-centre and cropped compositions, high viewpoints and crest-like emblems; these devices dissolved academic perspective and set the visual grammar of the modern poster and of Art Nouveau.

Hanken Grotesk; Japonisme used Auriol and Brush-drawn display lettering imitating Japanese calligraphy

03

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Japonisme, with a counter-accent from Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Japonisme Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints

  • #f1e6cf ground · 36%
  • #22201e ink · 14%
  • #c8452c accent · 18%
  • #d9b26f accent · 14%
  • #2b4c7e accent · 10%
  • #8fa58a accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f1e6cf;
  --ink: #22201e;
  --accent-1: #c8452c;
  --accent-2: #d9b26f;
  --accent-3: #2b4c7e;
  --accent-4: #8fa58a;
  --font-display: "Shippori Mincho", serif;
  --font-text: "Hanken Grotesk", sans-serif;
}

04

The two styles

A woman in a blue floral kimono with an orange sash stands at a wooden railing overlooking a winding river, lily pads, distant hills and Japanese-style buildings. Red flowering branches hang overhead, and “RIVIÈRE” appears across the upper right. 1860–1910 · Western Europe, North America, Central Europe Japonisme The Western absorption of Japanese woodblock prints, textiles and crafts after Japan reopened to trade in the 1850s. Artists and designers borrowed ukiyo-e's flat colour, bold contours, off-centre and cropped compositions, high viewpoints and crest-like emblems; these devices dissolved academic perspective and set the visual grammar of the modern poster and of Art Nouveau. An enormous hawk with raised wings and extended talons swoops over a rough sea with a small sailboat and rocky islands. Pine-covered cliffs and a Japanese-style building frame the right side, with a mountain, red sun and vertical Japanese lettering in the background. 1670–1900 · East Asia Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints Mass-produced Edo-period woodblock prints of actors, courtesans, legends and landscapes, designed by an artist, cut and printed by specialist craftsmen and sold cheaply by commercial publishers. Flat colour blocks inside a carved keyline, bold cropping, high or oblique viewpoints and diagonal compositions, with titles in small cartouches, later handed Europe a new model for the poster.

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More combinations

With Japonisme

All 10 combinations with Japonisme

With Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints

All 15 combinations with Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints

Every style combination