Style combination · Pairs well

Kamon × Mongol Bichig Calligraphy

Both reduce a name or a lineage to a symmetric emblem; set a folded bichig word inside a kamon-style monochrome roundel for a seal or mark.

From the research on Mongol Bichig Calligraphy & Ugalz Ornament

Mix them and make something Kamon Mongol Bichig Calligraphy

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Kamon, their arrangement from Kamon, the finish from Mongol Bichig Calligraphy. 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.

Kamon (Japanese Family Crests) Mongol Bichig Calligraphy & Ugalz Ornament

Type from Mongol Bichig Calligraphy: Brush & pen calligraphy
Rotated & vertical setting
Colour from Kamon: Monochrome
Flat fields
Form from Kamon: Pictogram
Emblems & badges
Composition from Kamon: Radial & concentric
Central symmetry
Surface from Mongol Bichig Calligraphy: Flat

The type

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

Display · Mongol Bichig Calligraphy

Public

Kaushan Script; Mongol Bichig Calligraphy used Classical Mongolian (Uyghur-Mongolian) script, ninety letter forms joined vertically by continuous strokes, written with a reed pen until the 18th century and with the brush after it and 'Folded' condensed forms of the script, drawn to fill emblems, logos, coins and stamps, as in the 'Mongol Uls' of the State Seal

Text · Kamon

Japan's family crests: small one-colour emblems that reduce a plant, animal, tool or pattern to a flat silhouette, mirrored or repeated around a centre, often ringed and drawn with compass and brush. Begun on Heian court carriages and spread to samurai and all of society, mon are usually inherited, granted or freely chosen rather than designed, varied in small codified ways for branch families, and placed in fixed positions on formal kimono, shop curtains, lacquer and banners. Covers the formal crest (jōmon), not the decorative coloured kaga-mon or pictorial date-mon and share-mon.

Shippori Mincho; Kamon used Kago-moji, the thick, squared Edo lettering often reversed out in white, for names set beside a crest and Brush-written kaisho (regular-script) kanji for shop names and family names on curtains and lanterns

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Kamon, with a counter-accent from Mongol Bichig Calligraphy. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Kamon (Japanese Family Crests) Mongol Bichig Calligraphy & Ugalz Ornament

#f3efe6 ground · 36%
#121212 ink · 14%
#b38f3d accent · 18%
#e0a526 accent · 14%
#8c2d25 accent · 10%
#c4272f accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f3efe6;
  --ink: #121212;
  --accent-1: #b38f3d;
  --accent-2: #e0a526;
  --accent-3: #8c2d25;
  --accent-4: #c4272f;
  --font-display: "Kaushan Script", cursive;
  --font-text: "Shippori Mincho", serif;
}

Use it with care

Kamon (Japanese Family Crests): Mon are inherited marks of particular families, shrines, temples and institutions. Only the imperial chrysanthemum is named in Japanese law: the Trademark Act (art. 4(1)(i)) bars registering it or anything like it. The government's paulownia, though the official emblem of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, was never given the same legal restrictions, while famous crests registered as trademarks, such as Mitsubishi's three diamonds, are protected as marks. Do not use the chrysanthemum, the government paulownia, or any identifiable family's, shrine's or temple's crest as decoration or as a brand. Imperial emblems can also recall Japan's wartime empire for audiences in Korea and China. The manji (卍), a standard crest (the Hachisuka clan; the temple crest of Sensō-ji), is read in the West as the Nazi swastika: avoid it outside a Japanese context that explains it. Draw new crests by the tradition's rules instead of borrowing real ones, and commission or credit working monsho uwaeshi, who still draw and paint crests by hand.

Mongol Bichig Calligraphy & Ugalz Ornament: Mongol bichig is the living script of Mongols in Mongolia and in Inner Mongolia, where in 2020 China moved three school subjects in Mongolian-medium schools into Mandarin, met by protests and school boycotts; UNESCO lists Mongolian calligraphy as heritage in need of urgent safeguarding, and at inscription in 2013 only three scholars were training just over twenty young calligraphers. Have every word written or checked by a fluent reader or calligrapher: letters change shape by position, so pseudo-script, mirrored text, text rotated the wrong way and letters broken up as texture read as nonsense. The Soyombo is a state symbol on the flag and emblem, and Mongolia regulates the use of its state symbols by law (Constitution, Article 12(7)): the Law on State Symbols (1994) forbids disparaging them and imitating the State Seal. The endless knot, wishing jewel and lotus are Buddhist auspicious signs; keep them and the state symbols out of trivial or demeaning uses. The khas (swastika) is an old Mongolian sign of good fortune but reads as the Nazi swastika to many audiences, so avoid it outside a context that explains it, and commission or credit Mongolian calligraphers and craftspeople rather than tracing their work.