Stylogeny combining Kanoon Children's Book Illustration × Polish Information Picture Book

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Style combination · Contrasts

Kanoon Children's Book Illustration × Polish Information Picture Book

Dense, diagrammatic and all-over (and dated 2008 onward) where Kanoon is lyrical and narrative.

From the research on Kanoon Children's Book Illustration (Iran, 1965 to 1979)

Mix them and make something Kanoon Children's Book Illustration Polish Information Picture Book

WOWKanoon Children's × Polish Information
A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Kanoon Children's Book Illustration, their arrangement from Polish Information Picture Book, the finish from Kanoon Children's Book Illustration. 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.

Kanoon Children's Book Illustration (Iran, 1965 to 1979) Polish Information Picture Book (Dwie Siostry)

Type from Polish Information Picture Book
Colour from Kanoon Children's Book Illustration
Form from Kanoon Children's Book Illustration
Composition from Polish Information Picture Book
Surface from Kanoon Children's Book Illustration

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The type

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

Display · Polish Information Picture Book

Wow

Londrina Solid; Polish Information Picture Book used Mrs White and Cartographer

Text · Kanoon Children's Book Illustration

Picture books made at Tehran's Kanoon institute by Farshid Mesghali, Ali Akbar Sadeghi and others: simplified, flat-colour, graphic narrative art drawing on Iranian visual culture, within the Tehran modernist school (hence persian-modernism). Context: state-court-linked patronage; The Little Black Fish was read as political allegory and banned before 1979; legacy contested since. Persian lettering is Iranian hands' work, not a motif to borrow.

Archivo; Kanoon Children's Book Illustration used Hand-drawn Persian lettering, often integral to the image and Hand-lettered title forms

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The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Kanoon Children's Book Illustration, with a counter-accent from Polish Information Picture Book. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Kanoon Children's Book Illustration (Iran, 1965 to 1979) Polish Information Picture Book (Dwie Siostry)

  • #f3e7cc ground · 36%
  • #1b1b1b ink · 14%
  • #e8b32e accent · 18%
  • #d6402b accent · 14%
  • #e0876a accent · 10%
  • #2a7f8e accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f3e7cc;
  --ink: #1b1b1b;
  --accent-1: #e8b32e;
  --accent-2: #d6402b;
  --accent-3: #e0876a;
  --accent-4: #2a7f8e;
  --font-display: "Londrina Solid", cursive;
  --font-text: "Archivo", sans-serif;
}

Use it with care

Polish Information Picture Book (Dwie Siostry): The leading authors are living, named illustrators whose books are in copyright, so draw your own figures, maps and lettering instead of asking an image model for the Mizielińskis', Bajtlik's or Karski's hand, and never present a generated spread as a page from Mapy, Mamoko or another Dwie Siostry book. Picture atlases sum up whole countries in a few small figures: show people through what they do, make and celebrate, ask people from a country to check its spread, and avoid reducing a culture to costume, cliché or skin colour.

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The two styles

An illustrated poster shows a child reaching toward a large, brightly feathered bird, surrounded by smaller panels showing the child finding an egg, a bird hatching, and the bird flying. Flowers, leafy branches, paired birds and black horned animals form an ornate border around the cream, red, yellow, green and teal composition. 1965–1979 · Middle East & North Africa Kanoon Children's Book Illustration (Iran, 1965 to 1979) Picture books made at Tehran's Kanoon institute by Farshid Mesghali, Ali Akbar Sadeghi and others: simplified, flat-colour, graphic narrative art drawing on Iranian visual culture, within the Tehran modernist school (hence persian-modernism). Context: state-court-linked patronage; The Little Black Fish was read as political allegory and banned before 1979; legacy contested since. Persian lettering is Iranian hands' work, not a motif to borrow. A densely illustrated nature poster headed “NA SZLAK” shows people hiking, cycling, camping, paddling, swimming and exploring a cave among forests, mountains, lakes and wildlife. Small bordered identification charts feature birds, plants, fish, insects, animal tracks and outdoor equipment. 2008–present · Eastern Europe Polish Information Picture Book (Dwie Siostry) Mostly large-format information picture books made since 2008 by the Warsaw publisher Dwie Siostry with young illustrators led by Aleksandra and Daniel Mizieliński, graduates of the city's Academy of Fine Arts: atlases, cross-sections, labyrinths, activity books and wordless seek-and-find board books. Hundreds of small figures in thin line and flat colour fill the page, often a pale one, in a seemingly naive, comic manner, every picture carrying a fact. Seek-and-find is older (the German Wimmelbuch dates from the late 1960s); what sets these apart is their information design and own lettering.

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More combinations

With Kanoon Children's Book Illustration

With Polish Information Picture Book

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