Stylogeny combining Kawaii Design × Showa and Heisei Retro Revival

Try

Style combination · Pairs well

Kawaii Design × Showa and Heisei Retro Revival

Its rounded mascots and pastel softness supply the friendly figure at the centre of a retro wrapper.

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

Mix them and make something Kawaii Design Showa and Heisei Retro Revival

WowKawaii Design × Showa and1970 · 2005
A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Kawaii Design, their arrangement from Kawaii Design, the finish from Showa and Heisei Retro Revival. Not a real work, and not an image of either style.

01

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.

Kawaii Design Showa and Heisei Retro Revival (Japanese Packaging and Kissaten Graphics)

Type from Kawaii Design
Colour from Showa and Heisei Retro Revival
Form from Kawaii Design
Composition from Kawaii Design
Surface from Showa and Heisei Retro Revival

02

The type

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

Display · Kawaii Design

Wow

Zen Maru Gothic, standing in for Maru-ji (rounded teenage handwriting, 1970s)

Text · Kawaii Design

Japan's culture of cuteness, which grew from 1970s teenage rounded handwriting and shōjo fancy goods into a global design language through Sanrio, character merchandise and emoji. Its decisions are simple and consistent: rounded forms, oversized heads and minimal faces, pastel or candy colour in flat fields, scattered hearts and sparkles, and friendly rounded type.

Zen Maru Gothic; Kawaii Design used Maru-ji and Maru Gothic rounded type

03

The colours

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

Kawaii Design Showa and Heisei Retro Revival (Japanese Packaging and Kissaten Graphics)

  • #f4ead2 ground · 36%
  • #3a2a22 ink · 14%
  • #f2c340 accent · 18%
  • #e60033 accent · 14%
  • #d6323a accent · 10%
  • #a8d8ff accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f4ead2;
  --ink: #3a2a22;
  --accent-1: #f2c340;
  --accent-2: #e60033;
  --accent-3: #d6323a;
  --accent-4: #a8d8ff;
  --font-display: "Zen Maru Gothic", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Zen Maru Gothic", sans-serif;
}

04

The two styles

A pastel homepage titled “Cloudy Days” features smiling clouds, a rabbit, a cat, and a rainbow surrounded by hearts, stars, and colorful squiggles. A rounded navigation bar sits above the illustration, with four illustrated pastel tiles across the bottom. 1970–present · East Asia Kawaii Design Japan's culture of cuteness, which grew from 1970s teenage rounded handwriting and shōjo fancy goods into a global design language through Sanrio, character merchandise and emoji. Its decisions are simple and consistent: rounded forms, oversized heads and minimal faces, pastel or candy colour in flat fields, scattered hearts and sparkles, and friendly rounded type. 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.

05

More combinations

With Kawaii Design

All 25 combinations with Kawaii Design

With Showa and Heisei Retro Revival

Every style combination