Stylogeny combining Kawaii Design × Taishō Roman

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Style combination · Pairs well

Kawaii Design × Taishō Roman

Nakahara Jun'ichi's large-eyed girls link the two; give kawaii characters Taishō's muted palette and wistful mood for an older, nostalgic audience.

From the research on Taishō Roman & Lyrical Illustration

Mix them and make something Kawaii Design Taishō Roman

ReverieKawaii Design × Taishō Roman1970 · 1910
A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Kawaii Design, their arrangement from Taishō Roman, the finish from Taishō Roman. 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.

Kawaii Design Taishō Roman & Lyrical Illustration

Type from Kawaii Design
Colour from Kawaii Design
Form from Kawaii Design
Composition from Taishō Roman
Surface from Taishō Roman

02

The type

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

Display · Kawaii Design

Reverie

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

Text · Taishō Roman

The lyrical illustration (jojōga) of late-Meiji to early-Shōwa Japan, led by Takehisa Yumeji: willowy, large-eyed women in kimono drawn with an Art Nouveau contour, set among camellias and kimono patterns and lettered by hand. Made for sheet-music covers, girls' magazines, postcards and paper goods, it is intimate and melancholic rather than ornamental, and its eyes and moods passed through Nakahara Jun'ichi into shōjo manga.

Shippori Mincho; Taishō Roman used Hand-drawn title lettering mixing kanji, kana and Latin and Brush-written kana for lyric poems

03

The colours

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

Kawaii Design Taishō Roman & Lyrical Illustration

  • #fff4a3 ground · 36%
  • #141414 ink · 14%
  • #e60033 accent · 18%
  • #b8333a accent · 14%
  • #a8d8ff accent · 10%
  • #c9a548 accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #fff4a3;
  --ink: #141414;
  --accent-1: #e60033;
  --accent-2: #b8333a;
  --accent-3: #a8d8ff;
  --accent-4: #c9a548;
  --font-display: "Zen Maru Gothic", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Shippori Mincho", serif;
}

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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. 1910–1940 · East Asia Taishō Roman & Lyrical Illustration The lyrical illustration (jojōga) of late-Meiji to early-Shōwa Japan, led by Takehisa Yumeji: willowy, large-eyed women in kimono drawn with an Art Nouveau contour, set among camellias and kimono patterns and lettered by hand. Made for sheet-music covers, girls' magazines, postcards and paper goods, it is intimate and melancholic rather than ornamental, and its eyes and moods passed through Nakahara Jun'ichi into shōjo manga.

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More combinations

With Kawaii Design

All 25 combinations with Kawaii Design

With Taishō Roman

All 11 combinations with Taishō Roman

Every style combination