Style combination · Contrasts

Matatu × International Typographic Style

Neutral grids and white space against a vehicle with no empty panel, airbrushed faces and a name in chrome-shaded capitals.

From the research on Matatu & Nganya Art

Mix them and make something Matatu International Typographic Style

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Matatu, their arrangement from Matatu, the finish from Matatu. 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.

Matatu & Nganya Art International Typographic Style

Type from International Typographic Style: Grotesque & neo-grotesque
Type as image
Colour from International Typographic Style: Limited spot colours
Flat fields
Form from Matatu: Naturalistic depiction
Emblems & badges
Composition from Matatu: Full bleed
Extreme scale contrast
Surface from Matatu: Painterly brushwork
Gloss & highlights

The type

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

Display · International Typographic Style

Grid

Inter Tight, standing in for Akzidenz-Grotesk

Text · Matatu

The commissioned livery of Kenya's privately owned minibus taxis, at its most elaborate the Nairobi nganya. Garage painters spray and airbrush near-photographic portraits of rappers, footballers, politicians and film heroes across the sides and rear window. They add a vehicle name and hip-hop catchphrases in shaded display capitals, brand logos and club crests in paint or computer-cut stickers. LEDs, video screens and a loud sound system complete it, so the bus wins young passengers. Banned under the 2004 Michuki rules, it returned openly in the mid-2010s.

Oswald; Matatu used Airbrushed 3D graffiti capitals and Chrome-shaded outlined block capitals

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from International Typographic Style, with a counter-accent from Matatu. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Matatu & Nganya Art International Typographic Style

#f2f0e9 ground · 36%
#111111 ink · 14%
#e1251b accent · 18%
#1f6bff accent · 14%
#1f4e9c accent · 10%
#ff2a8a accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f2f0e9;
  --ink: #111111;
  --accent-1: #e1251b;
  --accent-2: #1f6bff;
  --accent-3: #1f4e9c;
  --accent-4: #ff2a8a;
  --font-display: "Inter Tight", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Oswald", sans-serif;
}

Use it with care

Matatu & Nganya Art: Matatu art is the living trade of named Kenyan garage painters and the culture of the young crews and passengers who ride the routes, so commission and credit Kenyan painters rather than lifting a particular vehicle's design, name or a painter's signature. Its portraits show real people (musicians, athletes, politicians), so do not reproduce a real person's likeness or a brand's logo in commercial work without rights, and never present a generated image as a real nganya. Kenya's police chief has said he loves art "but not one that celebrates gangsters or violence", and the Matatu Owners Association bars insulting, inciting, pornographic, alcohol and violence content: do not use it as shorthand for lawlessness or as a generic "chaotic African bus" backdrop.