Stylogeny combining Memphis Design × Milanese Industrial Modernism

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Style combination · Contrasts

Memphis Design × Milanese Industrial Modernism

Milan's own later rebellion against functional wit; set Memphis's ornamental irony against this clean industrial optimism for a deliberate generational clash.

From the research on Milanese Industrial Modernism (Olivetti, Pirelli, Studio Boggeri)

Mix them and make something Memphis Design Milanese Industrial Modernism

helloMemphis Design × Milanese Industrial
A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Memphis Design, their arrangement from Milanese Industrial Modernism, the finish from Milanese Industrial Modernism. 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.

Memphis Design Milanese Industrial Modernism (Olivetti, Pirelli, Studio Boggeri)

Type from Milanese Industrial Modernism
Colour from Memphis Design
Form from Memphis Design
Composition from Milanese Industrial Modernism
Surface from Milanese Industrial Modernism

02

The type

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

Display · Milanese Industrial Modernism

Hello

Inter Tight, standing in for Akzidenz-Grotesk

Text · Memphis Design

The Milan collective founded by Ettore Sottsass, whose furniture, laminates and objects (first shown in September 1981) became a graphic language of their own. Clashing colours, speckles, squiggles, zigzags and primitive geometric shapes were combined with deliberate bad taste, mocking modernist good form while quoting 1950s kitsch, Pop and Art Deco.

Jost; Memphis Design used Futura and ITC Avant Garde Gothic

03

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Memphis Design, with a counter-accent from Milanese Industrial Modernism. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Memphis Design Milanese Industrial Modernism (Olivetti, Pirelli, Studio Boggeri)

  • #ffd23f ground · 36%
  • #111111 ink · 14%
  • #ff5a36 accent · 18%
  • #f0b41c accent · 14%
  • #2ec4b6 accent · 10%
  • #2a52be accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #ffd23f;
  --ink: #111111;
  --accent-1: #ff5a36;
  --accent-2: #f0b41c;
  --accent-3: #2ec4b6;
  --accent-4: #2a52be;
  --font-display: "Inter Tight", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Jost", sans-serif;
}

04

The two styles

A dense geometric pattern on a pink background combines turquoise polka-dot triangles, yellow squares with black dashes, blue circles with yellow sprinkles, orange-red zigzags, and scattered squiggles and small shapes. Bold black offset shapes give many motifs a shadowed, layered appearance. 1981–1988 · Southern Europe Memphis Design The Milan collective founded by Ettore Sottsass, whose furniture, laminates and objects (first shown in September 1981) became a graphic language of their own. Clashing colours, speckles, squiggles, zigzags and primitive geometric shapes were combined with deliberate bad taste, mocking modernist good form while quoting 1950s kitsch, Pop and Art Deco. An abstract geometric print with the words “più avanti” at upper left, a large yellow circle at upper right, and blue circles increasing in size from left to right. Red-orange, magenta, blue, and black wedges converge near the lower-left edge against an off-white background. 1933–1975 · Southern Europe Milanese Industrial Modernism (Olivetti, Pirelli, Studio Boggeri) The Milan-centred school that married Bauhaus- and Swiss-trained discipline with Italian painterly wit for enlightened industrial patrons such as Olivetti, Pirelli and La Rinascente. Studio Boggeri, Giovanni Pintori, Max Huber and Bob Noorda built posters, ads and signage from geometric primitives, numerals, transparent colour planes and photomontage on white grounds, held together by a house sensibility rather than a rulebook.

05

More combinations

With Memphis Design

All 17 combinations with Memphis Design

With Milanese Industrial Modernism

Every style combination