Stylogeny combining Memphis Design × Neo-Brutalism

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Style combination · Pairs well

Memphis Design × Neo-Brutalism

Memphis black outlines and flat clashing fills translate directly into neo-brutalist cards, buttons and stickers.

From the research on Memphis Design

Pull Memphis squiggles, terrazzo dots and clashing pastels into the boxes for extra 1980s energy.

From the research on Neo-Brutalism

Mix them and make something Memphis Design Neo-Brutalism

PopPopMemphis Design × Neo-Brutalism1981 · 2020
A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Memphis Design, their arrangement from Neo-Brutalism, the finish from Neo-Brutalism. 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 Neo-Brutalism

Type from Neo-Brutalism
Colour from Memphis Design
Form from Memphis Design
Composition from Neo-Brutalism

Memphis Design avoids modular grid: this is where the two pull against each other.

Surface from Neo-Brutalism

02

The type

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

Display · Neo-Brutalism

Pop

Space Grotesk, standing in for Space 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 Neo-Brutalism. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Memphis Design Neo-Brutalism

  • #ffd23f ground · 36%
  • #111111 ink · 14%
  • #ff5a36 accent · 18%
  • #23a094 accent · 14%
  • #2ec4b6 accent · 10%
  • #ff90e8 accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #ffd23f;
  --ink: #111111;
  --accent-1: #ff5a36;
  --accent-2: #23a094;
  --accent-3: #2ec4b6;
  --accent-4: #ff90e8;
  --font-display: "Space Grotesk", 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. 2020–present · Global / networked, North America Neo-Brutalism A friendly, commercial descendant of web brutalism that keeps its blunt boxes but adds candy colour: thick black outlines, hard unblurred offset shadows, flat saturated fills and chunky sans-serif type on conventional, usable layouts. Popularised by Gumroad's 2021 rebrand and named 'neubrutalism' around 2022, it spread across startup, creator-economy and indie product sites.

05

More combinations

With Memphis Design

All 17 combinations with Memphis Design

With Neo-Brutalism

Every style combination