Stylogeny combining Memphis Design × International Typographic Style

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Style combination · Contrasts

Memphis Design × International Typographic Style

Scatter Memphis squiggles across a strict Swiss grid to stage modernism versus its postmodern critique.

From the research on Memphis Design

Mix them and make something Memphis Design International Typographic Style

IndexMemphis Design × International Typographic
A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Memphis Design, their arrangement from International Typographic Style, the finish from Memphis Design. 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 International Typographic Style

Type from International Typographic Style
Colour from International Typographic Style
Form from Memphis Design
Composition from International Typographic Style

Memphis Design avoids modular grid: this is where the two pull against each other, which is the point of the contrast.

Surface from Memphis Design

02

The type

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

Display · International Typographic Style

Index

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 International Typographic Style, with a counter-accent from Memphis Design. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Memphis Design International Typographic Style

  • #f2f0e9 ground · 36%
  • #111111 ink · 14%
  • #e1251b accent · 18%
  • #ff5a36 accent · 14%
  • #1f4e9c accent · 10%
  • #2ec4b6 accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f2f0e9;
  --ink: #111111;
  --accent-1: #e1251b;
  --accent-2: #ff5a36;
  --accent-3: #1f4e9c;
  --accent-4: #2ec4b6;
  --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. The words “Urban Systems” appear in large black and red lettering at the upper left of an off-white cover. Tall blue, black and grey rectangular blocks rise from the bottom, with fine vertical dividing lines and a red circle at the upper right. 1950–1975 · Central Europe International Typographic Style A post-war refinement of the New Typography in which the mathematical grid, objective photography and neo-grotesque sans-serifs were used to communicate with clarity and neutrality. Taught at the Basel and Zurich schools, it became the default language of international corporate and institutional communication.

05

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With International Typographic Style

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