Style combination · Contrasts

Métal hurlant Science-Fiction Comics × Synthwave

Both picture the future as a 1970s and 1980s fantasy, but synthwave uses neon gradients, chrome and a perspective grid on black; switch to Métal hurlant for hand-drawn, pale desert light and alien organic forms.

From the research on Métal hurlant Science-Fiction Comics (Mœbius, Druillet & Les Humanoïdes Associés)

Mix them and make something Métal hurlant Science-Fiction Comics Synthwave

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Métal hurlant Science-Fiction Comics, their arrangement from Métal hurlant Science-Fiction Comics, the finish from Synthwave. 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.

Métal hurlant Science-Fiction Comics (Mœbius, Druillet & Les Humanoïdes Associés) Synthwave / Outrun

Type from Métal hurlant Science-Fiction Comics: Hand-lettering
Ornamented display
Colour from Synthwave: Fluorescent & neon
Dark ground
Form from Métal hurlant Science-Fiction Comics: Naturalistic depiction
Biomorphic curves
Composition from Métal hurlant Science-Fiction Comics: Broken grid
Framed panels
Surface from Synthwave: Chrome & 3D render
Glitch

The type

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

Display · Métal hurlant Science-Fiction Comics

Orbit

Bangers; Métal hurlant Science-Fiction Comics used Pen-lettered balloon capitals and Monumental drawn title lettering

Text · Synthwave

The retro-futurist look of synthwave music: a 1980s revival that grew from mid-2000s French electro and online synth scenes, took its other name from Sega's arcade racer Out Run (1986) and reached the mainstream with Drive (2011). Its register runs from the brooding night drives of Kavinsky and Hotline Miami to the affectionate parody of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon and Kung Fury. The visuals, settled around 2010–2013, recall the era's film posters, arcades and VHS: a neon grid running to a banded setting sun, chrome logotypes and hot-pink script, palms and sports cars at night, tape noise.

VT323; Synthwave used Mistral (Roger Excoffon, Fonderie Olive, 1953), the brush script set in hot pink for the Drive poster title and Custom chrome-bevelled, airbrushed logotypes with star glints, after 1980s film-poster and arcade titles

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Synthwave, with a counter-accent from Métal hurlant Science-Fiction Comics. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Métal hurlant Science-Fiction Comics (Mœbius, Druillet & Les Humanoïdes Associés) Synthwave / Outrun

#0d0221 ground · 36%
#ffd319 ink · 14%
#05d9e8 accent · 18%
#a3243f accent · 14%
#ff9f1c accent · 10%
#e7a487 accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #0d0221;
  --ink: #ffd319;
  --accent-1: #05d9e8;
  --accent-2: #a3243f;
  --accent-3: #ff9f1c;
  --accent-4: #e7a487;
  --font-display: "Bangers", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "VT323", monospace;
}

Use it with care

Métal hurlant Science-Fiction Comics (Mœbius, Druillet & Les Humanoïdes Associés): The stories, characters and drawings of Mœbius, Druillet, Bilal and the other contributors remain in copyright with their authors, estates and publishers: build your own worlds, creatures and title lettering in the shared idiom, do not ask an image model to imitate a named artist, and never present a generated picture as a page from the magazine. The magazine's adult register also ran to sexualised depictions of women; keep that choice deliberate and give women the same agency and drawing care as the heroes.

Synthwave / Outrun: Since about 2015 far-right 'fashwave' has appropriated synthwave, setting fascist symbols, classical statues and slogans on neon grids and swapping the classic neon sun for the Nazi Black Sun; keep the sun a plain banded disc, avoid sunwheel, eagle and bust-plus-slogan layouts, and check where borrowed fan art and music come from.