Muji No-Brand Design × International Typographic Style

Where the Swiss style builds hierarchy on a grid and scale, this one flattens it and lets the object sit alone.

From the research on Muji No-Brand Design (Mujirushi Ryohin)

Mix them and make something Muji No-Brand Design International Typographic Style

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from International Typographic Style, their arrangement from Muji No-Brand Design, the finish from Muji No-Brand Design. 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.

Muji No-Brand Design (Mujirushi Ryohin) International Typographic Style

Type from International Typographic Style: Grotesque & neo-grotesque
Type as image

Muji No-Brand Design avoids type as image: this is where the two pull against each other, which is the point of the contrast.
Colour from International Typographic Style: Limited spot colours
Flat fields
Form from International Typographic Style: Geometric primitives
Rectilinear
Composition from Muji No-Brand Design: Isolated object
Generous white space
Surface from Muji No-Brand Design: Paper & letterpress bite
Flat

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 · Muji No-Brand Design

A house style that sells goods by withholding branding: clear cellophane and plain brown paper, plain labels stating the item and its price, and products centred in wide margins. Begun in Tokyo in 1980 under Ikko Tanaka, it makes calm a design method rather than a mood; Kenya Hara, art director since 2001, later articulated this through his idea of emptiness in his writing.

Zen Kaku Gothic New; Muji No-Brand Design used Japanese gothic (kaku gothic) sans-serif, the plain Japanese text tradition for labels and signage and Neutral neo-grotesque Latin sans-serif for English-language labels and signage, in the Helvetica tradition

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from International Typographic Style, with a counter-accent from Muji No-Brand Design. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Muji No-Brand Design (Mujirushi Ryohin) International Typographic Style

#f2f0e9 ground · 36%
#111111 ink · 14%
#e1251b accent · 18%
#1f4e9c accent · 14%
#c9a97c accent · 10%
#7a7a7a accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f2f0e9;
  --ink: #111111;
  --accent-1: #e1251b;
  --accent-2: #1f4e9c;
  --accent-3: #c9a97c;
  --accent-4: #7a7a7a;
  --font-display: "Inter Tight", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Zen Kaku Gothic New", sans-serif;
}

The two styles

1980–present · East Asia, Global / networked Muji No-Brand Design (Mujirushi Ryohin) A house style that sells goods by withholding branding: clear cellophane and plain brown paper, plain labels stating the item and its price, and products centred in wide margins. Begun in Tokyo in 1980 under Ikko Tanaka, it makes calm a design method rather than a mood; Kenya Hara, art director since 2001, later articulated this through his idea of emptiness in his writing.

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.

Muji No-Brand Design × International Typographic Style

What each style brings

The type

The colours

As CSS

The two styles

More combinations

With Muji No-Brand Design

With International Typographic Style