Style combination · Contrasts
Narbut School × International Typographic Style
A gridded, ornament-free neutrality opposite to symmetric heraldic ornament.
Mix them and make something Narbut School International Typographic 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.
Narbut School (Ukrainian Baroque Revival Graphics) International Typographic Style
- Type from Narbut School
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International Typographic Style avoids ornamented display: this is where the two pull against each other, which is the point of the contrast.
- Colour from International Typographic Style
- Form from Narbut School
- Composition from International Typographic Style
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Narbut School avoids modular grid: this is where the two pull against each other, which is the point of the contrast.
- Surface from Narbut School
02
The type
Open fonts standing in for each style’s own type, which is often hand-drawn or commercial.
Display · Narbut School
Civic
Federant; Narbut School used Narbut's hand-drawn Ukrainian Baroque lettering and initials and Hand-drawn Cossack-baroque title lettering on charters and banknotes
Text · 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.
Inter; International Typographic Style used Akzidenz-Grotesk and Helvetica
03
The colours
The ground and leading colours come from International Typographic Style, with a counter-accent from Narbut School. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.
Narbut School (Ukrainian Baroque Revival Graphics) International Typographic Style
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#f2f0e9ground · 36% -
#111111ink · 14% -
#e1251baccent · 18% -
#c9a227accent · 14% -
#1f4e9caccent · 10% -
#7a1f1aaccent · 8%
As CSS
:root {
--ground: #f2f0e9;
--ink: #111111;
--accent-1: #e1251b;
--accent-2: #c9a227;
--accent-3: #1f4e9c;
--accent-4: #7a1f1a;
--font-display: "Federant", sans-serif;
--font-text: "Inter", sans-serif;
}04
The two styles
05
More combinations
With Narbut School
- Lubok Popular Print Contrasts · Popular, coloured woodcut exuberance against Narbut's academic, restrained black line.
- Ukrainian Wartime Graphics (Saint Javelin, War Stamps and Be Brave Like Ukraine) Pairs well · A later revival (2022 onward) that draws on Ukrainian national imagery; not an influence on Narbut.
- Mir iskusstva Book Art Pairs well · Share the lineage of line drawing and bookish framing; Narbut turns it toward heraldry and state identity.
- Celtic Revival Illumination & Lettering Pairs well · Another national revival that rebuilds a native ornament and hand-lettering tradition as an identity system.
With International Typographic Style
- Art Nouveau Contrasts · Ornamental curves against an orthogonal grid make a strong deliberate tension.
- Brutalist Web Design Pairs well · Strip the grid to raw HTML defaults to get a rawer, contemporary take on Swiss honesty.
- Psychedelic Poster Contrasts · Its exact opposite on legibility; borrow one swirling element to break a too-cold Swiss layout.
- Japanese Postwar Modernism Pairs well · Add Japanese restraint and emblematic colour fields to the grid for warmth without losing order.
- American Traditional Tattoo Flash Contrasts · Rational grid and sans-serif against sentimental, hand-lettered emblems: one flash motif on a Swiss layout makes a sharp contrast.
- Graffiti & Hip-Hop Graphics Contrasts · Put a single tag or throw-up over a strict Swiss grid to stage the clash between institutional order and a street voice.
- Pop Art Graphics Contrasts · Set one loud appropriated Pop image inside a strict grid with a neutral grotesque so the irony reads as deliberate rather than chaotic.
- Italian Painted Film Poster (Rome Studios) Contrasts · Grid, restraint and photographic objectivity are the opposite of a crowded painted montage.