Style combination · Contrasts

Norwegian and Finnish National Romantic Graphics × Scandinavian Functionalism

The Nordic modernism that followed rejected its myth and ornament; drop one carved dragon-head vignette or saga figure into a functionalist layout to warm it.

From the research on Norwegian and Finnish National Romantic Graphics (Munthe & Karelianism)

Mix them and make something Norwegian and Finnish National Romantic Graphics Scandinavian Functionalism

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Norwegian and Finnish National Romantic Graphics, their arrangement from Scandinavian Functionalism, the finish from Norwegian and Finnish National Romantic Graphics. 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.

Norwegian and Finnish National Romantic Graphics (Munthe & Karelianism) Scandinavian Functionalism

Type from Norwegian and Finnish National Romantic Graphics: Hand-lettering
Blackletter
Colour from Scandinavian Functionalism: Flat fields
Analogous harmony
Form from Norwegian and Finnish National Romantic Graphics: Stylised figuration
Folk & sacred symbols
Composition from Scandinavian Functionalism: Generous white space
Column grid
Surface from Norwegian and Finnish National Romantic Graphics: Carved line
Flat

The type

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

Display · Norwegian and Finnish National Romantic Graphics

Again

UnifrakturMaguntia, standing in for The hand-lettered text of Draumkvæde (1904): a pen hand of blackletter character with long swashed ascenders and descenders, modelled on Norse saga manuscripts of the 13th and early 14th centuries, above all Codex Frisianus (c. 1300–1325), with ornamented capitals in red, some roman and some blackletter; drawn by Aug. Sørensen after Munthe's models

Text · Scandinavian Functionalism

Nordic functionalism (funkis) arrived in graphic form with Sigurd Lewerentz's posters and winged emblem for the 1930 Stockholm Exhibition. It adapted Bauhaus rationalism to a social-democratic ideal of beautiful everyday things for everyone. Its graphic language is modernism with warmth: clear sans-serif or humane serif type, generous space, friendly simplified symbols and colours taken from nature, applied to public services, consumer goods and national identities.

Jost; Scandinavian Functionalism used Futura and Berling Antikva

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Scandinavian Functionalism, with a counter-accent from Norwegian and Finnish National Romantic Graphics. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Norwegian and Finnish National Romantic Graphics (Munthe & Karelianism) Scandinavian Functionalism

#f6f3ec ground · 36%
#1f2a37 ink · 14%
#e3b53a accent · 18%
#a63a2a accent · 14%
#3e6b50 accent · 10%
#2e4a7d accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f6f3ec;
  --ink: #1f2a37;
  --accent-1: #e3b53a;
  --accent-2: #a63a2a;
  --accent-3: #3e6b50;
  --accent-4: #2e4a7d;
  --font-display: "UnifrakturMaguntia", serif;
  --font-text: "Jost", sans-serif;
}

Use it with care

Norwegian and Finnish National Romantic Graphics (Munthe & Karelianism): In Norway the fascist Nasjonal Samling (1933–45) took a golden sun cross on red, which it claimed as St Olav's shield, for its emblem, leaned heavily on Viking art and symbolism and built on romantic nationalism, so keep saga warriors, dragon ships and the Olav cross away from ethnic-nationalist framing. Old signs near this material, the othala rune, the sun cross (also called Odin's cross) and Odin's valknut, are used by neo-Nazis and other white supremacists, though non-racist pagans also use the othala rune and the valknut: check how such a sign reads in context before borrowing it. Gallen-Kallela's 1918 insignia for the White Army's Order of the Cross of Liberty set a golden swastika into the cross: do not borrow it. Karelianism cast Karelia as a refuge of authentic Finnishness, and some of its ideas later fed the irredentist Greater Finland project, so do not present Karelian or Orthodox folk culture as merely Finland's past: Karelians are a living people with their own language and crafts. In these decades Norway's Norwegianisation policy pressed the Sámi to assimilate: do not fold Sámi duodji motifs into this Norse ornament.

The two styles

1880–1922 · Northern Europe Norwegian and Finnish National Romantic Graphics (Munthe & Karelianism) The flat, decorative branch of Norway's and Finland's national romanticism, which turned Viking carving, the sagas, the Kalevala and old peasant weaving into modern ornament. Gerhard Munthe set the woodcut-like pen style and blackletter type of the 1899 saga edition, had Draumkvæde (1904) hand-lettered after Norse saga manuscripts, and designed tapestries of stiff myth figures in flat folk colour; Akseli Gallen-Kallela gave the Kalevala bold outlines and flat colour in woodcuts, frescoes, ryijy rugs and book vignettes; Dragestil timber buildings carried dragon heads.

A rust-red cat sleeps curled beside a leafy green plant in a yellow pot on a cream background. Large dark lettering reads “Quiet Days” at upper left, with a yellow circle above the plant.

1930–present · Northern Europe Scandinavian Functionalism Nordic functionalism (funkis) arrived in graphic form with Sigurd Lewerentz's posters and winged emblem for the 1930 Stockholm Exhibition. It adapted Bauhaus rationalism to a social-democratic ideal of beautiful everyday things for everyone. Its graphic language is modernism with warmth: clear sans-serif or humane serif type, generous space, friendly simplified symbols and colours taken from nature, applied to public services, consumer goods and national identities.