Op Art Graphics × 2 Tone Graphics

Let the checkerboard carry optical energy as border and ground around a flat figure.

From the research on 2 Tone Graphics

Mix them and make something Op Art Graphics 2 Tone Graphics

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from 2 Tone Graphics, their arrangement from Op Art Graphics, the finish from 2 Tone 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.

Op Art Graphics 2 Tone Graphics

Type from Op Art Graphics: Geometric sans
Ornamented display
Colour from 2 Tone Graphics: Monochrome
Flat fields
Form from 2 Tone Graphics: Optical pattern
Stylised figuration
Composition from Op Art Graphics: All-over field
Repetition & rhythm
Surface from 2 Tone Graphics: Flat

The type

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

Display · Op Art Graphics

Yay!

Monoton, standing in for Mexico 68 multiline lettering (Lance Wyman)

Text · 2 Tone Graphics

The visual identity of 2 Tone Records: a black-and-white checkerboard, taken by Jerry Dammers from an old mod pop-art motif, and a cartoon mascot, Walt Jabsco, a rude boy in suit and pork-pie hat based on a photograph of the Jamaican singer Peter Tosh. Devised by Dammers with Horace Panter, and worked up into artwork by John 'Teflon' Sims and David Storey, it turned punk-era DIY into a controlled, repeatable system and revived the dress of 1960s Jamaican ska and mod. It descends from op art through the check; the DIY spirit of punk is an influence, not the parent.

Inter; 2 Tone Graphics used Helvetica Inserat and Bold grotesque sans capitals

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from 2 Tone Graphics, with a counter-accent from Op Art Graphics. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Op Art Graphics 2 Tone Graphics

#f5f5f0 ground · 36%
#111111 ink · 14%
#d9d9d4 accent · 18%
#e3001b accent · 14%
#7a7a7a accent · 10%
#0050b5 accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f5f5f0;
  --ink: #111111;
  --accent-1: #d9d9d4;
  --accent-2: #e3001b;
  --accent-3: #7a7a7a;
  --accent-4: #0050b5;
  --font-display: "Monoton", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Inter", sans-serif;
}

The two styles

Alternating red and white curved stripes fill the poster, swelling and pinching into a repeating optical illusion of bulges and tunnels. The word “PULSE” appears in tall, multiline red lettering near the center.

1960–1975 · Global / networked Op Art Graphics A 1960s style that turned perceptual research into graphic effect: precisely drawn lines, checks, concentric rings and modular grids, usually black and white or complementaries of equal value, that seem to vibrate, swell or move. Rooted in Bauhaus form teaching through Vasarely and Albers and popularised by MoMA's 1965 'The Responsive Eye', it spread quickly into posters, record sleeves, fashion textiles and identities such as Mexico 68.

A black-and-white poster reads “CITY RHYTHM” above a dancing man in a suit, fedora, and sunglasses. Smaller matching figures and stylised buildings recede along both sides of a perspective checkerboard floor, with a large grey circle behind the central dancer.

1979–1986 · Western Europe 2 Tone Graphics The visual identity of 2 Tone Records: a black-and-white checkerboard, taken by Jerry Dammers from an old mod pop-art motif, and a cartoon mascot, Walt Jabsco, a rude boy in suit and pork-pie hat based on a photograph of the Jamaican singer Peter Tosh. Devised by Dammers with Horace Panter, and worked up into artwork by John 'Teflon' Sims and David Storey, it turned punk-era DIY into a controlled, repeatable system and revived the dress of 1960s Jamaican ska and mod. It descends from op art through the check; the DIY spirit of punk is an influence, not the parent.

Op Art Graphics × 2 Tone Graphics

What each style brings

The type

The colours

As CSS

The two styles

More combinations

With Op Art Graphics

With 2 Tone Graphics