Stylogeny combining Iranian Modernist Graphic Design × International Typographic Style

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Style combination · Contrasts

Iranian Modernist Graphic Design × International Typographic Style

Iranian designers deliberately sidestepped the Swiss grid; set neutral Latin type against expressive Persian letters to dramatise system versus script.

From the research on Iranian Modernist Graphic Design

Mix them and make something Iranian Modernist Graphic Design International Typographic Style

OrderIranian Modernist × International Typographic
A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Iranian Modernist Graphic Design, their arrangement from International Typographic Style, the finish from Iranian Modernist Graphic Design. Not a real work, and not an image of either 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.

Iranian Modernist Graphic Design International Typographic Style

Type from Iranian Modernist Graphic Design
Colour from International Typographic Style
Form from Iranian Modernist Graphic Design
Composition from International Typographic Style
Surface from Iranian Modernist Graphic Design

02

The type

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

Display · Iranian Modernist Graphic Design

Order

Rakkas, standing in for Nastaʿlīq

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 Iranian Modernist Graphic Design. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Iranian Modernist Graphic Design International Typographic Style

  • #f2f0e9 ground · 36%
  • #111111 ink · 14%
  • #e1251b accent · 18%
  • #c49a3a accent · 14%
  • #1f4e9c accent · 10%
  • #b0322a accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f2f0e9;
  --ink: #111111;
  --accent-1: #e1251b;
  --accent-2: #c49a3a;
  --accent-3: #1f4e9c;
  --accent-4: #b0322a;
  --font-display: "Rakkas", cursive;
  --font-text: "Inter", sans-serif;
}

04

The two styles

Large black Persian calligraphy fills a cream, lightly textured poster, with a golden three-leaf sprout rising in front of a red sun. A blue, rippling reflection tapers downward beneath the lettering. 1960–present · Middle East & North Africa Iranian Modernist Graphic Design Iranian graphic design came of age in the 1960s and 1970s. Morteza Momayez, Farshid Mesghali, Ghobad Shiva and Guity Novin worked for magazines, the Kanoon children's institute and film and arts festivals, and built a modern visual language from Persian calligraphy, miniature and folk imagery and the conceptual poster of the Polish school. From the 1990s Reza Abedini's generation made Persian letterforms themselves into dense, architectural poster compositions. 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.

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