Style combination · Contrasts

Polish Poster School × Zagreb Modernist Graphics

Its socialist-era neighbour solved theatre and film posters with one painted, hand-lettered metaphor; Zagreb solves them with set type, repeated geometry and photographic collage, so compare the two to choose between the painter's hand and the typographer's system.

From the research on Zagreb Modernist Graphics (EXAT 51 to Teatar &TD)

Mix them and make something Polish Poster School Zagreb Modernist Graphics

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Zagreb Modernist Graphics, their arrangement from Zagreb Modernist Graphics, the finish from Polish Poster School. 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.

Polish Poster School Zagreb Modernist Graphics (EXAT 51 to Teatar &TD)

Type from Polish Poster School: Hand-lettering
Colour from Zagreb Modernist Graphics: Limited spot colours
Flat fields
Form from Zagreb Modernist Graphics: Geometric primitives
Non-representational
Composition from Zagreb Modernist Graphics: Modular grid
Repetition & rhythm

Polish Poster School avoids modular grid: this is where the two pull against each other, which is the point of the contrast.
Surface from Polish Poster School: Painterly brushwork

Zagreb Modernist Graphics avoids painterly brushwork: this is where the two pull against each other, which is the point of the contrast.

The type

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

Display · Polish Poster School

Pop

Londrina Solid; Polish Poster School used Henryk Tomaszewski's casual handwritten capitals and Brush- and crayon-drawn title lettering

Text · Zagreb Modernist Graphics

Zagreb graphic design grown from the EXAT 51 manifesto (1951), which tied abstract art to visual communication. Ivan Picelj's screenprinted posters for the Gallery of Contemporary Art and its New Tendencies shows (1961–1973) multiply one geometric unit or a few letters across the sheet, and Mihajlo Arsovski made letters, collage and quotation the identity of Teatar &TD. Later, Boris Ljubičić's Mediterranean Games circles (1979) kept to signs, while Boris Bućan's huge 1980s screenprints for Split's theatre borrowed Egyptian, Secession and Expressionist idioms around his own patterned figures.

Inter; Zagreb Modernist Graphics used Lowercase neo-grotesque sans for titles and credits on Picelj's New Tendencies posters and Akzidenz-Grotesk, Egyptienne Bold Condensed and Red Roses mixed on Arsovski's 1966 western posters for Kinematografi Zagreb

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Zagreb Modernist Graphics, with a counter-accent from Polish Poster School. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Polish Poster School Zagreb Modernist Graphics (EXAT 51 to Teatar &TD)

#f1ede4 ground · 36%
#131313 ink · 14%
#f0c419 accent · 18%
#d4352b accent · 14%
#d6a23a accent · 10%
#2a4a9c accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f1ede4;
  --ink: #131313;
  --accent-1: #f0c419;
  --accent-2: #d4352b;
  --accent-3: #d6a23a;
  --accent-4: #2a4a9c;
  --font-display: "Londrina Solid", cursive;
  --font-text: "Inter", sans-serif;
}

Use it with care

Zagreb Modernist Graphics (EXAT 51 to Teatar &TD): Picelj (died 2011), Arsovski (died 2020) and Bućan (died 2023) are recent and their posters remain in copyright, Arsovski's Teatar &TD logo is still in use, and Boris Ljubičić's 1979 circle symbol is the permanent emblem of the International Committee of the Mediterranean Games, so borrow the method (a multiplied unit, a lowercase credit line, a rebus title) rather than reproducing a particular poster or mark. Do not dress the style in red stars or party slogans as period decor: these designers worked for galleries and theatres in socialist Yugoslavia and deliberately avoided propaganda imagery.