Style combination · Contrasts
Push Pin Style × Rubber-Hose Revival
Push Pin also revived old cartoon and Victorian graphics with playful lettering, but as eclectic editorial illustration; the rubber-hose revival commits to one animation convention and a recurring brand character.
Mix them and make something Push Pin Style Rubber-Hose Revival
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.
Push Pin Style Rubber-Hose Revival (Cartoon Mascot Graphics)
- Type from Push Pin Style
- Colour from Push Pin Style
- Form from Rubber-Hose Revival
- Composition from Rubber-Hose Revival
- Surface from Rubber-Hose Revival
02
The type
Open fonts standing in for each style’s own type, which is often hand-drawn or commercial.
Text · Rubber-Hose Revival
A present-day revival of 1920s and 1930s American cartoon drawing: characters with bendy, jointless 'rubber hose' limbs, round bodies, big white eyes and gloved hands, drawn in a confident black outline and filled with a few flat colours. Studio MDHR's hand-animated Cuphead (2017) made it a contemporary look; from there it moved into games, motion graphics and, by the mid-2020s, food brands whose mascot is a burger, coffee cup or devil with springy arms beside soft, bouncy lettering.
Zen Maru Gothic; Rubber-Hose Revival used Hand-lettered titles in the manner of early-1930s cartoon title cards and Soft, heavy round-serif display faces such as Cooper Black for the 'soft typography' the mascot brands pair with their characters
03
The colours
The ground and leading colours come from Push Pin Style, with a counter-accent from Rubber-Hose Revival. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.
Push Pin Style Rubber-Hose Revival (Cartoon Mascot Graphics)
-
#f4e9cfground · 36% -
#1b1b1bink · 14% -
#f2b632accent · 18% -
#d7352baccent · 14% -
#2e86abaccent · 10% -
#9b4f96accent · 8%
As CSS
:root {
--ground: #f4e9cf;
--ink: #1b1b1b;
--accent-1: #f2b632;
--accent-2: #d7352b;
--accent-3: #2e86ab;
--accent-4: #9b4f96;
--font-display: "Righteous", sans-serif;
--font-text: "Zen Maru Gothic", sans-serif;
}Use it with care
Rubber-Hose Revival (Cartoon Mascot Graphics): The early cartoon look this revives is entangled with blackface minstrelsy: several sources trace the black bodies, white gloves and large white eyes of Mickey Mouse and his peers to minstrel caricature, and many 1930s shorts carried explicit racial caricature. Borrow the elastic limbs, round construction and outline, not the minstrel face; never give a character exaggerated lips, dialect or skin colour as an ethnic marker. The characters themselves (Cuphead, Bendy, Mickey, Felix, Oswald, Betty Boop) are still trademarked or copyrighted: invent your own mascot and never ask an image model for a named character or studio hand.
04
The two styles
05
More combinations
With Push Pin Style
- Psychedelic Poster Pairs well · Both revive Art Nouveau lettering; add Push Pin's clean contour and wit to tame psychedelic excess into readable posters.
- International Typographic Style Contrasts · Push Pin defined itself against Helvetica neutrality; pit a bespoke illustrated letterform against a Swiss grid to dramatise personality versus system.
- Corporate Memphis Contrasts · Generic, faceless corporate figures are the opposite of Push Pin's authored characters; use Push Pin to restore a distinct illustrative voice.
- Belle Époque Lithographic Poster Pairs well · Borrow Chéret's dancing figures alongside Push Pin's revived display faces for exuberant entertainment graphics.
- Phototype Expressive Typography (Lubalin & U&lc) Pairs well · Push Pin revives old styles through drawn figures and Lubalin through the letters themselves; pair a Push Pin illustration with a swash, tightly kerned Lubalin headline for full 1970s New York warmth.
- UPA & Cartoon Modern Contrasts · Its New York contemporary shared UPA's comic, distorted figures and irony but went the opposite way on ornament: Push Pin piled on revived Victorian and Art Nouveau lettering, borders and ornament, while UPA stripped the picture to a figure, a line and a flat field.
- Angura Theatre Poster Pairs well · Yokoo started from Push Pin's illustrated eclecticism; pair Push Pin's period-pastiche lettering with angura's crowded Japanese ephemera.
- Ligne Claire (Franco-Belgian Clear Line) Contrasts · Push Pin also draws in outline and flat colour, but mixes revived Victorian and Art Nouveau display faces, ornament and distortion; switch to ligne claire for one disciplined line, no ornament and evenly legible scenes.
With Rubber-Hose Revival
- Corporate Memphis Contrasts · Both draw stretched figures in flat colour, but the revival gives each brand its own outlined, nostalgic mascot where Corporate Memphis uses interchangeable faceless people.
- UPA & Cartoon Modern Contrasts · UPA rejected exactly this: it traded rubbery full movement and round bodies for angular caricature, flat modernist sets and limited animation.
- Yuru-chara (Japanese Local Mascot Design) Pairs well · Both build a mascot from the thing it promotes; borrow the yuru-chara's costume-ready frontal figure and licensing for a rubber-hose brand character.
- Underground Comix Pairs well · Add its hatching, crowding and adult edge for a darker take on the hose-limbed character, as Bendy turned the cartoon sinister.
- Risograph & Indie Print Culture Pairs well · Print the mascot's stickers and zines in two riso inks for grain and misregistration that suit its period feel.
- Hipster Artisanal Revival Contrasts · The independent food brand's previous look: a cartoon protagonist replaces the monochrome badge and Victorian craft cues.
- Newtro (Korean New-Retro) Contrasts · Both are post-2017 nostalgic branding in flat spot colour; newtro quotes Korean 1970s–80s packaging and emblems, the revival quotes 1920s–30s American animation.
- CalArts Style (Rounded Cartoon Character Design) Contrasts · Inkier, pie-eyed, nostalgic 1930s mascot drawing against thin-limbed, flat-coloured, contemporary character design.