Stylogeny combining Streamline Moderne × WPA Silkscreen Posters

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Style combination · Pairs well

Streamline Moderne × WPA Silkscreen Posters

Both are 1930s American; mix WPA flat silkscreen colour with Streamline speed lines for Depression-era Americana.

From the research on Streamline Moderne

Mix them and make something Streamline Moderne WPA Silkscreen Posters

DAWNStreamline Moderne × WPA Silkscreen Posters
A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Streamline Moderne, their arrangement from WPA Silkscreen Posters, the finish from Streamline Moderne. 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.

Streamline Moderne WPA Silkscreen Posters

Type from Streamline Moderne
Colour from WPA Silkscreen Posters
Form from Streamline Moderne
Composition from WPA Silkscreen Posters
Surface from Streamline Moderne

02

The type

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

Display · Streamline Moderne

Dawn

Josefin Sans; Streamline Moderne used Huxley Vertical and Agency Gothic

Text · WPA Silkscreen Posters

Posters made by the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration to promote health campaigns, education, theatre, travel and the national parks during the Depression. Unemployed artists adapted commercial silkscreen to print runs by hand, which gave the work its flat, opaque layered colour, simplified stylised forms and clear geometric lettering in a public-service voice.

Jost; WPA Silkscreen Posters used Hand-cut stencil lettering in geometric sans-serif capitals and Futura (Paul Renner, 1927) and similar geometric sans-serifs

03

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from WPA Silkscreen Posters, with a counter-accent from Streamline Moderne. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Streamline Moderne WPA Silkscreen Posters

  • #efe6cf ground · 36%
  • #222222 ink · 14%
  • #c8622d accent · 18%
  • #d9a441 accent · 14%
  • #1f3a5f accent · 10%
  • #3d5a7a accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #efe6cf;
  --ink: #222222;
  --accent-1: #c8622d;
  --accent-2: #d9a441;
  --accent-3: #1f3a5f;
  --accent-4: #3d5a7a;
  --font-display: "Josefin Sans", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Jost", sans-serif;
}

04

The two styles

A streamlined silver-and-orange passenger train races along converging tracks beneath the large word “SKYLINE.” Rounded futuristic towers rise against a large pale sun in a deep blue sky. 1930–1945 · North America Streamline Moderne The late, chiefly American phase of Art Deco, in which aerodynamic science became a visual language for a Depression-era culture hungry for progress. Industrial designers and illustrators wrapped trains, radios, diners and posters in teardrop curves, horizontal speed lines, rounded corners and airbrushed chrome, selling the 'World of Tomorrow' at the 1939 New York World's Fair. A stylised hiker with a large backpack stands on an orange rocky overlook above a winding river, evergreen forests and blue mountains. An orange sun sits behind the peaks, and large blue lettering across the top reads “EXPLORE.” 1935–1943 · North America WPA Silkscreen Posters Posters made by the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration to promote health campaigns, education, theatre, travel and the national parks during the Depression. Unemployed artists adapted commercial silkscreen to print runs by hand, which gave the work its flat, opaque layered colour, simplified stylised forms and clear geometric lettering in a public-service voice.

05

More combinations

With Streamline Moderne

With WPA Silkscreen Posters

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