Style combination · Pairs well

Superflat × Techno-Futurist Graphics

groovisions, whose Chappie figure showed in the 2001 Superflat exhibition, links the two; set Superflat characters inside techno-futurist logos, grids and katakana captions for a slicker, more corporate parody.

From the research on Superflat

Mix them and make something Superflat Techno-Futurist Graphics

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Techno-Futurist Graphics, their arrangement from Superflat, the finish from Superflat. 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.

Superflat Techno-Futurist Graphics

Type from Techno-Futurist Graphics: Grotesque & neo-grotesque
Geometric sans
Colour from Superflat: Full polychrome
Flat fields
Form from Techno-Futurist Graphics: Pictogram
Emblems & badges
Composition from Superflat: All-over field
Central symmetry
Surface from Superflat: Gloss & highlights
Flat

The type

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

Display · Techno-Futurist Graphics

Wow.

Inter Tight, standing in for Helvetica

Text · Superflat

The flat, saturated, cartoon-crowded look that Takashi Murakami named in his exhibition and manifesto Superflat (Tokyo, 2000; US tour 2001). It draws a line from Edo painting and prints to postwar anime and manga, and flattens high and low, art and merchandise into one plane. Smiling flowers, many-eyed characters and anime figures come in unshaded polychrome, smooth and glossy, cute and grotesque at once, sold as handbags and album covers as well as paintings. This entry follows the drawn core of Murakami and his Kaikai Kiki circle; the shows also held photography, video and sculpture.

Zen Maru Gothic; Superflat used Letters drawn into the character and Many-coloured repeated monogram

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Superflat, with a counter-accent from Techno-Futurist Graphics. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Superflat Techno-Futurist Graphics

#fbfaf5 ground · 36%
#1a1a1a ink · 14%
#ffd900 accent · 18%
#00aeef accent · 14%
#ec008c accent · 10%
#2fae4e accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #fbfaf5;
  --ink: #1a1a1a;
  --accent-1: #ffd900;
  --accent-2: #00aeef;
  --accent-3: #ec008c;
  --accent-4: #2fae4e;
  --font-display: "Inter Tight", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Zen Maru Gothic", sans-serif;
}

Use it with care

Superflat: Some canonical works use explicit otaku sexual imagery, such as Murakami's My Lonesome Cowboy (1998), and associated artists engage with lolicon art: Mr. describes himself as a lolicon and Henmaru Machino parodies it; never sexualise childlike figures. The mushroom-cloud skulls of Murakami's Time Bokan works and the title Little Boy, the name of the Hiroshima bomb, refer to the atomic bombings, and critics such as Dong-Yeon Koh argue that this victim narrative obscures Japanese aggression in China and Korea; do not use mushroom clouds or skulls as cute decoration. Handle borrowed Buddhist iconography and phrases, such as Kannon, with respect, and draw original characters and flowers: Mr. DOB, the smiling flowers and the Louis Vuitton monogram are owned designs.