Style combination · Pairs well

International Typographic Style × Turkish Modernist Poster

A background influence that came through teaching rather than through the poster makers themselves: the Bauhaus-modelled State School of Applied Fine Arts (1957), whose functionalism Erzincan sees following 'a trajectory parallel to the International Typographic Style', trained Aydın Erkmen and İlhan Bilge, not Ertel, Altıntaş or Bülent Erkmen, and the Academy's Grafik Atölyesi taught 'less is more' from 1967. Set a festival's credits on a column grid beside one flat figure, as Altıntaş set the credits of the film poster 'Sen de Gitme' (1996) in three columns.

From the research on Turkish Modernist Poster & Graphic Design

Mix them and make something International Typographic Style Turkish Modernist Poster

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Turkish Modernist Poster, their arrangement from International Typographic Style, the finish from Turkish Modernist Poster. 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.

International Typographic Style Turkish Modernist Poster & Graphic Design

Type from International Typographic Style: Grotesque & neo-grotesque
Type as image
Colour from International Typographic Style: Limited spot colours
Flat fields
Form from Turkish Modernist Poster: Stylised figuration
Restrained accents
Composition from International Typographic Style: Modular grid
Dynamic asymmetry
Surface from Turkish Modernist Poster: Flat

The type

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

Display · International Typographic Style

Form

Inter Tight, standing in for Akzidenz-Grotesk

Text · Turkish Modernist Poster

The posters of Istanbul's first generation of professional graphic designers for theatres, films, festivals and exhibitions. Mengü Ertel, Yurdaer Altıntaş and later Bülent Erkmen reduced each play or film to one visual idea or pun: a figure, mask, eye or object drawn as flat, simplified shapes in two or three inks on an open field of colour or white, with a hand-drawn or bold serif title. From the 1980s Erkmen pared the language down further to a giant word, a stripe or one photographed detail.

Newsreader; Turkish Modernist Poster used Hand-drawn title lettering by the designers themselves, e.g. Altıntaş's heavy lowercase 'aptal kız' (Kent Oyuncuları, 1961) and his condensed brush capitals for Dormen Tiyatrosu's 'Bugün Git Yarın Gel' and Bold and book serif titles centred above the image (Erkmen's Kent Oyuncuları posters and 'Les Civilisations Anatoliennes', 1983, in a Times-like transitional serif), and heavy serif capitals on Ertel's 'Jan Dark'ın Çilesi' and 'Le Gardien'

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from International Typographic Style, with a counter-accent from Turkish Modernist Poster. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

International Typographic Style Turkish Modernist Poster & Graphic Design

#f2f0e9 ground · 36%
#111111 ink · 14%
#e1251b accent · 18%
#1f4e9c accent · 14%
#efd145 accent · 10%
#7a7a7a accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f2f0e9;
  --ink: #111111;
  --accent-1: #e1251b;
  --accent-2: #1f4e9c;
  --accent-3: #efd145;
  --accent-4: #7a7a7a;
  --font-display: "Inter Tight", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Newsreader", serif;
}

Use it with care

Turkish Modernist Poster & Graphic Design: These posters are the signed work of named designers, several of them living or recently dead: borrow the method (one flat sign, two or three inks, an open field), not a particular poster. Karagöz shadow theatre is a living tradition on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (2009), and square Kufic often spells sacred names such as Allah, Muhammad or Ali, so do not cut either into decoration without knowing what it says.