International Typographic Style × Vaporwave

Swiss objectivity is vaporwave's antithesis; a strict grid can frame its chaos for editorial or music-packaging use.

From the research on Vaporwave

Mix them and make something International Typographic Style Vaporwave

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

Type from Vaporwave: Wide letterspacing
Eclectic mixing

International Typographic Style avoids eclectic mixing: this is where the two pull against each other, which is the point of the contrast.
Colour from International Typographic Style: Limited spot colours
Flat fields
Form from International Typographic Style: Geometric primitives
Rectilinear
Composition from International Typographic Style: Modular grid
Dynamic asymmetry
Surface from Vaporwave: Glitch
Chrome & 3D render

The type

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

Display · Vaporwave

Order

Syncopate, standing in for Full-width Latin text (ａｅｓｔｈｅｔｉｃ)

Text · International Typographic Style

A post-war refinement of the New Typography in which the mathematical grid, objective photography and neo-grotesque sans-serifs were used to communicate with clarity and neutrality. Taught at the Basel and Zurich schools, it became the default language of international corporate and institutional communication.

Inter; International Typographic Style used Akzidenz-Grotesk and Helvetica

The colours

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

International Typographic Style Vaporwave

#f2f0e9 ground · 36%
#111111 ink · 14%
#e1251b accent · 18%
#01cdfe accent · 14%
#1f4e9c accent · 10%
#b967ff accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #f2f0e9;
  --ink: #111111;
  --accent-1: #e1251b;
  --accent-2: #01cdfe;
  --accent-3: #1f4e9c;
  --accent-4: #b967ff;
  --font-display: "Syncopate", sans-serif;
  --font-text: "Inter", sans-serif;
}

The two styles

The words “Urban Systems” appear in large black and red lettering at the upper left of an off-white cover. Tall blue, black and grey rectangular blocks rise from the bottom, with fine vertical dividing lines and a red circle at the upper right.

1950–1975 · Central Europe International Typographic Style A post-war refinement of the New Typography in which the mathematical grid, objective photography and neo-grotesque sans-serifs were used to communicate with clarity and neutrality. Taught at the Basel and Zurich schools, it became the default language of international corporate and institutional communication.

A large classical sculpted head rises from a turquoise swimming pool beneath a striped yellow-pink sun, surrounded by palm trees, waterfalls, city buildings and tropical foliage. Floating computer windows, a dolphin, cherry blossoms, a compact disc and a wireframe globe fill the pink-and-purple sky beneath the title “DREAM POOL.”

2011–2017 · Global / networked, North America Vaporwave An internet-born microgenre and visual aesthetic that remixes the debris of late-20th-century consumer culture (Windows 95 dialogs, classical busts, palm trees, mall interiors, Japanese text, early 3D renders) in pastel pinks and cyans. Emerging around 2011 from records by James Ferraro, Daniel Lopatin and Vektroid, it is at once nostalgic homage and deadpan critique of corporate optimism.

More combinations

With International Typographic Style

All 97 combinations with International Typographic Style

With Vaporwave

All 19 combinations with Vaporwave

Every style combination