# Black Panther Party Graphics

> The visual language of the Black Panther Party, created largely by its Minister of Culture, Emory Douglas, for the weekly newspaper The Black Panther. Thick black outlines, coarse halftone and press-on tints, black plus one spot colour, press-type slogans and collaged photographs show dignified, often armed, everyday Black people against police and profiteers drawn as pigs, in a direct, legible style designed for readers of any age.

- Period: 1967–1980
- Where: North America
- Origin: Oakland and San Francisco, California: the Black Panther Party's Ministry of Culture and its weekly newspaper, The Black Panther
- Branch: Counterculture
- Also known as: The revolutionary art of Emory Douglas, Black Panther newspaper art, Black Power poster
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/black-panther-graphics/

## Use it with care

Douglas's images remain his copyrighted work and are still exhibited and licensed, and the panther emblem, the raised fist and images of armed Black self-defence belong to a movement whose members were imprisoned and killed. Credit and contextualise them rather than stripping them into retro 'revolutionary' styling.

## How it works

- Print black plus one spot colour on newsprint, and choose outlines and tints that survive a fast web press.
- Enclose flat colour and coarse halftone in thick, even black outlines.
- Collage and re-collage drawings, high-contrast photographs and press-on textures into one page.
- Draw the people as monumental, dignified and often armed, and the enemy as caricatured pigs and rats.
- Shout one slogan in press-type or hand-drawn capitals, such as All Power to the People.
- Design back covers as posters to be pulled out and pasted up.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Collage & layering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/collage-and-layering/) (defining)
- [Full bleed](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-bleed/) (characteristic)
- [Isolated object](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/isolated-object/) (occasional)
- [Column grid](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/column-grid/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (characteristic)
- [Extreme scale contrast](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/extreme-scale-contrast/) (characteristic)
- [Layered information](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/layered-information/) (characteristic)
- [Horror vacui](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/horror-vacui/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [All caps](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/all-caps/) (defining)
- [Condensed display](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/condensed-display/) (characteristic)
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (characteristic)
- [Eclectic mixing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/eclectic-mixing/) (occasional)
- [Type as image](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/type-as-image/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (defining)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (characteristic)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (characteristic)
- [Monochrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/monochrome/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (defining)
- [Distortion & exaggeration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/distortion-and-exaggeration/) (characteristic)

### Surface & texture
- [Halftone & Ben-Day dots](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/halftone-and-ben-day-dots/) (defining)
- [Hard offset shadow](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hard-offset-shadow/) (characteristic)

### Ornament
- [Emblems & badges](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/emblems-and-badges/) (occasional)
- [Rules & bars](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rules-and-bars/) (occasional)

### Imagery
- [Line illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/line-illustration/) (defining)
- [Comic & cartoon](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/comic-and-cartoon/) (characteristic)
- [Treated photography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/treated-photography/) (characteristic)
- [Photomontage](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/photomontage/) (characteristic)

### Medium & production
- [Offset printing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/offset-printing/) (defining)
- [Pen, brush & ink](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pen-brush-and-ink/) (characteristic)

### Tone & intent
- [Agitational & persuasive](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/agitational-and-persuasive/) (defining)
- [Rebellious & subversive](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rebellious-and-subversive/) (defining)
- [Communal & popular](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/communal-and-popular/) (characteristic)
- [Warm & approachable](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/warm-and-approachable/) (occasional)

Avoids: Abundant decoration, Floral & vegetal, Luxurious & glamorous, Calm & contemplative, Gradients, Gloss & highlights, Non-representational, Generous white space

Palette: #121212, #ece5d3, #d62828, #f08a24, #f2c12e, #2a5ca8

Typefaces: Press-type display capitals (Letraset, Formatt), Hand-lettered block capitals, Bold newspaper headline grotesques

Known for: Emory Douglas, Minister of Culture of the Black Panther Party from 1967, design and illustration of The Black Panther; The Black Panther, issue 30 back cover, We Shall Survive Without a Doubt; The Black Panther, 3 January 1970, the police pig dressed in the American flag; OSPAAAL, Solidarity with the African American People (1968), designed by Lázaro Abreu Padrón from Douglas's artwork; Sam Durant (ed.), Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas (Rizzoli); MOCA Los Angeles retrospective (2007–08)

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Influenced by: [Cuban Revolutionary Poster (OSPAAAL & ICAIC)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/cuban-poster.md) (1960–1990)
- Influenced by: [Socialist Realist Propaganda Poster](https://stylogeny.com/styles/socialist-realism.md) (1932–1989)
- Alike in its design choices: [South African Resistance Poster](https://stylogeny.com/styles/anti-apartheid-poster.md) (1978–1994), 66% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Turkish Weekly Humour Magazines (Gırgır to Uykusuz)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/turkish-humour-magazines.md) (1972–2025), 65% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Afrobeat Sleeve Art](https://stylogeny.com/styles/afrobeat-sleeve-art.md) (1974–present), 65% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Pop Achorado (Peruvian Agrarian Reform Posters)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/pop-achorado.md) (1969–1975), 63% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Ethiopian Revolutionary Poster (Derg Era)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/ethiopian-revolutionary-poster.md) (1974–1991), 62% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Chicano Screenprint Poster](https://stylogeny.com/styles/chicano-poster.md) (1965–present), 62% alike

## Real works

- [The Black Panther, 23 January 1971, back page (crowd collage: 'All Power to the People', 'Free Bobby', 'Free Ericka')](https://archive.org/details/NPLBlackPanther_01.23.1971): Emory Douglas, Minister of Culture, Black Panther Party ('Emory' lettered on a rifle stock), 23 January 1971, Newark Public Library, James Brown African American Room (digitised on the Internet Archive)
- [All Power to the People](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O102221/): Emory Douglas (Ministry of Information, Black Panther Party), 1970, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (E.754-2004)
- [Revolutionary Student](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O101214/): Emory Douglas (published by the New Haven Chapter, Black Panther Party), 1970, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (E.303-2004)
- [The Black Panther Manifesto ('The fascists have already decided in advance to murder Chairman Bobby Seale in the electric chair')](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O101331/): Emory Douglas (text by Eldridge Cleaver, Minister of Information), 1970, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (E.211-2004)
- [The Black Panther, 25 September 1971, front page ('Lynching – for Black G.I.'s only': Billy Dean Smith)](https://archive.org/details/NPLBlackPanther_09.25.1971): Black Panther Party, Ministry of Information (designer unrecorded), 25 September 1971 (Vol. VII no. 5), Newark Public Library, James Brown African American Room (digitised on the Internet Archive)

## Sources

- Sam Durant (ed.), Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas (Rizzoli)
- Wikipedia: Emory Douglas
- Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration, OSPAAAL, Solidarity with the African American People, August 18, 1968 (qbcentre.org.uk)

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Black Panther Party Graphics”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/black-panther-graphics/