# Italian Futurism

> Launched by Marinetti's 1909 manifesto, Futurism glorified speed, machines, the city and war, and turned the printed page into an explosive, noisy field. Its 'words in freedom' scattered type of every size and face across diagonals and spirals, while Depero's advertising of the 1920s–30s recast the same dynamism as bold, mechanical commercial art.

- Period: 1909–1944
- Where: Southern Europe
- Origin: Milan, later Rome and Rovereto, Italy
- Branch: Avant-garde
- Also known as: Futurismo, Parole in libertà, Words in freedom, Second Futurism
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/futurism/

## How it works

- Destroy the harmonious page: scatter 'words in freedom' along diagonals, curves and spirals.
- Mix many typefaces, sizes, weights and colours within one line so the type sounds like noise.
- Let letter size express volume and speed: onomatopoeia shouts in giant capitals, asides whisper in small type.
- Replace punctuation and syntax with mathematical signs, arrows and rules.
- Show motion by repeating, faceting and blurring forms along lines of force.
- Glorify the machine, speed and the modern city; make the page agitate rather than soothe.

## Its design choices

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

### Layout & composition
- [Diagonal axis](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/diagonal-axis/) (defining)
- [Radial & concentric](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/radial-and-concentric/) (characteristic)
- [Collage & layering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/collage-and-layering/) (characteristic)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Visual tension](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/visual-tension/) (defining)
- [Extreme scale contrast](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/extreme-scale-contrast/) (characteristic)
- [Repetition & rhythm](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/repetition-and-rhythm/) (characteristic)
- [Horror vacui](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/horror-vacui/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Eclectic mixing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/eclectic-mixing/) (defining)
- [Rotated & vertical setting](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rotated-and-vertical-setting/) (defining)
- [Type as image](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/type-as-image/) (characteristic)
- [Experimental & distorted](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/experimental-and-distorted/) (characteristic)
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Monochrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/monochrome/) (characteristic)
- [Full polychrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-polychrome/) (characteristic)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (characteristic)
- [Complementary clash](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/complementary-clash/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Angular & zigzag](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/angular-and-zigzag/) (defining)
- [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (characteristic)
- [Non-representational](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/non-representational/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (characteristic)
- [Paper & letterpress bite](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/paper-and-letterpress-bite/) (occasional)

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

### Imagery
- [Typography only](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/typography-only/) (characteristic)
- [Flat vector illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-vector-illustration/) (occasional)
- [Photomontage](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/photomontage/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Letterpress](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/letterpress/) (characteristic)
- [Lithography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/lithography/) (occasional)
- [Architecture & signage](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/architecture-and-signage/) (occasional)

### Tone & intent
- [Technological & futurist](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/technological-and-futurist/) (defining)
- [Agitational & persuasive](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/agitational-and-persuasive/) (characteristic)
- [Rebellious & subversive](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rebellious-and-subversive/) (characteristic)
- [Playful & witty](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/playful-and-witty/) (occasional)

Avoids: Central symmetry, Classical text block, Measured density, Calm & contemplative, Nostalgic & retro, Floral & vegetal

Palette: #f1ead8, #141414, #d22b1f, #f2b705, #1d5fa8, #7a7d82

Typefaces: Mixed jobbing grotesques, Egyptians and Didones from the printer's case, Hand-drawn onomatopoeic lettering (parole in libertà), Depero's block-built display lettering

Known for: Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (Zang Tumb Tumb, 1914; Les Mots en liberté futuristes, 1919); Fortunato Depero (Depero Futurista 'bolted book', 1927; Campari advertising); Carlo Carrà (Interventionist Demonstration, 1914); Ardengo Soffici (BÏF§ZF+18, 1915); Giacomo Balla; Lacerba journal (Florence, 1913–1915); Marinetti & Tullio d'Albisola, lithographed tin book (1932)

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

- Grew out of: [Cubist Pictorial Space](https://stylogeny.com/styles/cubism.md) (1907–1925)
- Led to: [Russian Futurist Book](https://stylogeny.com/styles/russian-futurist-book.md) (1910–1920)
- Led to: [Vorticism & BLAST Typography](https://stylogeny.com/styles/vorticism.md) (1914–1920)
- Led to: [Suprematism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/suprematism.md) (1915–1925)
- Led to: [Dada](https://stylogeny.com/styles/dada.md) (1916–1924)
- Led to: [Estridentismo (Stridentist) Graphics](https://stylogeny.com/styles/estridentismo-graphics.md) (1921–1927)
- Led to: [Italian Fascist Graphics (Romanità & Exhibition Photomontage)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/italian-fascist-graphics.md) (1921–1943)
- Led to: [Brazilian Modernismo Graphics (Klaxon and the Semana de 22)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/brazilian-modernismo-graphics.md) (1922–1929)
- Alike in its design choices: [Russian Constructivism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/constructivism.md) (1917–1934), 66% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Mavo](https://stylogeny.com/styles/mavo.md) (1923–1925), 62% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Czech Poetist Book Design (Devětsil)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/czech-poetism.md) (1922–1938), 54% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Emigre & Early Digital Type](https://stylogeny.com/styles/emigre.md) (1984–1998), 50% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Bauhaus](https://stylogeny.com/styles/bauhaus.md) (1919–1933), 48% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Swiss Punk / New Wave Typography](https://stylogeny.com/styles/new-wave-typography.md) (1968–1990), 46% alike

## Real works

- [In the Evening, Lying on Her Bed, She Reread the Letter from Her Artilleryman at the Front, fold-out from Les Mots en liberté futuristes](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:In_the_Evening,_Lying_on_Her_Bed,_She_Reread_the_Letter_from_Her_Artilleryman_at_the_Front_(Le_Soir,_Couch%C3%A9e_dans_son_lit,_elle_relisait_la_lettre_de_son_artilleur_au_front),_published_in_Les_Mots_en_libert%C3%A9_futuristes_MET_DP371749.jpg): Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, created 1917, published 1919, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1995.511.1 (image via Wikimedia Commons)
- [A Tumultuous Assembly. Numerical Sensibility, fold-out from Les Mots en liberté futuristes](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:A_Tumultuous_Assembly._Numerical_Sensibility_(Une_Assembl%C3%A9e_tumultueuse._Sensibilit%C3%A9_num%C3%A9rique)_published_in_Les_mots_en_libert%C3%A9_futuristes_MET_DP371750.jpg): Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, 1919, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1995.511.2 (image via Wikimedia Commons)
- [Zang Tumb Tumb (Zang Tumb Tuuum): Adrianopoli ottobre 1912, parole in libertà (front cover)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wolfsonian-FIU_Museum_-_IMG_8208.JPG): Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, 1914, The Wolfsonian–FIU, Miami Beach (visitor photograph via Wikimedia Commons)

## Sources

- Johanna Drucker, The Visible Word: Experimental Typography and Modern Art, 1909–1923 (1994)
- Vivien Greene (ed.), Italian Futurism, 1909–1944: Reconstructing the Universe (Guggenheim Museum, 2014)
- Philip B. Meggs & Alston W. Purvis, Meggs' History of Graphic Design

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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, “Italian Futurism”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/futurism/