# Northwest Coast Formline Design

> The two-dimensional design system of the northern Northwest Coast nations, painted, carved and woven onto boxes, house fronts, robes and hats, and printed as serigraphs since the 1960s. A continuous black primary formline that swells and tapers joins ovoids, U-forms and S-forms into hereditary crest beings, with red secondary lines and blue-green tertiary areas. The figure is split, splayed and compressed until it fills its field.

- Period: 1700–present
- Where: North America
- Origin: Northern Northwest Coast: Haida Gwaii, Tlingit Southeast Alaska, Tsimshian-speaking nations (coast, Skeena and Nass) and Heiltsuk territory, British Columbia and Alaska; Kwakwaka'wakw and Coast Salish design are related but distinct
- Branch: Traditions & vernacular
- Also known as: Formline, Northern Northwest Coast two-dimensional design, Haida, Tlingit and Tsimshian crest art
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/northwest-coast-formline/

## Use it with care

Formline images are hereditary crests: the raven, eagle, killer whale, bear, beaver and other beings belong to particular clans, houses and lineages, their display is tied to rights validated at potlatches and feasts, and some designs and stories are restricted. The tradition belongs to the Haida, Tlingit, Tsimshian and Heiltsuk nations, not to a generic 'Pacific Northwest' style. Commission or license work from artists of those nations, credit them by name and nation, and never redraw crests or assemble pseudo-formline from ovoids and U-forms.

## How it works

- Build every figure from one continuous primary formline that swells and tapers; never draw a line of uniform weight.
- Assemble anatomy from a fixed kit of units (ovoids, U-forms, split U-forms, S-forms) and shape the negative trigons and crescents as carefully as the positive lines.
- Rank colour strictly: black for the primary formline, red for secondary formlines, blue-green for tertiary areas, on natural wood or paper.
- Split the creature along its spine and splay it symmetrically, marking joints with ovoid eyes, so it reads frontally and in profile at once.
- Distort and compress the figure until it fills the given shape, whether box side, robe, hat or print, leaving no empty ground.
- Identify each crest being by fixed diagnostic features, such as the beaver's incisors and cross-hatched tail or the killer whale's dorsal fin and blowhole.

## Its design choices

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

### Layout & composition
- [Central symmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/central-symmetry/) (defining)
- [Framed panels](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/framed-panels/) (characteristic)
- [All-over field](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/all-over-field/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Horror vacui](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/horror-vacui/) (defining)
- [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (characteristic)
- [Repetition & rhythm](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/repetition-and-rhythm/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (defining)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (defining)
- [Earth & mineral](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/earth-and-mineral/) (characteristic)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (characteristic)

### Form & shape
- [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (defining)
- [Distortion & exaggeration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/distortion-and-exaggeration/) (characteristic)
- [Biomorphic curves](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/biomorphic-curves/) (characteristic)
- [Rounded & pill](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rounded-and-pill/) (occasional)
- [Non-representational](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/non-representational/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (defining)
- [Carved line](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/carved-line/) (characteristic)

### Ornament
- [Folk & sacred symbols](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/folk-and-sacred-symbols/) (defining)
- [Emblems & badges](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/emblems-and-badges/) (characteristic)
- [Abundant decoration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/abundant-decoration/) (characteristic)

### Imagery
- [Line illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/line-illustration/) (characteristic)
- [Pattern & repeat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pattern-and-repeat/) (occasional)
- [Comic & cartoon](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/comic-and-cartoon/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Hand-painted](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-painted/) (characteristic)
- [Screen printing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/screen-printing/) (characteristic)
- [Architecture & signage](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/architecture-and-signage/) (characteristic)
- [Textile & craft](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/textile-and-craft/) (characteristic)

### Tone & intent
- [Authoritative & institutional](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/authoritative-and-institutional/) (characteristic)
- [Spiritual & sacred](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/spiritual-and-sacred/) (characteristic)
- [Communal & popular](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/communal-and-popular/) (characteristic)

Avoids: Gradients, Illusion of depth, Naturalistic depiction, Generous white space, Straight photography, Floral & vegetal, Fluorescent & neon

Palette: #141414, #a8261d, #3b7a74, #b98a5e, #efe9dd

Typefaces: Hand-lettered captions and titling in Yahgulanaas's Haida Manga, Latin faces with full Lingít and X̱aad Kíl orthographic support (x̱, g̱, ḵ), e.g. Noto Sans, for accompanying text

Known for: Charles Edenshaw (Da.a xiigang, Haida, c. 1839–1920); Raven screen (Yéil X̱ʼéen) attributed to Ḵaajisdu.áx̱ch (Tlingit, late 18th–early 19th century); Chilkat robes (Tlingit woven formline); Bill Holm, Northwest Coast Indian Art: An Analysis of Form (1965); Bill Reid (Haida): The Spirit of Haida Gwaii and The Raven and the First Men on the 2004 Canadian $20 note; Robert Davidson (Haida), serigraphs and painting; Freda Diesing (Haida), carver and teacher; Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, RED: A Haida Manga (2009)

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

- Alike in its design choices: [Kōwhaiwhai & Toi Māori Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/maori-kowhaiwhai.md) (1500–present), 77% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Mithila (Madhubani) Painting](https://stylogeny.com/styles/mithila-painting.md) (c. 1350–present), 76% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Norwegian and Finnish National Romantic Graphics (Munthe & Karelianism)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/nordic-national-romanticism.md) (1880–1922), 71% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Chinese Paper-Cut (Jianzhi)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/chinese-paper-cut.md) (c. 500–present), 70% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Mixteca-Puebla Codex Painting](https://stylogeny.com/styles/mixteca-puebla-codex.md) (c. 1200–1560), 69% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Woodland School (Legend Painting)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/woodland-school.md) (1962–present), 68% alike

## Real works

- [Ceremonial Garment (Naaxein) (Chilkat Blanket)](https://clevelandart.org/art/1981.69): late 1800s, The Cleveland Museum of Art
- [Mantle](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/751495): ca. 1800, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- [Storage Chest](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/319171): 1780–1820, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- [In the Eye of the Beholder](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/274259): Robert Davidson (Haida, Eagle Clan, born 1946), 1993, Art Institute of Chicago (2024.415)

## Sources

- Bill Holm, Northwest Coast Indian Art: An Analysis of Form (University of Washington Press, 1965)
- Canadian Museum of History, 'Formline design', Haida Arts and Technologies: https://www.historymuseum.ca/teachers-zone/haida-arts-and-technologies/formline-design
- Burke Museum, 'Formline' (Susan Point web exhibit): https://burkemuseum.org/static/Susan_Point_Web_Exhibit/formline.html
- Wikipedia: Formline; Bill Reid; Corrine Hunt

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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, “Northwest Coast Formline Design”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/northwest-coast-formline/