Stylogenyin the style of Op Art Graphics

Rational modernism · 1960–1975 · Global / networked

Op Art Graphics

Also known as Optical Art, Op, Kinetic graphics

A 1960s style that turned perceptual research into graphic effect: precisely drawn lines, checks, concentric rings and modular grids, usually black and white or complementaries of equal value, that seem to vibrate, swell or move. Rooted in Bauhaus form teaching through Vasarely and Albers and popularised by MoMA's 1965 'The Responsive Eye', it spread quickly into posters, record sleeves, fashion textiles and identities such as Mexico 68.

Make something in this styleGet advice in this styleMix it with another style

Alternating red and white curved stripes fill the poster, swelling and pinching into a repeating optical illusion of bulges and tunnels. The word “PULSE” appears in tall, multiline red lettering near the center.
AI-generated by Stylogeny from the style’s design choices. Not a real or historical work.

01

How it works

  • Build the whole image from one repeated module (line, square or circle) and vary its thickness, spacing or curvature progressively.
  • Use maximum value contrast, or complementary hues of equal value, to make edges vibrate.
  • Distort a regular grid locally to suggest bulging, twisting or receding surfaces.
  • Draw lettering with parallel or concentric outlines so type and field share one rhythm.
  • Execute with mechanical precision; any wobble breaks the illusion.

Paris, London, Milan and New York, with Latin American kinetic art in Caracas and Paris

02

Its design choices

From Stylogeny’s vocabulary of design choices: defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

Layout & composition
Space & hierarchy
Typography
Colour
Form & shape
Surface & texture
Ornament
Imagery
Medium & production
Tone & intent
Avoids
Naturalistic depiction, Straight photography, Painterly illustration, Painterly brushwork, Grain & noise, Floral & vegetal, Script, Collage & layering

Palette

  • #ffffff
  • #0a0a0a
  • #e3001b
  • #0050b5
  • #00a651

Typefaces

  • Mexico 68 multiline lettering

    Lance Wyman

  • Futura

  • Helvetica

  • Eurostile

Known for

  • Victor Vasarely

    Zebra, 1937; Renault lozenge with Yvaral, 1972

  • Bridget Riley

    Movement in Squares, 1961

  • Franco Grignani

    Woolmark logo, 1964; Alfieri & Lacroix advertisements

  • Lance Wyman, Eduardo Terrazas & Pedro Ramírez Vázquez

    Mexico 68 Olympic identity

  • Josef Albers

    Interaction of Color, 1963

  • William C. Seitz, The Responsive Eye

    MoMA, 1965

03

Make something in this style

Say what you need, and Stylogeny’s image studio draws it from Op Art Graphics’s design choices and checks it against them. It takes about a minute, and you get a link to share.

Rule out a choice, read the prompt, or blend in another style: take this brief to Mix styles.

04

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

Before it

The style it grew out of, and the styles it borrowed from.

This styleOp Art Graphics1960–1975 · Global / networked

After it

The styles that grew out of it.

No later style in the atlas grew out of it yet.

Alike in its design choices

Styles that make many of the same choices, related or not, besides those above.

05

Real works

Artefacts in museums, libraries and archives that show the style, linked at their source.

06

Sources

  1. William C. Seitz, The Responsive Eye (MoMA, 1965) (https://www.moma.org/documents/moma_catalogue_2860_300190234.pdf)
  2. Estorick Collection, Franco Grignani: Art as Design 1950–1990 (https://estorickcollection.com/exhibitions/franco-grignani-art-as-design-1950-1990)
  3. Philip B. Meggs & Alston W. Purvis, Meggs' History of Graphic Design

How Stylogeny researches and checks a style: where the facts come from.