# Supergraphics

> Oversized stripes, numerals, letters and abstract shapes painted directly onto walls, floors and ceilings, wrapping across architectural planes so that a room reads larger, deeper or differently shaped. It took Swiss-trained flat colour and sans-serif type off the page and made the graphic the surface of the building. It later became a standard tool of environmental graphic design for wayfinding and branding.

- Period: 1966–2026
- Where: North America
- Origin: California and New York in the mid-1960s; Barbara Stauffacher Solomon's painted interiors at The Sea Ranch, California, brought the method to a wide American audience
- Branch: Postmodern
- Also known as: Supergraphic, Environmental supergraphics, Sea Ranch supergraphics
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/supergraphics/

## How it works

- Paint the graphic at architectural scale directly on the wall, floor or ceiling, not on a panel hung there.
- Wrap the shape across corners, doors and planes so it redefines the room's apparent size and depth.
- Use flat, saturated colour fields and bold stripes with no shading; any sense of depth comes from wrapping the geometry across planes, not from modelling.
- Set letters, numerals and arrows in a plain sans-serif large enough to be read as architecture.
- Let the graphic ignore the architecture's joints where that makes the space feel different, and use it to guide movement through the building.

## Its design choices

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

### Layout & composition
- [Full bleed](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-bleed/) (defining)
- [Dynamic asymmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/dynamic-asymmetry/) (characteristic)
- [Diagonal axis](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/diagonal-axis/) (characteristic)
- [Broken grid](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/broken-grid/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Extreme scale contrast](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/extreme-scale-contrast/) (defining)
- [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (characteristic)
- [Repetition & rhythm](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/repetition-and-rhythm/) (characteristic)
- [Illusion of depth](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/illusion-of-depth/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Type as image](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/type-as-image/) (defining)
- [Grotesque & neo-grotesque](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/grotesque-and-neo-grotesque/) (characteristic)
- [Geometric sans](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-sans/) (characteristic)

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

### Form & shape
- [Geometric primitives](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-primitives/) (defining)
- [Non-representational](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/non-representational/) (characteristic)
- [Angular & zigzag](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/angular-and-zigzag/) (occasional)
- [Pictogram](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pictogram/) (occasional)

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

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

### Imagery
- [Pattern & repeat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pattern-and-repeat/) (characteristic)
- [Icons & pictograms](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/icons-and-pictograms/) (occasional)
- [Typography only](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/typography-only/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Architecture & signage](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/architecture-and-signage/) (defining)
- [Hand-painted](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-painted/) (characteristic)
- [Motion & broadcast](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/motion-and-broadcast/) (occasional)

### Tone & intent
- [Playful & witty](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/playful-and-witty/) (characteristic)
- [Utopian & idealistic](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/utopian-and-idealistic/) (occasional)

Avoids: Floral & vegetal, Abundant decoration, Skeuomorphic material, Grain & noise, Script, Blackletter, Classical text block, Naturalistic depiction

Palette: #e63b2e, #f6b800, #0b5cad, #f2efe6, #1d1d1b, #2fa58b

Typefaces: Helvetica (typical, not documented), Univers (typical, not documented), Futura (typical, not documented)

Known for: Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, painted interiors at The Sea Ranch, California (mid-1960s), including the Moonraker Athletic Center bathhouse graphics with architect Charles Moore (published in Progressive Architecture, March 1967); Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, week-long supergraphics studio for the Yale Art and Architecture building elevators (1968), to which Charles Moore invited her; C. Ray Smith, who named the work in 1967 in his writing on Supermannerism; Deborah Sussman (Sussman Prejza), environmental graphics in the same large-scale tradition, including the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics look; Lance Wyman, Mexico 68 environmental graphics and wayfinding (see mexico-68); Morag Myerscough, contemporary large-scale painted and applied interiors (UK), part of the 2000s resurgence

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

- Grew out of: [International Typographic Style](https://stylogeny.com/styles/swiss-international.md) (1950–1975)
- Influenced by: [Pop Art Graphics](https://stylogeny.com/styles/pop-art.md) (1955–1975)
- Alike in its design choices: [Bauhaus](https://stylogeny.com/styles/bauhaus.md) (1919–1933), 58% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Zagreb Modernist Graphics (EXAT 51 to Teatar &TD)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/zagreb-modernist-graphics.md) (1951–1975), 57% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Di Tella Graphic Design (Instituto Torcuato Di Tella)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/di-tella-graphics.md) (1960–1970), 56% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Spotify Duotone Identity](https://stylogeny.com/styles/spotify-duotone.md) (2015–present), 56% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Neo-Brutalism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/neo-brutalism.md) (2020–present), 55% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [De Stijl](https://stylogeny.com/styles/de-stijl.md) (1917–1931), 54% alike

## Sources

- Wikipedia, Supergraphics (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supergraphics)
- Wikipedia, Barbara Stauffacher Solomon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Stauffacher_Solomon)
- Wikipedia, Deborah Sussman (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Sussman)
- Wikipedia, Lance Wyman (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lance_Wyman)

---

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, “Supergraphics”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/supergraphics/