Emigre Digital Type vs Postmodern Graphic Design

Emigre Digital Type was influenced by Postmodern Graphic Design.

Original specimen in the Emigre Digital Type style

Emigre Digital Type

The pixel-embracing typography and deconstructed layouts of Emigre magazine, where the low-resolution Macintosh became a creative instrument rather than a limitation.

  • Bitmap typefaces built on a coarse pixel grid
  • Low-resolution Macintosh-era output
  • Layered, rule-breaking editorial layouts
  • Visible pixel staircase on letterforms
  • Experimental, deconstructed typography
Full Emigre Digital Type guide →
Original specimen in the postmodern / New Wave style

Postmodern Graphic Design

The rule-breaking reaction against rigid Swiss modernism, fracturing the grid with tilted type, layered transparency, and an embrace of complexity, ambiguity, and digital experimentation.

  • Fractured grids with tilted and diagonal type axes
  • Layered transparency and overlapping image planes
  • Exaggerated, irregular letterspacing and stepped rules
  • Early embrace of digital noise and Macintosh bitmap imagery
  • Collision of disparate textures, patterns, and typefaces
Full Postmodern Graphic Design guide →

At a glance

Emigre Digital TypePostmodern Graphic Design
Era1980s–1990sc. 1970s–1990s
DisciplineGraphic DesignGraphic Design
RegionUnited StatesSwitzerland, United States
FamilyDigital, TypographyPostmodern, Digital
Formal traitsbitmap, low-resolution, layered, experimentallayered, tilted-type, letterspaced, grid-breaking

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