Plakatstil vs Vienna Secession Graphics

Plakatstil was influenced by Vienna Secession Graphics — shared the move toward flat planes, geometry, and the integrated logotype.

Original specimen in the Plakatstil 'object poster' style

Plakatstil

A radically reductive German poster style that strips the advertisement to a single product, a brand name, and a flat field of color — the 'object poster' that founded modern advertising design.

  • Single isolated product as the subject
  • Flat, unmodulated background color
  • Bold custom brand logotype
  • Elimination of ornament and depth
  • High-contrast legibility at a glance
Full Plakatstil guide →
Gustav Klimt — poster for the 1st Vienna Secession exhibition (1898)

Vienna Secession Graphics

The graphic output of the Vienna Secession and Wiener Werkstätte, marrying gridded geometric ornament to gilded, Klimt-era pattern, custom square lettering, and the near-square journal Ver Sacrum.

  • Geometric gridded ornament and checkerboards
  • Custom geometric display lettering
  • Near-square Ver Sacrum format
  • Gilded flat decorative pattern fields
  • Generous, structured white space
Full Vienna Secession Graphics guide →

At a glance

PlakatstilVienna Secession Graphics
Era1905–1920s1897–1920
DisciplineGraphic DesignGraphic Design
RegionGermanyAustria
FamilyModernist, PosterArt Nouveau, Secession
Formal traitsflat-color, reductive, custom-lettering, high-contrastgeometric-ornament, custom-lettering, flat-color, gridded

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