# Lucerne poster generator

Your title in heavy condensed capitals filling the sheet, its letters bent through one field into a single optical motif, with date and bill small at the edges.

Open the generator: https://morph.ogeny.app/lucerne/

## Design choices

- **Experimental & distorted** (`type.experimental`): Stretched, fragmented, layered or deliberately hard-to-read letters. Set by “Distortion”. https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/experimental-and-distorted/
- **Radial & concentric** (`layout.radial`): Elements radiate from, or orbit around, a centre. “Distortion”: Vortex. https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/radial-and-concentric/
- **Illusion of depth** (`space.depth-illusion`): Perspective, overlap, shadow or parallax create a z-axis. “Distortion”: Bulge. https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/illusion-of-depth/
- **Organic flow** (`layout.organic-flow`): Text and image follow curving, natural paths instead of a grid. “Distortion”: Ripple. https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/organic-flow/
- **Optical pattern** (`form.op-pattern`): Repeated lines and modules that vibrate or warp perception. Set by “Optical pattern”. Measured on the opening picture: pixels on an edge 14% with “None”, 25% with “Line field”, 23% with “Reversed checks”, 22% with “Echo lines” and 22% with “Cast shadow”. https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/optical-pattern/
- **Hard offset shadow** (`surface.hard-shadow`): Solid, unblurred drop shadows and outlines. “Optical pattern”: Cast shadow. https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hard-offset-shadow/
- **Repetition & rhythm** (`space.repetition`): Repeated units create a visual cadence. Set by “Repetition & rhythm”. Measured on the opening picture, from 16 to 80: pixels on an edge 16% → 35%. https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/repetition-and-rhythm/
- **Monochrome** (`color.monochrome`): A single hue, or black and white. “Colour”: Black and white. Measured on the opening picture with “Black and white”: hues besides black, white and grey 0. https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/monochrome/
- **Limited spot colours** (`color.limited-spot`): Two or three flat inks. “Colour”: Limited spot colours. Measured on the opening picture with “Limited spot colours”: hues besides black, white and grey 2. https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/
- **Type as image** (`type.oversized`): Letters so large they become the picture. Always. https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/type-as-image/
- **Single focal point** (`space.single-focal`): One unmistakable point of entry. Always. https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/
- **Condensed display** (`type.condensed-display`): Tall, narrow, heavy letters for impact. Always. https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/condensed-display/
- **All caps** (`type.all-caps`): Capitals for monumentality, order or shouting. Always. https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/all-caps/
- **Flat fields** (`color.flat-fields`): Unmodulated areas of colour. Always. https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/

## How it works

- The title is the picture: heavy condensed capitals fill the sheet edge to edge, and their outlines are bent through one field (a vortex, a bulge, a ripple, slices or a fold) into a single motif.
- The optical pattern is bent by the same field as the letters, so lines, checks or echoes and the title read as one surface.
- A limit does the design work: black and white only, or a few flat inks overprinting on the lightest colour as paper; date, place and bill in small grotesque type at the edges.

It never does:

- No pictures, no ornament and no second typeface for the title; no greys in black and white.
- No copy of any venue’s or designer’s poster: the default words are plain kinds of evening, and the edge text is generic (no real venues, names or events).
- Motion only breathes the field around its still, once a loop, so the letters never flicker; the still is the first frame.

## Controls

- `text` Words (default ""): The title, in capitals, on up to three lines. Left empty, the variation number picks a plain one.
- `distortion` Distortion (vortex | bulge | ripple | slice | fold; default vortex): The one idea the letters are bent into: twisted round a point, swollen, rippled, sliced and shifted, or folded like a leporello.
- `strength` Strength (0–1, default 0.6): How far the field bends the letters.
- `field` Optical pattern (none | lines | checks | echo | shadow; default lines): What runs through the ground on the same field: lines, a checkerboard the letters reverse, outlines stepping back, or a hatched shadow. Measured on the opening picture: pixels on an edge 14% with “None”, 25% with “Line field”, 23% with “Reversed checks”, 22% with “Echo lines” and 22% with “Cast shadow”.
- `density` Repetition & rhythm (16–80, default 44): How many lines, checks or echoes. Measured on the opening picture, from 16 to 80: pixels on an edge 16% → 35%.
- `break` Lines (auto | 1 | 2 | 3; default auto): How many lines the title takes; a single word is cut in the middle when it has to be.
- `colour` Colour (mono | inks; default mono): Black and white only, or a few flat inks that overprint. Black and white: Measured on the opening picture with “Black and white”: hues besides black, white and grey 0. Limited spot colours: Measured on the opening picture with “Limited spot colours”: hues besides black, white and grey 2.
- `details` Edge text (default true): Date, place and bill in small grotesque type at the edges.

## About Lucerne Poster Scene (Neubad & Südpol Posters)

Since the late 2000s the small non-commercial venues of Lucerne have commissioned a new poster for every concert and club night, and the city became known for them well beyond Switzerland. Most often the title is the picture: the letters of the band or the evening are built, twisted or warped until they fill the sheet as one motif, with op-art line fields, checkerboards and cast shadows that seem to stand out of the paper. A limit does the rest: black and white only for one venue, a few Risograph inks for another.

This generator sets your words in heavy condensed capitals that fill the sheet, then bends their outlines through one field: a vortex, a bulge, a ripple, slices that shift, or a fold. The optical pattern behind them (a line field, a checkerboard the letters reverse, echo outlines or a hatched shadow) is bent by the same field, so title and ground read as one surface. Date, place and bill sit in small grotesque type at the edges; the words there are generic, never real venues or bands. Leave the title empty and the variation number picks a plain one.

Black and white is the default; Limited spot colours lets a few flat inks overprint on the lightest colour as paper, which looks right with the Risograph misregistration pass. In motion the field breathes once a loop, slowly, and the still is the first frame. The type is Archivo, an open-source variable grotesque, held in the SVG as outlines.

Lucerne Poster Scene (Neubad & Südpol Posters) in Stylogeny (2007–today): https://stylogeny.com/styles/lucerne-poster-scene/

## Recipe

```json
{
  "tool": "lucerne",
  "v": 1,
  "seed": 1,
  "format": "poster",
  "params": {
    "text": "",
    "distortion": "vortex",
    "strength": 0.6,
    "field": "lines",
    "density": 44,
    "break": "auto",
    "colour": "mono",
    "details": true
  },
  "palette": "lucerne-poster-scene"
}
```