For some, icons and fashions of the 2000s are “old”, “vintage”, and even “dad rock”, to speak of genres like pop-punk and emo. Yet, they’ve somehow come into vogue with those same people. Trends cycle – and millennials are getting old.
Technology has long been an accessory to ideas of retro revival, never quite fitting in until people got sick of social media. Now, smartphones are giving way to “dumb” phones and flip phones, and digital cameras are growing popular again as the minor exodus from tech continues.
What’s Coming Back
Then, there are old things that just never went away. The ever-popular Polaroid instant cameras, using the trademark i-Type film, have alternated between essential and kitsch (or hipster) since their introduction in 1948.
Similarly, we’re still playing the games we saw on TV decades ago. Betfair’s Plinko gambling experience is the same as the one Bob Barker introduced to The Price Is Right in 1983, albeit with the prizes going to people playing from home.
Every year comes with predictions of what’s coming back over the next twelve months. The collaborative voting project Listverse saw reel-to-reel tape recorders, cassette tapes, and typewriters in its crystal ball in December 2024.
Listverse’s pick for number one was at least a surprise – the Mazda Wankel rotary engine, a new/old development in automotive design.
From Lawless to Highly-Structured
Web design is harder to predict. There’s an obvious question about whether people still use websites in the social media era (TechRadar insists they do).
Even with that answered, there haven’t been any huge shifts in web design since the Frutiger Aero style of the 2000s (think Windows 7) and the flat design movement of 2015 (Windows 8 onward). Some would argue that retro or vintage themes began to appear after 2008, however.
Let’s go back to the beginning of this article and the 2000s. The concept of Y2K and all its related trends in web design keeps cropping up in discussions. For example, the markup.io website suggests that “nostalgia marketing” makes designers look to the past for answers.
What exactly is a Y2K-inspired design? Aside from the hysteria accompanying that date in computer circles, the 2000s’ web design was content-rich, consisting of bold colors and elaborate fonts. It ranged from lawless to highly structured, long before Google dictated what webmasters could or couldn’t do.
“Busy” Design
The WebDesignMuseum refers to the 2000s as the “golden age” of web design. Unfortunately, it’s more of a graveyard today, listing long-lost sites and brands. A preference for large imagery and “busy” design shines through examples that include Sony (2002), IGN (2003), and Scifi.com (2001).
Of course, the era of AOL and WinAmp is vastly different design-wise from the modern day, where functional, characterless pages are the norm, and all logos look the same. Even the Pringles guy lost his hair and the glint in his eyes over the past 25 years. It’s all in the name of navigation and ease-of-use that borders on insulting.
Implementing retro ideas about the web might be cool, but it’s hard to see how they’ll take off amid such sterile thinking.
