And honestly, I’m really glad to see the minimal Corporate Memphis art style be the common company’s choice. It makes Frutiger this cheesy but genuinely nostalgic style that had a pretty short lifespan in graphic design, but undeniably nostalgic nonetheless.
I liked it because it looks so nice yeah it looks weird, but also i liked it when technology was more disconnected from real life. Like Frutiger Aero usually is nothing like normal life and back when Frutiger Aero was most popular we didn’t have big tech it just looked nice. I don’t know i’m bad with words this has been really weird comment about personal opinion.
i know this is a joke but Linkin Park was never "edgy" there is a difference between emotional music and edgy music the lyrics in linkin park reflected was chester and mike (the two main vocalists) were going through alot of linkin park songs are very hard to listen to knowing that chester committed suicide in 2017
For some reason, it was the soap bottle that did it for me. Every bathroom ever in the 2000's had the fish drip going on. Fish on the shower curtain, shiny glass rocks in a bowl, fuzzy pastel coloured towels, soft night light, and of course the fish soap. I'd see that bottle no matter which side of the country I was on, and only now do I realize I miss the fish soap.
I feel the same exact way, like almost as if it were a glimpse of what a green utopia could be like where nature and technology were in tandem instead of black and white concepts like tech destroying nature or having to go without tech to be one with nature.
THIS. technology was developed enough so we could live in that atmosphere were everything felt connected but not advanced enough to share everything everytime everywhere like it is today, world now feels small, unattractive
Suddenly, it makes more sense how the vaporwave aesthetic rose to prominence in the early 2010s. Vaporwave feels like the ironic punk reaction to seeing a decade of Frutiger Aero everywhere.
I used to like frutiger aero aesthetic it was so good and fresh to see and it was in happy times too like in sea-shops designs and advertisements of holiday resorts and the Wii too as well. I think what made me a little sad that times was the minimalism that was coming with the new century, in houses, life styles and everything in general seemed to become a bit more boring in everyday routine designs than it was back in the 80s/90s that looked both simple and more fun as well with neon colors and a lot of signs and stuff so i was into vaporwave because of this need to go back in the "easy and fun" times because of the boredom of the minimalism, but frutiger aero i think was the last world aesthetic i had been into it was nice
You are right for sure. I think it reminds people of a very corporate/capitalist tech environment, and vaporwave was a kind of reflection on that but mostly nostalgia for the late 80s-90s
This video is a bit mistaken imo. The trend for beveled edges, transparencies, gradients, water drops, leaves and grass kicked off in 1999 or so when Photoshop along with Paint Shop Pro implemented new features for this including premade stamps and brushes. Coupled with “going green” campaigns and predictive “futuristic” design concepts, they essentially intertwined. Because graphic software was so new, the top paid artists would showcase their ability with the new aquatic presets and tools advertised in PS and PSP. Graphic design prior to these versions were limited or more difficult. When beveling, drop shadows, layer blending, etc. was being pioneered, things like water, sheens, combined gradients, etc. were becoming trendy because it wasn’t being done before. The natural subjects arose with heavy emphasis on nature and physical elements as it was not previously easy unless you airbrushed them. Thus, glass, metal, water, and nature were easier to replicate for the first time. Because it was so new to be able to do so, a natural mimicking of the real world with glossy elemental and flowy accents were a rarity and difficult to achieve. Now that they’re more common with more tutorials, our design tastes are changing to something else.
@@Unpopularity also using real elements was probably because technology was just getting it's footing and apps used real looking components to ease people still used to the real world into the internet
Frutiger Aero is the one aesthetic where I think there is a very very fine line between looking great, polished, and professional, and looking really cheap, uncanny, and cynical. Hard to say what exactly sets good F.A. design apart from bad F.A. design, but the divide definitely exists.
absolutely. before watching this and thinking more about it, FA really was just the "boring english class schoolbook aesthetic" to me. It always looked so awkward and artificial, with its heavily edited nature imagery and unnaturally happy people.
I didn't even know this aesthetic had a name. It's definitely gonna have a reemergence in the underground scene in 10 more years much like Vaporwave and the soon emerging Y2K era aesthetics
It's already definitely an aesthetic, James Ferarro was experimenting with this aesthetic over a decade ago, y'all should check out his album "far side virtual"
So glad there's a name for this. I thought I was crazy when I told people I missed this 2000's aesthetic in tech, architecture, interior design and them giving me a blank face like they didn't think anything looked different then from now.
I miss this era of digital aesthetic 😢 Kinda cool how there’s still examples of it and how it’s evolved into a more polished version of the 2000s version
@@omarma7815 In no way, whatsoever, has this design ever been considered dull. I get the point you're trying to make - oversaturated maybe, but not dull.
"Only 2000s kids will remember" is becoming the new "only 90s kids will remember" and it truly shows that the march of time is unstoppable and the future will never be as bright as you think it'll be... Anyway I think it looks nice and should have a comeback. Glad there's a name put to the aesthetic that evokes a feeling that I haven't felt in years.
5:48 I MADE THAT IMAGE! I was in middle school in the "frutiger areo" years, and that iPod nano ad was the thing, but I wanted a version with my own albums. Almost a decade after I made my middle school dream. Now look at my child... P.S: if ypu guys are interested I can send you links to the albums listed. They are wildly different from each other and from what people usually listen.
Something about Frugier Aero is that he doesn't only make me feel nostalgic, make me feel thirsty because damn they used a lot of water in those wallpapers, even the texture of logs reminds me of water
Weird story. But I had just come out of surgery a few years back and I was on some intense painkillers in the hospital. I had some very vivid dreams and one of them was basically myself transported back to 2006 and everything was coated in the frutiger aero aesthetic. It was so calming and comforting. I even went and changed the UI on Windows 10 to mimic Vista as much as possible. I can’t stand how soulless things today look by comparison.
@@johnnyc.31 if you look at corporate minimalist aesthetic today you will see that FA looks like the Mona-Lisa in comparison. In my opinion FA has a lot of character and is one of the better “corporate” aesthetics of recent memory.
@@rabidlorax1650 I’m won’t argue, but Forcoy makes a good point - any aesthetic can be poorly executed, and they often are. However, the most iconic & memorable designs employ a minimal approach for a reason. Poor execution is more likely with various elements, poorly balanced, and dividing the focus of the viewer. Messy design = muddled communication & ineffective branding. For “pure art” though (with no need to communicate a message, brand, or product identity) sure, you can view something in this style as the Mona Lisa. It’s never coming back as a popular brand aesthetic though.
@@AGenericAlias Thinking of a vaporwave wallpaper with a different and glossier color pallete. Bright blue sky and green ground. Palmtrees or trees and some patterns of grass. The sun would have any of the colors of the windows 7 logo, or white
This is definitely one of the best aesthetics imo, if Y2K aesthetic and Ultramodern (an aesthetic from the 70s) both had a comeback before, maybe Frutiger Aero would too.
as someone who grew up during windows xp era and still adoring the windows 7 aesthetics this is definitely something that screams forbidden knowledge to me. really makes my childhood more *defined* than it already is.
@@annierminx I noticed it in the game Stray, the environment was cluttered with tons of stuff. There's also a general interest in science fiction again
Frutiger Aero has a specific architectural and interior design style that is reminiscent of early 2000s Nickelodeon/Disney shows and apple/tech stores. If you were to look it up you’d know what I’m talking about. It’s my favorite part of the aesthetic, and makes me very nostalgic.
there was a level of pure, untouched hope and wonder during the early 2000s for the future and just for everything in general that there has never been in human history, I wish I could've lived during it. I think the rise of the internet in the late 90s brought upon this that I feel will never be the same.
The Disney channel stuff were packed with that. Windows Vista, Windows 7. I think the Wii U didn't got that route of total minimalist as well, it still used Aero.
frutiger aero might have felt like it was pointing toward a future but I think it was actually a representation of the era it was popular in because it always felt like it was portraying a healthy balance of tech and nature which we have definitely tipped the scales toward being more tech heavy
"...a healthy balance of tech and nature". Unfortunately this is part of the manipulation. They want you to think that their technology is somehow "natural" or inviting as nature. Makes me want to puke
I really like these takes on the 00s zeitgeist. I don't know how old you are but the peak of the 2000s utopian techno-futurism happened during my teens and early twenties. And it was not just tech and architecture. A certain design language and aesthetic was all over mundane things like textiles, tableware, furniture... Even something like utensils from the mid-00s can give me this strange nostalgic feeling. And it always reminds me of a simpler time and a promise of a future where anything is possible. Too bad we eventually got everything that's going on in the world right now.
Exactly. Hit the nail on the head. The aesthetic, the vibe, the mindset flooded every aspect of life. As you put it, “zeitgeist”. I’m glad you enjoyed!!!
What? Bruh the 2000s sucked. Bush era, Iraq war, the last awful gasp of rock music (post grunge nickelback),that dull empty post-9/11 patriotism. the 90s were the real age of utopian dreams, the one period where the us wasn’t at constant war with an outside enemy and where we could’ve started with climate change. the 2000s were its dirty leftovers (if only gore won)
I say this as one born in the 2000s. there was nothing to be nostalgic about aside from the crappy kids products that everyone born in every era are obsessed with
@@flamingpi2245 Well, in my country the 90s were a bleak time of economic recession, with massive cuts made to education and healthcare, people losing their jobs and homes... Especially many small business owners lost their life's work and their will to live. Around and right after Y2K things got better for a while (until 2008 to be precise). And that's when I happened to be a teenager. You say you were born during the 2000s so of course your experience is different. You'll find your own nostalgic sweet spot later. As for climate change, well, yeah. The work should have begun a long time ago. Even most of us millennials are probably going to die untimely in heatwaves, flash floods or resource wars.
school textbooks, the 2010's macbook, and 2010s youtube lyric videdos are what this instantly reminds me of! powerpoint in the 2010s and the appealing jelly-like colors and textures for embelished fonts as well
Dude. This aesthetic, Rainforest Cafe, and James Cameron's Avatar, Finding Nemo, etc. definitely imprinted on my 5 year old mind. Such an indescribably beautiful time.
It's funny - as someone who's probably only a few years older, this aesthetic feels "faker" than other aesthetics! The Windows 95 look, on the other hand, feels very "real" and solid.
@@Bjerrk same. This stuff has always felt very uncanny valley to me. Especially because in many of these product photos, the people clearly photoshopped together and not actually together in the room.
It was a pretty good balance between refreshing and optimistic, and soulless corporate garbage. Back when everything looked so detailed yet low res, the exact opposite of today. Genuinely hope it makes a comeback sometime soon.
My mam was a graphic designer when I was a kid, in the 90s and 00s. She would mainly do food packaging, but I remember she incorporated these elements even into that! Shiny, or 3D fonts with bright colours and images that (nowadays) don’t really suit food packaging. When I was visiting her for Christmas this year, she pulled out a folder with a bunch of the boxes and packaging she designed flattened out inside it. It’s interesting how much graphic design has changed, nowadays being neat and minimal is the norm but back then it was quite the opposite. This video took me back to my teenage years, getting my first phone and computer and seeing these design elements everywhere!
Frutiger Aero was really nice. A lot of it also seemed to have a surreal quality to it that would allow you to just stare at it and get lost thinking about being in a world like that. It’s certainly much better than the flat boring minimalism that plagues the world today.
I was born in ‘98 so i definitely remember this aesthetic being prevalent throughout parts of my youth. It’s hard to explain my exact thoughts on this outside of “warm childhood nostalgia” that was by my side during my introduction into the world wide web.
Y2K is childish and innocent, as if its people cobbled up together bunch of picture and shape. But Frutiger Aero definitely looked more matured and has great taste of being friendly and easily relatable. Cyber Minimalism that came after Win 8 and IPad is basically lean toward exclusivity and elitism. With Corporate Memphis is basically being what is wrong with modern art nowdays. Lacking soul and easily reproducible and being almost carricature by themselves.
I was born in 2006 and I started using computers when I was like 6 or so with my fathers windows xp computer, so I also have some like warm nostalgia for it, specially since the style felt out of use while I was growing up
I find it interesting how often water is a theme in Frutiger Aero designs. So often, something in the image is pouring water or there is a waterline with fish underneath or something.
For those who are unaware of this, it should be noted that Frutiger Aero is a retroactive term (meaning that it's a term that wasn't coined until much later), kind of like with the Art Deco style. IIRC, I think the people of CARI (Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute) coined the term and its definition a couple years back. So prior to that, it pretty much didn't have any sort of name applied to it. Just thought you guys should know! :D Also, I highly recommend checking out the CARI website; they have a ton of other aesthetics (a lot of the names on there were coined by them as well) that I think you all would be interested in. Just search up the full acronym and it should be at the very top.
Thank you! I was watching this and thinking “I never heard anybody use these terms in the early 2000s”. That explains it. At the time, we called it “glass” or “glassy” or “liquid” design-though that doesn’t encompass the nature elements. It’s also weird to me to think of it as _one_ aesthetic, because anyone in computer interface design at the time was pretty focused on the _differences_ . In particular, macOS had the glassy components and the skeuomorphism, but not so much the nature elements. MSWindows had the glassy elements-they called it “Aero”, which is where that part of this design-trend name comes from-and the nature elements, but not so much the skeuomorphism. But looking back now, I can see a case being made for it being a general trend, with the various specific competing designs nonetheless sorta all working within the same space.
It would be interesting to catalogue which style names were contemporaneous and which weren't. Dada - yes. American Streamline Moderne - no. etc. Thanks for the ref too.
I swear, this has to be the most emotional and nostalgic aesthetic ever Every single picture from the aesthetic, especially the one at 0:07, takes me back to 2011-2013 instantly.
this aesthetic gives a very strange feeling of nostalgia, it makes me think how everything was more colorful in 2000-2012, those images that appeared in ads, sites, idk. It's very weird
It’s interesting how frutiger aero is super colorful and inviting, but I mostly associate the 2000s with dark and gloomy color palettes because of video games and movies of that era.
Never thought i'd hear a name for this aesthetic, I love frutiger aero with a passion. It just has this nice comfy, inviting aura to it that you just don't get with todays simplicity.
Frutiger Aero was MASSIVE for it's time. I've always asked friends if they remember the corporate style of branding and ads back during the late 2000's. I'd say the best pieces of media that show FA, are Playstation Home and Mirror's Edge.
Mirrors edge is the best example. Honestly for someone conscious of design/aesthetic etc, playing that game and being in that world is a trip. Just sensory overload of cool ideas. Love it wish there was more. Perfectly captures 2007-2008 futurism.
Mirror‘s Edge is probably one of the most underrated games of all time. A masterpiece in any conceivable way. Few FPS games made you feel so immersed and free despite being linear. Perhaps only Half Life,
Mirror’s Edge needed a grassy hill and some water splash and it would be the epitome of Frutiger Aero. Still has a certain perfection about it though, leans more on the Inception aesthetic of the turn of the decade 2010, which I think ushered in minimalism.
You almost touched on it, but i find this aesthetic almost kinda hitting that unsettling uncanny valley, particularly in the earlier marketing examples where you see "bad" (by modern standards) photoshopping of different elements atop each other. It feels like this weird, lifeless, soulless dreamscape curated by 'something' trying to mimic what it thinks humans desire, drawing them in to the, as you mentioned, dystopicly online present we're in now... But yes also nostalgic and nice lol
“It feels like this weird, lifeless, soulless dreamscape curated by 'something' trying to mimic what it thinks humans desire…” It reminds me of the later _corporate Memphis/Alegria_ style-not that they’re the same visually, they’re _very_ different (e.g., _corporate Memphis/Alegria_ is notably very “flat”)-in that they both try to depict these idealized, upbeat, “humanistic” scenes and end up, as you say, looking weird and lifeless.
I was born right when this aesthetic began so to me the Frutiger Aero aesthetic represents that bright and optimistic view that was everywhere in my formative years and faded away into a more uninspired and utilitarian design that has taken hold since then. It reminds me of going to grandmas house or walking with my dad to a community barbeque when I was really young and the world was so simple but made no sense, and the sun was brighter, and the grass was greener, and there were more people. In comparison to other older aesthetics like the vaporwave style which was not really nostalgic to me but I still love, the Frutiger Aero aesthetic feels special and personal to me since I was there for it and it came at the happiest years of my life when most other things come from a time that doesn't feel like my own, past or future. In short Frutiger Aero good because nostalgia.
I hate having been born in this bland, tech consumed world. I wish I could've had such an experience. I wish the world was what frutiger aero predicted.
@@thebingler77 What is so special about frutiger aero? It existed to show off the new high resolution display of new flat screen TV's. I personally would rather experience y2k futurism at the turn of the millenium.
I feel like these are the Wii and Xbox 360 years for me. At this point I was so convinced that I would be able to customize all of my personal tech to look exactly how I wanted because it seemed so normal to have customizable looks and features to most tech during these Vista years. It's actually a huge bummer to see the lack of visual ambition in current tech right now, unless you count a bunch of rainbow lights. I feel like every tech item is trying to prove through it's sleek and super serious design that it's totally grown up and from the minimalist future. It's kinda sad how these items used to try to look and feel more personal and meant for our wants and now these are just necessary object trying to have as little presence as possible to highlight function, only to be forgotten for the next slab of metal and glass in a year or two. When these designs were everywhere, even though they annoyed me a little bit, I remember thinking we were going to colonize Mars, the economy wouldn't totally fuck me, trickle down economics was real, and that Facebook wasn't anything sinister or soul sucking. The time was optimistic, ignorant, and well meaning. I miss my Zune of pirated music and talking to internet friends on Skype while playing WoW all night....or maybe I just miss the way it all felt. The tech still exists to do all this stuff even easier than before, yet why isn't it the same? When did the party end and the hangover begin?
Feel like company brand has become bigger as well. While of course logos plastered on everything has been a thing since forever, reducing customization reduces complexity and reminds users where they are. Which is a bit depressing when it comes to expressive stuff. Everyone you know is represented by the same trademark shade of color, asserting the company's dominance even over interpersonal communications. Instead of seeing people as individuals, you see them as a nearly uniform entity framed by the branding of the company. (In a way, it's almost like eliminating communications between real people entirely. Everything said becomes part of the company's identity, so they make sure what you post errs on the side of inoffensive and bland) The only sort of exception is the ones that charge for customizations, but even then it's just controlling you in a different way. You're still limited to a small selection of safe styles, and only if you can afford it.
I really admire how you appreciate this aesthetic, I love how you’re expressing it and adopting it as one of your styles. To be honest, the bgm you used, being light-hearted and upbeat yet blissful, even sounded like frutiger areo. If there’s vaporwave music, why shouldn’t there be frutiger areo music? Lol just a thought I had.
Lmao I knew I couldn't have been the only one who spent half the video thinking the music choice was a perfect choice for the video, istg that's what frutiger aero sounds like Like, I can easily visualize my first days setting up and exploring the options on my Windows 7 laptop or my Wii console to this background music as if it came from those 2
The Microsoft Bliss wallpaper (the rolling meadow & blue sky) has exactly this type of “musak” corporate soundtrack to go with it. I believe it played when you first installed or set-up windows. It’s all soulless corporate schlock. The embodiment of the corporate dystopia this video mentions, when companies tried to convince us that “company good”, “company love you”, “everything is wonderful”, when in fact they were gaining unprecedented power & breaking monopoly laws.
This aesthetic was the result of everyone suddenly having Photoshop. Not mentioned here was the overuse of bevel & emboss effects. This contrasted w/ the late 90s when grungy / distressed typesetting and scratchy elements gained popularity because of advancements in printing technology & digital layout.
That's not actually fully true, this aesthetic actually originates in Europe, in various types of businesses' waiting rooms, where the decoration and design was like this, to make people relaxed and give them a nice environment And it actually started in the late 90's, with the colorful and lively atmosphere of the late 90's. That's because back then everyone thought that the new millennium would bring a new age for Humanity, with things like that fall of the Berlin wall, so there was the feeling of a soon-to-come Utopia
@@MybeautifulandamazingPrincess I don't think they're saying Photoshop is where this aesthetic originated from - just that it could be argued that the tremendous accessibility of Photoshop and its basic tools and features played a big part in how prevalent this aesthetic became. Without the widespread availability of Photoshop it might not have been the decade-defining aesthetic it was, but rather just one of many.
I always thought of it being "too early" to assign a name to this aesthetic and lay down a thorough definition for it, but it's finally time and you summed it up so eloquently for us!!! The fruits of your research really shine through in your insights on Frutiger Aero and I think we can all relate to your opinions! Also having a blast reading the comment section, you definitely sparked a conversation that will make it to the history books of design :)
I absolutely love this aesthetic. Seeing a computer monitor on some grass with a city next to it and fish inside the screen somehow doesn't look like a children's drawing.
I think that while the Frudiger Aero will reemerge in 2023, the target audience and message will change. Before, it was mainly for families and elders who needed a more friendly, clear style for UI/UX interaction. And it was mainly developed by tech giants like Apple and Microsoft, and was copied by other tech communities, like KDE (look up KDE Oxygen, heavily inspired by Aero aesthetic). Nowadays though, it will possibly become young people's counter-corporate style, to remind people about the broken utopian promises that corporate giants made. It's like "you failed to deliver, so we'll do it ourselves" message. And I can't be more excited about that. Because it will also become widespread adopted eventually, like vaporwave or synthwave did.
It's crazy how quickly we went from this to the horrible flat design every corporate art designer uses nowadays. Would love to see this make a comeback some day
Finally someone made this video!! I’ve always noticed this aesthetic especially in 2009-2013 and It’s so nostalgic to me. I tried explaining this to some people but could never describe it. I will miss this era so much. Even the music that was popular back then had to do a lot with it too.
Some songs that kind of remind me of this aesthetic for some reason (but.. only a little bit) from the early 2010s are: Blank Space - Taylor Swift Cool Kids - Echosmith Roses - Chainsmokers Starry Eyed - Ellie Goulding My favs out of these songs: Rather Be - Clean Bandit Lights - Ellie Goulding Sledgehammer - Fifth Harmony (I don’t particularly like this song but it matches the vibes) Or.. maybe these songs are better fit for just an all white, airy, simplistic, minimalist and modern void aesthetic
the tertiary colours popular in frutiger aero (turquoise, lime green, light orange, dark pink/lilac) were also ENORMOUSLY popular in interior design i'd say from 2007 up to 2012 or so. they dominated the catalogs of brands like casa and oxybul (which wasn't yet called that). This is when I redecorated my room so it is kind of stuck in this era, but i like it as those are my favorite colours. by 2012 even christmas ornaments came in sets of those colours
This definitely makes me feel nostalgic and at peace. I was in 6th grade in 2004 and graduated in 2011 so my teen years, when I started having access to tech like I-pods, our first family desktop, and my first cellphone, started and lasted the length of this design era. I was also experiencing my own freedom as a teen during this time, and so I associate this design with a lot of my positive memories from my childhood. Coming home after school to pop in The Sims on our old Dell that had the expansive green field background was such a relaxing routine for me, and getting a cellphone was such a momentous occasion, my first cellphone was a Fusic(it had interchangeable colored face plates) and the store had all kinds of cool marketing decor that looked like Frutiger Aero. This was also when Malls were still a popular place to hang out and Claire’s had a ton of phone charms, FYE had CD racks ect. I think it’s interesting too how if you watch movies, the Eutopic landscapes are always sort of a real world version of Frutiger Aero, earth and technology existing together, even symbiotically, rounded features, grassy parks surrounded by rounded buildings, glossy transport tubes, sleek or bubble vehicles, ect. I feel like 2012 was sort of a drop off point for a lot of people my age. We had to grow up, and I feel When Sandy Hook happened, I think it sort of changed how a lot if young people felt about the world, and it’s been a slow decline since then, optimism seems harder to find, everything has sort of taken a dismal turn, so I think when we represent our Eutopia in media, it resembles this techno-organic aesthetic that was so prevalent during some of the best years of our lives because of what it represents for us. Modern design feels a lot more uninspiring and utilitarian with no room for movement outside of its rigidity and two dimensionality. It’s aesthetic but you can’t take root in it. Artistically I feel like it’s adjacent to recent attitudes about the state of the world in general. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.
cmon man you're too old to not at least space your writing out. just a simple space and making it a couple paragraphs would have made this a great read!
@@warpdarkmatter It was inevitable. The 90s/00s era of advertising aesthetic drove younger designers to referring back to the simple color blocking of the 70s and 80s. That resulted in a trend toward simplified product packaging and logo design. That has certainly become its own problem, just as much as this Frutiger Aero aesthetic reeked of corporate design sensibilities, which seemed to have no concern for aesthetics at all. In hindsight it has some aesthetic appeal, especially when you look at the more extreme versions that look almost Lisa Frank with a Green/Blue color palette. But the over-designed, extremely busy imagery of Frutiger Aero WAS the 00s equivalent to today's hyper simplified minimalism, just on the opposite side of the spectrum.
The expansive green background was the default wallpaper from Windows XP. I also miss the 2010s. I wish we could go back to them. It’s weird looking back at technology that came out in like 2012 and thinking it was state-of-the-art.
@Bread And Circuses someone in 20 years will be posting on TH-cam a video called “iPhone 14 in 2043: is it worth it?” We’ll look back like, “Man, I miss Windows 11. Now we have Windows 102. I can see the back of the computer, the wall, just looking at my desktop. I can make my house pop into existence by speaking, “House, exist.” And I can walk in. 😔
@AbrahamShoahstein I grew up with like 80s music in the early 2010s so I never really listened to actual music from that time and I mostly watched movies made in the 2000s and 90s thanks to DVDs and a couple old VHS tapes from my brother born in the early 90s
I’m a graphic designer and brander so I come into contact with this everyday. It’s very nostalgic but absolutely horrendous to work with and alter to mobile and app format. There’s a reason why all branding has gone flat and ‘boring’. It’s so graphic designers can format logos/graphic assets for all platforms. Back in the 2000’s (I actually started designing in 2007) you didn’t need graphics for things like social media so it was basically just website and leaflets so you could get away with having obscure graphics that looks really high tech and cool at the time but now I think it’s looks super dated and really corny and very impractical. Super video though, I didn’t even realise this aesthetic meant so much to people and was actually so popular with gen Z.
Makes me wonder when minimalistic design will go the way of fruitger aero. I know the idea is that minimalistic design is very reusable, but I wonder if technology may change where multiple platforms aren't needed, or improved to where more interesting designs aren't cumbersome?
As someone who grew up in the 2000's, there's a charm missing from a lot of modern graphic design because of this transition. The style isn't just so things are user friendly and widely appealing, but the use of certain colors, unique stand-out shapes, commposition, lighting and other elements are all great tools that allow a graphic designer to convey anything they'd like, and put some personality into things. There's less subtle meaning in a basic menu or logo, but you could write entire essays on how some menus or logos back in the day made you feel.
I don't quite get what is so difficult in adapting this stuff to mobile format. Earlier iPhones and iPod touch era iOS and essentially everything it supported was done in frutiger and I wouldn't say that it was in any form impractical or "corny". Of course, now we have bigger screens with bigger resolution, but it's not like we're comparing it to Gameboy screens
Well, it’s not so much an attitude more of a ‘we have no choice so get on with it’ kind of thing, it’s what clients want and that’s what pays the bills. Digital designers and artists are always evolving and popular aesthetics come and go. But you have to create what people want at the end of the day. Some people like it, some don’t.
You genuinely reminded me of a time that was hidden deep inside my memory. So glad the algorithm blessed your video otherwise I wouldn't have stumbled over it.
Same with windows Vista. This also reminds me of those mice you could get for computers back in the early 2000s that where neon coloured and had water inside.
This is one of my favourite styles, purely because as someone born in the early 2000s, it's the thing I grew up with. Now, I hate corporate art styles as much as everyone does, but there's something about the use of nature that appeals to me. Even going back to the cloudy skyscape of Windows 95, which you could sort of see as an ancestor of Frutiger Aero, I've always loved the green hills under sunny blue skies that the 2000s had in spades. It's hopeful, and optimistic. There's a level of "Yes, it's corporate, but at least we understand that people like looking at rivers and trees". Who likes looking at flat geometric shapes, compared to a photo of a lake under a midnight sky? I'd even argue that Frutiger Aero stretches into sound design. Sticking with the software theme, the startup and shutdown sounds for Windows ME and ESPECIALLY the Windows 7 trailer sting can't be disconnected from this, in my opinion. They're equally "View from the Hill" optimistic. You are obviously someone who knows a lot about this topic, despite your clarifications at the end, and I THOROUGHLY enjoyed this video. I've always loved this style, and had NO CLUE it had a name. Thank you so much!
As an artist who loves to emulate work like this, this video is a lifesaver I never knew the name of this aesthetic!! I am so happy to be able to put a name to it and to be able to find more references :)
Seeing these Frutiger Aero images just instantly hits me with waves of nostalgia, and brings forth the feeling of a cool fan hitting your skin on a warm summer day. I love it, that glossy, wavy, with hints of nature aesthetic. Definitely want it to make a comeback. I don't know if it counts as Frutiger Aero or more skueomorphism but the old Pepsi logo from 2003 or so also comes to mind, with the cracked ice and droplets of condensation on the spherical Pepsi logo. SUCH a stylish and cool look, nothing else has ever made me more immediately thirsty than that logo/general marketing illustration. Maybe not the style exactly but definitely aesthetic design similarities.
I've never been able to truly describe the early 2000s other than "Orange and bubbles" this video perfectly explains why I feel this way, and even better explains what I picture in my head, but can't explain with words. Thank you for this!!!
I've been longing for a way to gather everything that had this clean, shiny, bubble-esque appearance under one umbrella to make my own artwork based off of this aesthetic. YOU ARE THE ABSOLUTE MVP FOR FINALLY GIVING ME SOMETHING TO GOOGLE AND AGGREGATE. THANK YOU SO MUCH. I miss the optimism that flooded the general early 2000's surface-level culture--I was a tiny child back then before my life did the thing it does when you turn like, 13 and you life becomes overwhelmingly shitty all at once. I just want colors back! I can't wait to bring this back into my life by my own god damned hands. THANK YOU.
I feel like styles like "liminal" or, perhaps more specifically, "weirdcore/dreamcore" touch upon this aesthetic greatly, and those kinds of images sometimes bring me to tears with how much nostalgia and sense of wonder they induce, so I think it's made a very small, niche comeback in that way focusing heavily on the dreamy, blissful, somewhat creepy and very nostalgic and weird aspects of it
I would like people to notice the optimism this style had towards the future too. Promises. Like this perfect Utopia were everyone starts using technology for the good of society. A Happy future with technology in mind, and Aero as a theme. Co-existing peacefully with nature. Always keeping the promises of a good future without taking the weird aesthetic it has. THAT could be a nice "Core" type of style. Combined with Aero, a look towards the future we will never have.
@@moister3727 That really hits the nail on the head for me. I would never have been able to put it in those words myself, but they fit perfectly to how I remember the 2000s.
This style brings me back to a way more calm time, to my early teens... even with the recession happening in the background, 2006-2012 were years of progress and optimism. Phones were used as phones (even though in 2012, touchscreen smartphones were pretty common) and not as an omni-tool, Facebook was more bound to the PC rather than to the phone, society was way, way less polarized and divided, and people were much friendlier. It's a reminder of a time when the internet (online) and the life outside (offline) were separate but had a healthy coexistence as the latter served an escape from the former. I can still hear the MSN Messenger message notification rolling, as I open the glossy transparent window, and I see my friend's suggestion to come to his house for a splitscreen game/jam sesh. Man... these are very treasured memories.
I loved this aesthetic for so long. I loved the clear shiny look, I love the look and essence of water. And I sleek designs are just pleasant to look at. I think one of the things that really shaped my love for the aesthetic was Weather Channel. For anyone that loves the Frutiger Aero aesthetic, I highly HIGHLY recommend looking up Weather Channel's Local on the 8s segments from around 2006.
Omg I was OBSESSED with the Weather Channel/Nat Geo aesthetic, especially around 2006!! Was so playful, yet scientific/optimistic about technology and the future, honestly did wonders for making me actually interested in science in ways school didn't lol.
@@meowmasterL346 Same. I watched so much Weather Channel from 2003-2008, the peak probably being 2006. I've been listening to a lot of the music from it this past year or so because that was my favorite part
Music choice was perfect, felt like I was actually back there when the aesthetic was still being used - really cool video, I jumped into Photoshop and made my own Frutiger Aero stuff, never thought I'd actually be a fan of the look
Fruitiger Aero and Skeuomorphism are some of my favorite aesthetics. It has such an interesting look to it, and it’s so nostalgic to me. It’s been interesting seeing more people embrace it in the past few weeks.
same, and i never knew the name of the Fruitiger Aero style, though i've always liked finding images that look like that on Google by using the time filter
playing mirrors edge as a kid was for sure one of the core moments of my childhood where i internalized my affinity for this vision, which is quite ironic considering the oppressive and dystopian themes
One architectural thing that I think was one of the most prominent aspects of this 2000s-era aesthetic, are those shiny silver ACM boards made to look "metallic". That gave a futuristic, tech visual. I still see it around like in mall interiors, store facades, from that era, I think that Apple stores still have something similar... There's an overpass right behind my house (built in 2007/08) that was all covered with those when it opened, sadly it was left unmantained after and the city government removed them all this year (2022) after an accidental fire consumed them. Screamed 2000s aesthetic.
You are right! 🎯 that’s a very accurate insight that I didn’t realize. I know the look, and it does seem to be another part of the frutiger aero futurism vibe. Now that you mention it, I’m noticing these types of buildings pictured in Frutiger Aero art. It reminds me of the 2000’s eco futurism vibe which is definitely an aspect/sub aesthetic of frutiger aero.
This was really an eye opening video for me. I've been looking for a long time a name and meaning for this aesthetic. Meanly because it reminds me of my childhood and all the fashion styles in the media. Frutiger Aero gives me these memories of nostalgia from the past that other things can't compete. It makes me feel like the world is calmer and easygoing. The style does have a strong emphasis on the feeling that you live in a utopian type of world where we have all the comforts of technology and at the same time we feel relaxed and free of the endless control of the internet and social media. It was a time when we had the best of bought worlds. I love looking at it because it is one of the only art types that gives me real joy by looking at it.
Part of me believes there was sort of a split between techology companies at the time. Microsoft clearly pushed towards a flat design with Windows 8 in 2012, but it was a complete failure. As for Apple, Steve Jobs died in 2011 with the new flat design only coming in 2-3 years later under Tim Cook. I doubt Steve had the flat design in mind. I'm pretty sure there's going to be a huge backlash to flat design soon, and we're already starting to see it.
Oh it's definitely starting, the seeds are being sown. I think the most reaching widespread distaste for flat minimalism thats starting up is company logos becoming flat and boring which many people seem to be showing a disliking for
@@orbic521 I had to look it up. I love it! The buttons look very similar to pre-update Audacity. All the main media controls on that software looked like rubber membrane buttons. This should be implemented more.
This aesthetic does make me feel nostalgic for a lot of things in my childhood, particularly the images of blue water, bubbles and tropical flowers. Things like: -Finding Nemo -2002-03 era Bionicle and its PC game MNoG 2 -Going to the swimming pool with my family on Saturday afternoons -SpongeBob -Microsoft Plus! for Windows XP -Taking water bottles to school on hot days
Finally, I've stumbled upon the name of an aesthetic I didn't even know existed! I thought myself to be alone in this. The hovering, miniaturized planet earth stuck in my mind, and the concept has inspired me creatively in a work of fiction. Very blue skies, and very green grass characterized the Y2K internet/tech feel, and I think this vibe seeped into the flash games movement, as well!
This is one of the best things that I’ve watched for the last 6 months. Thank you so much for making this video. I knew this thing existed and always wanted to read about it, couldn’t really find words to describe it and then TH-cam recommends me this! I really hope this design comes back some day.
always loved this aesthetic. when i was a kid my family only used mac computers, but every summer i would live at my cousins’ house and play video games on their PCs. the windows vista aero theme is burned into my mind as equating to summer vacation, fun video games, and spending time with my cousins
Loved this!! I have always loved this aesthetic and a lot of popular aesthetics from the late 90's and 2000's, I like that this aesthetic has a name and now I know what to call it :) The bubbles, waves, and gloss always stuck with me as someone also interested in marine biology, it's funny how many companies used those same exact elements
I never knew what to call this. In my head it was the Sharp Aquos style, because there was an old ad for their RGBY Quattron TV with the blue water and yellow fish swimming out of the television. That has stuck with me since 2010.
It definitely felt like an offshoot of Utopian Scholastic but more corporate-promo geared towards adults rather than child education-based. Would love if you did a video on Utopian Scholastic design from the 90’s-early 2000’s
Always loved the Frutiger Aero aesthetic, and your analysis of its utopic future vision being painfully ironic due to the widespread technical dystopia it ushered in really blew me away. Underrated channel, really glad I came across this!
Great video! I didn't realize that this aesthetic extended beyond just Windows and the Wii. I find the research required for this video to end up with an 11 minute runtime quite impressive!
i like that you talked about the pages where you found out about this aesthetic. a lot of people who talk about aesthetics don’t cite their sources and that really grinds my gears. anyway, i loved hearing your perspectives on this topic. i’m gonna subscribe (:
Excellent video! The 2000s aesthetic is truly an enigma, and this is a great job at defining and exploring one aspect of it :D Looking forward to seeing more :) - maybe you could look at something to do with the dark grey/brown colour coding that so much media had back in the day (Linkin Park, GTA III and IV, Emo rock, etc.)
I have to be honest, nobody will ever be able to bring back this aesthetic as it once was, lots of people like to use it and such, but being a kid back then with this aesthetic basically everywhere, you'll never get that feeling again.
Awesome video, I love frutiger aero. Also your voice is very pretty, I really enjoyed listening to it. Will definitely share this with my friends and watch more of your videos.
"Frutiger Aero" might be my favourite aesthetic too. Everytime I see images of it, it reminds me how I woke up in 2006 Sunday morning. Full of happiness and optimism in front of my cousin's computer. Imagining my future, standing on the place from these images. Finally, my family has our own computer in 2010 and my father gave me his unused Sony Ericsson phone in 2011. It felt better and better because I think that was the peak of this aesthetic being implemented in all digital gadgets
i love these in depth videos on 2000s tech/design. its very important. i feel as time goes on we as a culture are just becoming plain. ._. idk we have to keep individuality alive and thats why early 2000s tech and design was so cool
A lot of the Frutiger Aero images presented in this video have made me notice a theme. At about the time you were describing how it ironically led us to a reality quite unlike what it was advertising, I noticed how all the "naturescapes" were either tempered with a background of big-business-looking office skyscrapers (noticeably contrasting with the natural theme), or they were oddly sanitised and displayed a tame "nature" consisting of maybe one species of grass and very sparse trees, with no wildlife or biodiversity. It feels like what you'd get if a clean-freak went out into nature and tidied everything up to their meticulous liking. The "nature" it presents is a stomach-turning artificially-flavoured imitation of nature. I don't know how to say this without sounding pompous as all hell but here goes: its aesthetic also seems heavily influenced by nature-culture dualism, to the point that the art is not a statement about dualism itself but is simply shaped by that ideology underlying it. Nature is seen as something "other", separate from humans and their culture and civilisation and often contrasted with it. A resource for us to tap into and use as we please. Instead of accepting nature as it is, it shuns its imperfections and seeks to tame and control it, and ultimately replace it with something "better". It shows us visions of lush grassy vistas, free of thorns, thistles and insects (except butterflies 'cos those are cute), and expects us to aspire to live in a world like that. And on top of that, even this sanitised view of nature it presents is contrasted with the human and cultural parts of its vision, seeing skyscrapers and technology as all fundamentally separate from and unaffected by nature, and equally nature as separate from our societies with a clear dividing line in between. We are more and more realising that this view of nature as something to be tamed and exploited may have worked on smaller scales, but with industry operating at massive global scales we have no choice but to acknowledge that they are one and the same, and that in harming nature we also harm ourselves. We fail to realise the contradiction when we tell nature to get lost and make room for human culture; we cannot exist without nature, and we are nature, and when we poison and pollute nature we poison our own societies. So while this looks like it's presenting a positive environmentalist message, its implicit message that we are to control and corral nature until it pleases us is exactly the problem that it should be asking us to solve, and part of the great irony you touch upon in this video. It is exactly the type of flawed reasoning that the solarpunk aesthetic is designed to reconsider (though I think many solarpunk artists still fall into similar patterns unintentionally). Even outside of intentional solarpunk, I think we are already somewhat reconsidering this; even contemporary videogames (sorry, that's the kind of art I consume lmao) have been trending in this direction with examples such as Kirby's Forgotten Land and Breath of the Wild leading us to imagine a world in which the artificial and natural have begun to merge again, and people live their lives more in harmony with nature. There's no sense of loss or doom intended in being presented a world like this; everyone is already at peace with the situation and arguably better off for it. You might walk around Hyrule thinking "wow, what an interesting history this place has", but you probably don't go around thinking "What a shame, I wish this was a bustling industrial city, a maze of buildings and shops like it once was". They're a unanimously positive vision of a world where people live comfortable lives not despite but because people have overcome the desire to try to tame nature and expand human industry out to infinity.
I read it all. This was amazing input on this topic. You have such a good point about the sanitization of nature and making it separate from us. This aesthetic was made with bias or very intentionally. It is a product of developing technology in a world run by business.
The style is so perfectly balanced between bliss/nostalgia/peacefullnes and ugly photoshop corporate garbage, it just hits different and i love it.
And honestly, I’m really glad to see the minimal Corporate Memphis art style be the common company’s choice.
It makes Frutiger this cheesy but genuinely nostalgic style that had a pretty short lifespan in graphic design, but undeniably nostalgic nonetheless.
“Ugly photoshop corporate garbage” that’s exactly how I would describe It.
Same but I hate it
started giggling out loud i wasn't expecting you to do a 180 with the adjectives lol
I liked it because it looks so nice yeah it looks weird, but also i liked it when technology was more disconnected from real life. Like Frutiger Aero usually is nothing like normal life and back when Frutiger Aero was most popular we didn’t have big tech it just looked nice. I don’t know i’m bad with words this has been really weird comment about personal opinion.
I find it weird how in the 2000s everything was either round and clean or extremely edgy like any linkin park music video
LMFAO
i know this is a joke but Linkin Park was never "edgy" there is a difference between emotional music and edgy music
the lyrics in linkin park reflected was chester and mike (the two main vocalists) were going through
alot of linkin park songs are very hard to listen to knowing that chester committed suicide in 2017
@@emiphim yes, but he's talking about the image, the visual design of the video clips were "edgy" at the time. Nothing about the lyrics
@@emiphimhe’s talking about their music videos.
Somethings might not be so “edgy”
For some reason, it was the soap bottle that did it for me. Every bathroom ever in the 2000's had the fish drip going on. Fish on the shower curtain, shiny glass rocks in a bowl, fuzzy pastel coloured towels, soft night light, and of course the fish soap. I'd see that bottle no matter which side of the country I was on, and only now do I realize I miss the fish soap.
for some reason i associate those things with superhero-branded toothbrushes
Lol so true
I miss the fish soap too
also those clear jelly candles with seashells etc inside
i miss those fish soaps too
The 2000s always seemed like an era with a happy marriage between technology and traditional life, this aesthetic is probably why i thought so.
A happy marriage that lasted until the iPad took the kids.
I feel the same exact way, like almost as if it were a glimpse of what a green utopia could be like where nature and technology were in tandem instead of black and white concepts like tech destroying nature or having to go without tech to be one with nature.
The tech was alright nothing like the power we have today
Fr it was a time when people weren't glued to screens, but still had smartphones in their pockets.
THIS. technology was developed enough so we could live in that atmosphere were everything felt connected but not advanced enough to share everything everytime everywhere like it is today, world now feels small, unattractive
Suddenly, it makes more sense how the vaporwave aesthetic rose to prominence in the early 2010s. Vaporwave feels like the ironic punk reaction to seeing a decade of Frutiger Aero everywhere.
ooh nice insight 💡
id say it is a reaction to cyberminimalism. Frutiger Aero had soul
@@lv1543 yes
I used to like frutiger aero aesthetic it was so good and fresh to see and it was in happy times too like in sea-shops designs and advertisements of holiday resorts and the Wii too as well. I think what made me a little sad that times was the minimalism that was coming with the new century, in houses, life styles and everything in general seemed to become a bit more boring in everyday routine designs than it was back in the 80s/90s that looked both simple and more fun as well with neon colors and a lot of signs and stuff so i was into vaporwave because of this need to go back in the "easy and fun" times because of the boredom of the minimalism, but frutiger aero i think was the last world aesthetic i had been into it was nice
You are right for sure. I think it reminds people of a very corporate/capitalist tech environment, and vaporwave was a kind of reflection on that but mostly nostalgia for the late 80s-90s
why were the 2000s so aquatic (i love it)
This video is a bit mistaken imo. The trend for beveled edges, transparencies, gradients, water drops, leaves and grass kicked off in 1999 or so when Photoshop along with Paint Shop Pro implemented new features for this including premade stamps and brushes. Coupled with “going green” campaigns and predictive “futuristic” design concepts, they essentially intertwined. Because graphic software was so new, the top paid artists would showcase their ability with the new aquatic presets and tools advertised in PS and PSP. Graphic design prior to these versions were limited or more difficult. When beveling, drop shadows, layer blending, etc. was being pioneered, things like water, sheens, combined gradients, etc. were becoming trendy because it wasn’t being done before. The natural subjects arose with heavy emphasis on nature and physical elements as it was not previously easy unless you airbrushed them. Thus, glass, metal, water, and nature were easier to replicate for the first time. Because it was so new to be able to do so, a natural mimicking of the real world with glossy elemental and flowy accents were a rarity and difficult to achieve. Now that they’re more common with more tutorials, our design tastes are changing to something else.
@@Unpopularity also using real elements was probably because technology was just getting it's footing and apps used real looking components to ease people still used to the real world into the internet
everyone had an aquarium
Because the 2004 Tsunami left a big surplus of water that's why
Finding Nemo was big
Frutiger Aero is the one aesthetic where I think there is a very very fine line between looking great, polished, and professional, and looking really cheap, uncanny, and cynical. Hard to say what exactly sets good F.A. design apart from bad F.A. design, but the divide definitely exists.
Corporative aesthetic
absolutely. before watching this and thinking more about it, FA really was just the "boring english class schoolbook aesthetic" to me. It always looked so awkward and artificial, with its heavily edited nature imagery and unnaturally happy people.
@@jora9655 yes! I was thinking “the textbook aesthetic”
@@Andres5045 Yet it still feels so charming and innocent compared to the modern, bleak, oppressive hyper-minimalist design we see today.
holy-and that's a lot of ands.
I didn't even know this aesthetic had a name. It's definitely gonna have a reemergence in the underground scene in 10 more years much like Vaporwave and the soon emerging Y2K era aesthetics
It has already began with the resurgence of DIY minidisc releases. It's much like what happened with cassette tapes in the 2010s.
No it’s already back in a sort of renaissance, look up draincore/draingang aesthetic
I see it on my FYP but it's still underground
It's already definitely an aesthetic, James Ferarro was experimenting with this aesthetic over a decade ago, y'all should check out his album "far side virtual"
@@isaiahromero9861 over a decade ago it was still recently popular
My new favorite aesthetic, reminds me of being a kid and changing all the wallpapers on my dad’s computer
hi
@@cheorrei hi
hi peerry plz marry m !
Hi
@@redrider2362 maybe I’ll make a new video about aesthetics featuring it
So glad there's a name for this. I thought I was crazy when I told people I missed this 2000's aesthetic in tech, architecture, interior design and them giving me a blank face like they didn't think anything looked different then from now.
weird how much people seem to pay no attention to design changes when they’ve been so drastic over the years
@@xfogscapex I think some folks did, they just seem didn't mind it until they find it ridiculous, i always find it so dream like really xD
I'm surprised there's a name for that kind of aesthetic.
Same.
I miss 2000s ideas.
I miss this era of digital aesthetic 😢 Kinda cool how there’s still examples of it and how it’s evolved into a more polished version of the 2000s version
Vri sk a ...........................................................
This vibe > the dull minimalist vibe of today
Your memories do not equal a fact, frutiger aero WAS the dull vibe of "today" in the past
@@omarma7815 In no way, whatsoever, has this design ever been considered dull. I get the point you're trying to make - oversaturated maybe, but not dull.
"Only 2000s kids will remember" is becoming the new "only 90s kids will remember" and it truly shows that the march of time is unstoppable and the future will never be as bright as you think it'll be... Anyway I think it looks nice and should have a comeback. Glad there's a name put to the aesthetic that evokes a feeling that I haven't felt in years.
Why do you hurt me this way
this is my innner monologue 24/7
damm right 😔
stop making me look old
Why do Zoomers' keep autofellating like this. It's cringe.
5:48 I MADE THAT IMAGE! I was in middle school in the "frutiger areo" years, and that iPod nano ad was the thing, but I wanted a version with my own albums. Almost a decade after I made my middle school dream. Now look at my child...
P.S: if ypu guys are interested I can send you links to the albums listed. They are wildly different from each other and from what people usually listen.
31 Minutos fans rise up
Vaporwave and 31 Minutos fans rise up
link?
I forgot about 31 minutos long time ago. Woah.
Love deep forest :)
Frutiger aero was the last bit of true "futurism" before companies realized they didn't have to try because they had such a firm grip on the market.
Something about Frugier Aero is that he doesn't only make me feel nostalgic, make me feel thirsty because damn they used a lot of water in those wallpapers, even the texture of logs reminds me of water
Lol I thought only I got thirsty from this aesthetic. It's one of the reasons why I really enjoy it
Weird story. But I had just come out of surgery a few years back and I was on some intense painkillers in the hospital. I had some very vivid dreams and one of them was basically myself transported back to 2006 and everything was coated in the frutiger aero aesthetic. It was so calming and comforting. I even went and changed the UI on Windows 10 to mimic Vista as much as possible. I can’t stand how soulless things today look by comparison.
Bad photoshop aside, I find the old aero aesthetic to be soulless corporatism, white-washing itself to convince us that it’s good.
@@johnnyc.31 i think you meant green-washing
@@johnnyc.31 if you look at corporate minimalist aesthetic today you will see that FA looks like the Mona-Lisa in comparison. In my opinion FA has a lot of character and is one of the better “corporate” aesthetics of recent memory.
@@rabidlorax1650 both aesthetics can be done right or as it usually tends to be the case, very wrong
@@rabidlorax1650 I’m won’t argue, but Forcoy makes a good point - any aesthetic can be poorly executed, and they often are. However, the most iconic & memorable designs employ a minimal approach for a reason. Poor execution is more likely with various elements, poorly balanced, and dividing the focus of the viewer. Messy design = muddled communication & ineffective branding. For “pure art” though (with no need to communicate a message, brand, or product identity) sure, you can view something in this style as the Mona Lisa. It’s never coming back as a popular brand aesthetic though.
Oh my god, I finally found the name for this aesthetic. I want Frutiger Aero to be recognized more. If vapor-wave can make a comeback, why can’t this?
Frutigerwave when?
@@AGenericAlias THIS IS THE BEST IDEA IVE EVER HEARD
@@AGenericAlias Thinking of a vaporwave wallpaper with a different and glossier color pallete.
Bright blue sky and green ground. Palmtrees or trees and some patterns of grass.
The sun would have any of the colors of the windows 7 logo, or white
Have you seen solar punk aesthetics? It carries on a lot of the "fresh and natural" look of Frutiger Aero.
@@x_voxelle_x Meh. Solar punk doesn’t quite have the same same feel to it as Frutiger Aero.
This is definitely one of the best aesthetics imo, if Y2K aesthetic and Ultramodern (an aesthetic from the 70s) both had a comeback before, maybe Frutiger Aero would too.
It is back. Check out draincore / draingang
ayo
Eh
I want art nouveau to make a comeback
Ayo nice to see you, and I agree I love the aesthetic
@@RoBoTrOnIc1001001 is draincore a musical genre like vaporewave or what?
as someone who grew up during windows xp era and still adoring the windows 7 aesthetics this is definitely something that screams forbidden knowledge to me. really makes my childhood more *defined* than it already is.
This makes me realize that the next era of visual aesthetic is probably just right around the corner for us all.
As long as it’s better than minimalistic designs
it will probably something like neomorphism (aka a mix beetween skeumorphism and minimalism).
@@thesupermayoreo i suspect the pendulum will swing back and it will be something maximalist
@@djs_leather it's definitely maximalism, we can already see it getting popular again
@@annierminx I noticed it in the game Stray, the environment was cluttered with tons of stuff. There's also a general interest in science fiction again
Frutiger Aero has a specific architectural and interior design style that is reminiscent of early 2000s Nickelodeon/Disney shows and apple/tech stores. If you were to look it up you’d know what I’m talking about. It’s my favorite part of the aesthetic, and makes me very nostalgic.
Reminds me of playing the Wii for the first time in NYC Toys r us.
the fucking nickelodeon intros and ad breaks...
there was a level of pure, untouched hope and wonder during the early 2000s for the future and just for everything in general that there has never been in human history, I wish I could've lived during it. I think the rise of the internet in the late 90s brought upon this that I feel will never be the same.
same!
The Disney channel stuff were packed with that. Windows Vista, Windows 7. I think the Wii U didn't got that route of total minimalist as well, it still used Aero.
In 10 years this aesthetic will be part of Retrowave, and this definitely makes me shiver
And yes, it does make me feel nostalgic for some reason
I cannot WAIT for the Frutiger Renaissance!!
it already is
I've seen some examples, altrough is recent
And the music is something like a remix of "009 Sound System - Dreamscape".
call it “aerowave” or smth like that
frutiger aero might have felt like it was pointing toward a future but I think it was actually a representation of the era it was popular in because it always felt like it was portraying a healthy balance of tech and nature which we have definitely tipped the scales toward being more tech heavy
Interesting perspective
So true, the 00s was the last decade of a healthy technology balance.
"...a healthy balance of tech and nature". Unfortunately this is part of the manipulation. They want you to think that their technology is somehow "natural" or inviting as nature. Makes me want to puke
This aesthetic needs a comeback. Always struck the right at home feeling for me when I see it.
Draincore/draingang
@@RoBoTrOnIc1001001 Youngboy better
It was never an aesthetic until now
@@Hellowp alr then it’s an art style*
@@joecobb4604?
I really like these takes on the 00s zeitgeist. I don't know how old you are but the peak of the 2000s utopian techno-futurism happened during my teens and early twenties. And it was not just tech and architecture. A certain design language and aesthetic was all over mundane things like textiles, tableware, furniture... Even something like utensils from the mid-00s can give me this strange nostalgic feeling. And it always reminds me of a simpler time and a promise of a future where anything is possible.
Too bad we eventually got everything that's going on in the world right now.
Exactly. Hit the nail on the head. The aesthetic, the vibe, the mindset flooded every aspect of life. As you put it, “zeitgeist”. I’m glad you enjoyed!!!
Anything was possible, even bad stuff. We took the bad choice road
What?
Bruh the 2000s sucked. Bush era, Iraq war, the last awful gasp of rock music (post grunge nickelback),that dull empty post-9/11 patriotism. the 90s were the real age of utopian dreams, the one period where the us wasn’t at constant war with an outside enemy and where we could’ve started with climate change. the 2000s were its dirty leftovers (if only gore won)
I say this as one born in the 2000s. there was nothing to be nostalgic about aside from the crappy kids products that everyone born in every era are obsessed with
@@flamingpi2245 Well, in my country the 90s were a bleak time of economic recession, with massive cuts made to education and healthcare, people losing their jobs and homes... Especially many small business owners lost their life's work and their will to live.
Around and right after Y2K things got better for a while (until 2008 to be precise). And that's when I happened to be a teenager. You say you were born during the 2000s so of course your experience is different. You'll find your own nostalgic sweet spot later.
As for climate change, well, yeah. The work should have begun a long time ago. Even most of us millennials are probably going to die untimely in heatwaves, flash floods or resource wars.
school textbooks, the 2010's macbook, and 2010s youtube lyric videdos are what this instantly reminds me of! powerpoint in the 2010s and the appealing jelly-like colors and textures for embelished fonts as well
To me, as someone who gained consciousness during this time, this aesthetic feels more “real” than other aesthetics in a way I cannot easily express.
Maybe, this is why I prefer green and blue on my screen, I grew up with it. Esp with the "Bliss" windows desktop background.
Dude. This aesthetic, Rainforest Cafe, and James Cameron's Avatar, Finding Nemo, etc. definitely imprinted on my 5 year old mind. Such an indescribably beautiful time.
It's funny - as someone who's probably only a few years older, this aesthetic feels "faker" than other aesthetics! The Windows 95 look, on the other hand, feels very "real" and solid.
@@Bjerrk same. This stuff has always felt very uncanny valley to me. Especially because in many of these product photos, the people clearly photoshopped together and not actually together in the room.
@@kaitlyn__L Yeah, exactly
It was a pretty good balance between refreshing and optimistic, and soulless corporate garbage. Back when everything looked so detailed yet low res, the exact opposite of today. Genuinely hope it makes a comeback sometime soon.
The Y2K has made a comeback, hopefully this directly leads people to pick up on Frutiger Aero since this aesthetic is criminally underrated.
It started in 99 not 04
My mam was a graphic designer when I was a kid, in the 90s and 00s. She would mainly do food packaging, but I remember she incorporated these elements even into that! Shiny, or 3D fonts with bright colours and images that (nowadays) don’t really suit food packaging. When I was visiting her for Christmas this year, she pulled out a folder with a bunch of the boxes and packaging she designed flattened out inside it. It’s interesting how much graphic design has changed, nowadays being neat and minimal is the norm but back then it was quite the opposite. This video took me back to my teenage years, getting my first phone and computer and seeing these design elements everywhere!
Frutiger Aero was really nice. A lot of it also seemed to have a surreal quality to it that would allow you to just stare at it and get lost thinking about being in a world like that. It’s certainly much better than the flat boring minimalism that plagues the world today.
Damn i used to do that. Just stare at my windows vista wallpaper and zone out
i hope minimalism dies out soon, it's getting really boring and soulless
I prefer minimalism
I also used to do that when I was in school,things were simpler then😓
I don't understand why minimalism became a thing. Do people hate beauty?
I was born in ‘98 so i definitely remember this aesthetic being prevalent throughout parts of my youth. It’s hard to explain my exact thoughts on this outside of “warm childhood nostalgia” that was by my side during my introduction into the world wide web.
Y2K is childish and innocent, as if its people cobbled up together bunch of picture and shape.
But Frutiger Aero definitely looked more matured and has great taste of being friendly and easily relatable.
Cyber Minimalism that came after Win 8 and IPad is basically lean toward exclusivity and elitism.
With Corporate Memphis is basically being what is wrong with modern art nowdays. Lacking soul and easily reproducible and being almost carricature by themselves.
I can say I liked the little details working in conjuction with the limitatioms of the era. Like Flash stuff.
I was born in 2006 and I started using computers when I was like 6 or so with my fathers windows xp computer, so I also have some like warm nostalgia for it, specially since the style felt out of use while I was growing up
@@nikitahichoii482 You are not one of us. You were born in TWO THOUSAND AND SIX. YOU ARE NOT ONE OF US AND CANNOT CLAIM TO BE ONE OF US.
@@rainmaker2754 No really stop gatekeeping. This is not about being Gen X or Gen Z. This is about Frutiger Aero appreciation. Learn the difference.
I find it interesting how often water is a theme in Frutiger Aero designs. So often, something in the image is pouring water or there is a waterline with fish underneath or something.
And how most of it’s about technology. Technology and water do not mix.
@@Dr-Randomin the case of frutiger aero, I think it mixes well and it looks pretty refreshing.
@@kyauyss yeah, just don’t follow the logic in real life.
For those who are unaware of this, it should be noted that Frutiger Aero is a retroactive term (meaning that it's a term that wasn't coined until much later), kind of like with the Art Deco style. IIRC, I think the people of CARI (Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute) coined the term and its definition a couple years back. So prior to that, it pretty much didn't have any sort of name applied to it. Just thought you guys should know! :D
Also, I highly recommend checking out the CARI website; they have a ton of other aesthetics (a lot of the names on there were coined by them as well) that I think you all would be interested in. Just search up the full acronym and it should be at the very top.
Thank you! I was watching this and thinking “I never heard anybody use these terms in the early 2000s”. That explains it.
At the time, we called it “glass” or “glassy” or “liquid” design-though that doesn’t encompass the nature elements. It’s also weird to me to think of it as _one_ aesthetic, because anyone in computer interface design at the time was pretty focused on the _differences_ . In particular, macOS had the glassy components and the skeuomorphism, but not so much the nature elements. MSWindows had the glassy elements-they called it “Aero”, which is where that part of this design-trend name comes from-and the nature elements, but not so much the skeuomorphism.
But looking back now, I can see a case being made for it being a general trend, with the various specific competing designs nonetheless sorta all working within the same space.
Windows vista theme was called “aero” so I think you are wrong
It would be interesting to catalogue which style names were contemporaneous and which weren't. Dada - yes. American Streamline Moderne - no. etc.
Thanks for the ref too.
Correct. And it’s a dumb term
This aesthetic defined an entire generation
I swear, this has to be the most emotional and nostalgic aesthetic ever
Every single picture from the aesthetic, especially the one at 0:07, takes me back to 2011-2013 instantly.
Fax
Did you kow that this aesthetic emerged to just show off the high resolution of new TV's?
@@Berk-lf6ge I did actually LOL
this aesthetic gives a very strange feeling of nostalgia, it makes me think how everything was more colorful in 2000-2012, those images that appeared in ads, sites, idk. It's very weird
It’s interesting how frutiger aero is super colorful and inviting, but I mostly associate the 2000s with dark and gloomy color palettes because of video games and movies of that era.
@@GameFreak164X I feel that too, in parts, because frutiger reminds me more of 2008-2014 actually
Never thought i'd hear a name for this aesthetic, I love frutiger aero with a passion. It just has this nice comfy, inviting aura to it that you just don't get with todays simplicity.
This aesthetic makes me feel nostalgic, but the depressing kind.
You ever just get drunk and watch commercial compilations from 2000-2003? :(
@@SolvingOurKreation For me it's the late 90s
@@SolvingOurKreationwow i thought i was the only one who did that.
Frutiger Aero was MASSIVE for it's time. I've always asked friends if they remember the corporate style of branding and ads back during the late 2000's. I'd say the best pieces of media that show FA, are Playstation Home and Mirror's Edge.
Mirrors edge is the best example. Honestly for someone conscious of design/aesthetic etc, playing that game and being in that world is a trip. Just sensory overload of cool ideas. Love it wish there was more. Perfectly captures 2007-2008 futurism.
Mirror‘s Edge is probably one of the most underrated games of all time. A masterpiece in any conceivable way. Few FPS games made you feel so immersed and free despite being linear. Perhaps only Half Life,
Mirror’s Edge needed a grassy hill and some water splash and it would be the epitome of Frutiger Aero.
Still has a certain perfection about it though, leans more on the Inception aesthetic of the turn of the decade 2010, which I think ushered in minimalism.
You almost touched on it, but i find this aesthetic almost kinda hitting that unsettling uncanny valley, particularly in the earlier marketing examples where you see "bad" (by modern standards) photoshopping of different elements atop each other. It feels like this weird, lifeless, soulless dreamscape curated by 'something' trying to mimic what it thinks humans desire, drawing them in to the, as you mentioned, dystopicly online present we're in now...
But yes also nostalgic and nice lol
“It feels like this weird, lifeless, soulless dreamscape curated by 'something' trying to mimic what it thinks humans desire…” It reminds me of the later _corporate Memphis/Alegria_ style-not that they’re the same visually, they’re _very_ different (e.g., _corporate Memphis/Alegria_ is notably very “flat”)-in that they both try to depict these idealized, upbeat, “humanistic” scenes and end up, as you say, looking weird and lifeless.
Yep. It’s nostalgic for sure, but the style itself feels very kitsch to me.
It reminds me of the movie vivarium
i think the black mirror episode nosedive showcases the whole lifeless nature of frutiger aero haha
I think that also applies to the current corporation arstyle tbf
I was born right when this aesthetic began so to me the Frutiger Aero aesthetic represents that bright and optimistic view that was everywhere in my formative years and faded away into a more uninspired and utilitarian design that has taken hold since then. It reminds me of going to grandmas house or walking with my dad to a community barbeque when I was really young and the world was so simple but made no sense, and the sun was brighter, and the grass was greener, and there were more people. In comparison to other older aesthetics like the vaporwave style which was not really nostalgic to me but I still love, the Frutiger Aero aesthetic feels special and personal to me since I was there for it and it came at the happiest years of my life when most other things come from a time that doesn't feel like my own, past or future.
In short Frutiger Aero good because nostalgia.
I hate having been born in this bland, tech consumed world. I wish I could've had such an experience. I wish the world was what frutiger aero predicted.
@@thebingler77 What is so special about frutiger aero? It existed to show off the new high resolution display of new flat screen TV's. I personally would rather experience y2k futurism at the turn of the millenium.
@@thebingler77same😭
I feel like these are the Wii and Xbox 360 years for me. At this point I was so convinced that I would be able to customize all of my personal tech to look exactly how I wanted because it seemed so normal to have customizable looks and features to most tech during these Vista years. It's actually a huge bummer to see the lack of visual ambition in current tech right now, unless you count a bunch of rainbow lights. I feel like every tech item is trying to prove through it's sleek and super serious design that it's totally grown up and from the minimalist future. It's kinda sad how these items used to try to look and feel more personal and meant for our wants and now these are just necessary object trying to have as little presence as possible to highlight function, only to be forgotten for the next slab of metal and glass in a year or two. When these designs were everywhere, even though they annoyed me a little bit, I remember thinking we were going to colonize Mars, the economy wouldn't totally fuck me, trickle down economics was real, and that Facebook wasn't anything sinister or soul sucking. The time was optimistic, ignorant, and well meaning. I miss my Zune of pirated music and talking to internet friends on Skype while playing WoW all night....or maybe I just miss the way it all felt. The tech still exists to do all this stuff even easier than before, yet why isn't it the same? When did the party end and the hangover begin?
Feel like company brand has become bigger as well. While of course logos plastered on everything has been a thing since forever, reducing customization reduces complexity and reminds users where they are. Which is a bit depressing when it comes to expressive stuff. Everyone you know is represented by the same trademark shade of color, asserting the company's dominance even over interpersonal communications. Instead of seeing people as individuals, you see them as a nearly uniform entity framed by the branding of the company.
(In a way, it's almost like eliminating communications between real people entirely. Everything said becomes part of the company's identity, so they make sure what you post errs on the side of inoffensive and bland)
The only sort of exception is the ones that charge for customizations, but even then it's just controlling you in a different way. You're still limited to a small selection of safe styles, and only if you can afford it.
Its late 2022 and we still can’t change the iphone ringtone without jailbraking it
I really admire how you appreciate this aesthetic, I love how you’re expressing it and adopting it as one of your styles. To be honest, the bgm you used, being light-hearted and upbeat yet blissful, even sounded like frutiger areo. If there’s vaporwave music, why shouldn’t there be frutiger areo music? Lol just a thought I had.
Lmao I knew I couldn't have been the only one who spent half the video thinking the music choice was a perfect choice for the video, istg that's what frutiger aero sounds like
Like, I can easily visualize my first days setting up and exploring the options on my Windows 7 laptop or my Wii console to this background music as if it came from those 2
very true. im thinking the classic ringtones we all had on our sony ericsson W595 or nokias.
The Microsoft Bliss wallpaper (the rolling meadow & blue sky) has exactly this type of “musak” corporate soundtrack to go with it. I believe it played when you first installed or set-up windows. It’s all soulless corporate schlock. The embodiment of the corporate dystopia this video mentions, when companies tried to convince us that “company good”, “company love you”, “everything is wonderful”, when in fact they were gaining unprecedented power & breaking monopoly laws.
theres a vaporwave subgenre called "utopian virtual" thats basically fruitiger aero if it had a sound. you should check it out.
@@Taser420 Cool, thanks I’ll check that out :-)
This aesthetic was the result of everyone suddenly having Photoshop. Not mentioned here was the overuse of bevel & emboss effects. This contrasted w/ the late 90s when grungy / distressed typesetting and scratchy elements gained popularity because of advancements in printing technology & digital layout.
Super true, I learned how to do the glass effect on icons and was still doing it in the late 2010s anachronistically lol
That's not actually fully true, this aesthetic actually originates in Europe, in various types of businesses' waiting rooms, where the decoration and design was like this, to make people relaxed and give them a nice environment
And it actually started in the late 90's, with the colorful and lively atmosphere of the late 90's. That's because back then everyone thought that the new millennium would bring a new age for Humanity, with things like that fall of the Berlin wall, so there was the feeling of a soon-to-come Utopia
@@MybeautifulandamazingPrincess I don't think they're saying Photoshop is where this aesthetic originated from - just that it could be argued that the tremendous accessibility of Photoshop and its basic tools and features played a big part in how prevalent this aesthetic became. Without the widespread availability of Photoshop it might not have been the decade-defining aesthetic it was, but rather just one of many.
I always thought of it being "too early" to assign a name to this aesthetic and lay down a thorough definition for it, but it's finally time and you summed it up so eloquently for us!!! The fruits of your research really shine through in your insights on Frutiger Aero and I think we can all relate to your opinions! Also having a blast reading the comment section, you definitely sparked a conversation that will make it to the history books of design :)
The name is just the font used and the Aero theme from Windows vista, which is the best looking OS
I absolutely love this aesthetic. Seeing a computer monitor on some grass with a city next to it and fish inside the screen somehow doesn't look like a children's drawing.
Reminds me of my childhood. Old small Mobiles and the bubble sounds they used to make. Old surreal windows backgrounds. The times where I was happy.
I think that while the Frudiger Aero will reemerge in 2023, the target audience and message will change. Before, it was mainly for families and elders who needed a more friendly, clear style for UI/UX interaction. And it was mainly developed by tech giants like Apple and Microsoft, and was copied by other tech communities, like KDE (look up KDE Oxygen, heavily inspired by Aero aesthetic).
Nowadays though, it will possibly become young people's counter-corporate style, to remind people about the broken utopian promises that corporate giants made. It's like "you failed to deliver, so we'll do it ourselves" message. And I can't be more excited about that. Because it will also become widespread adopted eventually, like vaporwave or synthwave did.
🎯 insightful prediction
I think that too
It's crazy how quickly we went from this to the horrible flat design every corporate art designer uses nowadays. Would love to see this make a comeback some day
True. The latter is so cheap and soulless it surprises me it became mainstream.
@@fl570 To me Frutiger Aero is soulless, it looks so cheesy and uncanny.
Bring back 80s or 90s corporate design.
No. It was way too cheesy and fake. It all looks like amateur photoshop work (because compared to now, it is).
@JohnnyC still better than crappy minimalism.
Finally someone made this video!! I’ve always noticed this aesthetic especially in 2009-2013 and It’s so nostalgic to me. I tried explaining this to some people but could never describe it. I will miss this era so much. Even the music that was popular back then had to do a lot with it too.
Some songs that kind of remind me of this aesthetic for some reason (but.. only a little bit) from the early 2010s are:
Blank Space - Taylor Swift
Cool Kids - Echosmith
Roses - Chainsmokers
Starry Eyed - Ellie Goulding
My favs out of these songs:
Rather Be - Clean Bandit
Lights - Ellie Goulding
Sledgehammer - Fifth Harmony (I don’t particularly like this song but it matches the vibes)
Or.. maybe these songs are better fit for just an all white, airy, simplistic, minimalist and modern void aesthetic
the tertiary colours popular in frutiger aero (turquoise, lime green, light orange, dark pink/lilac) were also ENORMOUSLY popular in interior design i'd say from 2007 up to 2012 or so. they dominated the catalogs of brands like casa and oxybul (which wasn't yet called that). This is when I redecorated my room so it is kind of stuck in this era, but i like it as those are my favorite colours.
by 2012 even christmas ornaments came in sets of those colours
This definitely makes me feel nostalgic and at peace. I was in 6th grade in 2004 and graduated in 2011 so my teen years, when I started having access to tech like I-pods, our first family desktop, and my first cellphone, started and lasted the length of this design era. I was also experiencing my own freedom as a teen during this time, and so I associate this design with a lot of my positive memories from my childhood. Coming home after school to pop in The Sims on our old Dell that had the expansive green field background was such a relaxing routine for me, and getting a cellphone was such a momentous occasion, my first cellphone was a Fusic(it had interchangeable colored face plates) and the store had all kinds of cool marketing decor that looked like Frutiger Aero.
This was also when Malls were still a popular place to hang out and Claire’s had a ton of phone charms, FYE had CD racks ect. I think it’s interesting too how if you watch movies, the Eutopic landscapes are always sort of a real world version of Frutiger Aero, earth and technology existing together, even symbiotically, rounded features, grassy parks surrounded by rounded buildings, glossy transport tubes, sleek or bubble vehicles, ect.
I feel like 2012 was sort of a drop off point for a lot of people my age. We had to grow up, and I feel When Sandy Hook happened, I think it sort of changed how a lot if young people felt about the world, and it’s been a slow decline since then, optimism seems harder to find, everything has sort of taken a dismal turn, so I think when we represent our Eutopia in media, it resembles this techno-organic aesthetic that was so prevalent during some of the best years of our lives because of what it represents for us.
Modern design feels a lot more uninspiring and utilitarian with no room for movement outside of its rigidity and two dimensionality. It’s aesthetic but you can’t take root in it. Artistically I feel like it’s adjacent to recent attitudes about the state of the world in general. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.
Microsoft is the greatest responsible of that stupid modern clean design that came along with Windows 8 in 2012.
cmon man you're too old to not at least space your writing out.
just a simple space and making it a couple paragraphs would have made this a great read!
@@warpdarkmatter It was inevitable. The 90s/00s era of advertising aesthetic drove younger designers to referring back to the simple color blocking of the 70s and 80s. That resulted in a trend toward simplified product packaging and logo design. That has certainly become its own problem, just as much as this Frutiger Aero aesthetic reeked of corporate design sensibilities, which seemed to have no concern for aesthetics at all.
In hindsight it has some aesthetic appeal, especially when you look at the more extreme versions that look almost Lisa Frank with a Green/Blue color palette. But the over-designed, extremely busy imagery of Frutiger Aero WAS the 00s equivalent to today's hyper simplified minimalism, just on the opposite side of the spectrum.
The expansive green background was the default wallpaper from Windows XP. I also miss the 2010s. I wish we could go back to them. It’s weird looking back at technology that came out in like 2012 and thinking it was state-of-the-art.
@Bread And Circuses someone in 20 years will be posting on TH-cam a video called “iPhone 14 in 2043: is it worth it?”
We’ll look back like, “Man, I miss Windows 11. Now we have Windows 102. I can see the back of the computer, the wall, just looking at my desktop. I can make my house pop into existence by speaking, “House, exist.” And I can walk in.
😔
2008-2013 sure was a vibe
It was still pretty good till 2018
@AbrahamShoahsteinI mean you're probably just an 80s kid who became a miserable 2000s adult. While I there during those times enjoying my childhood.
@AbrahamShoahstein I grew up with like 80s music in the early 2010s so I never really listened to actual music from that time and I mostly watched movies made in the 2000s and 90s thanks to DVDs and a couple old VHS tapes from my brother born in the early 90s
@AbrahamShoahstein Also every decade has some trash films and music. Don't act like the 90s and 2000s didn't have any bad films or songs
@AbrahamShoahsteinbro id commit genocide to go back to those times wtf r u talking about
I’m a graphic designer and brander so I come into contact with this everyday. It’s very nostalgic but absolutely horrendous to work with and alter to mobile and app format.
There’s a reason why all branding has gone flat and ‘boring’. It’s so graphic designers can format logos/graphic assets for all platforms.
Back in the 2000’s (I actually started designing in 2007) you didn’t need graphics for things like social media so it was basically just website and leaflets so you could get away with having obscure graphics that looks really high tech and cool at the time but now I think it’s looks super dated and really corny and very impractical.
Super video though, I didn’t even realise this aesthetic meant so much to people and was actually so popular with gen Z.
Makes me wonder when minimalistic design will go the way of fruitger aero. I know the idea is that minimalistic design is very reusable, but I wonder if technology may change where multiple platforms aren't needed, or improved to where more interesting designs aren't cumbersome?
As someone who grew up in the 2000's, there's a charm missing from a lot of modern graphic design because of this transition. The style isn't just so things are user friendly and widely appealing, but the use of certain colors, unique stand-out shapes, commposition, lighting and other elements are all great tools that allow a graphic designer to convey anything they'd like, and put some personality into things. There's less subtle meaning in a basic menu or logo, but you could write entire essays on how some menus or logos back in the day made you feel.
I don't quite get what is so difficult in adapting this stuff to mobile format. Earlier iPhones and iPod touch era iOS and essentially everything it supported was done in frutiger and I wouldn't say that it was in any form impractical or "corny". Of course, now we have bigger screens with bigger resolution, but it's not like we're comparing it to Gameboy screens
Without wanting to sound mean, attitudes like this is why everything looks boring now
Well, it’s not so much an attitude more of a ‘we have no choice so get on with it’ kind of thing, it’s what clients want and that’s what pays the bills. Digital designers and artists are always evolving and popular aesthetics come and go. But you have to create what people want at the end of the day. Some people like it, some don’t.
You're the first youtuber i've seen explore this aesthetic. I grew up with it so I'm glad to see someone show appreciation for it.
You genuinely reminded me of a time that was hidden deep inside my memory. So glad the algorithm blessed your video otherwise I wouldn't have stumbled over it.
as someone who used to use windows 7 when i was a kid, this aesthetic is INSANELY nostalgic to me. i want these glass windows to come back...
Same with windows Vista. This also reminds me of those mice you could get for computers back in the early 2000s that where neon coloured and had water inside.
was born in 99 and experienced these aesthetics first hand growing up, really strikes the nostalgia for me lol
I was born in 88 so I actually remember it. Lol
@@barbieblues7639 i was born in 99 and i also actually remember it bc half my day was in front of my nan’s window XP playing runescape 🤓
This is one of my favourite styles, purely because as someone born in the early 2000s, it's the thing I grew up with. Now, I hate corporate art styles as much as everyone does, but there's something about the use of nature that appeals to me. Even going back to the cloudy skyscape of Windows 95, which you could sort of see as an ancestor of Frutiger Aero, I've always loved the green hills under sunny blue skies that the 2000s had in spades. It's hopeful, and optimistic. There's a level of "Yes, it's corporate, but at least we understand that people like looking at rivers and trees". Who likes looking at flat geometric shapes, compared to a photo of a lake under a midnight sky?
I'd even argue that Frutiger Aero stretches into sound design. Sticking with the software theme, the startup and shutdown sounds for Windows ME and ESPECIALLY the Windows 7 trailer sting can't be disconnected from this, in my opinion. They're equally "View from the Hill" optimistic.
You are obviously someone who knows a lot about this topic, despite your clarifications at the end, and I THOROUGHLY enjoyed this video. I've always loved this style, and had NO CLUE it had a name. Thank you so much!
I've always loved the Frutiger Aero design aesthetic without even knowing its name. I hope it makes a comeback sometime soon
As an artist who loves to emulate work like this, this video is a lifesaver I never knew the name of this aesthetic!! I am so happy to be able to put a name to it and to be able to find more references :)
Seeing these Frutiger Aero images just instantly hits me with waves of nostalgia, and brings forth the feeling of a cool fan hitting your skin on a warm summer day.
I love it, that glossy, wavy, with hints of nature aesthetic. Definitely want it to make a comeback. I don't know if it counts as Frutiger Aero or more skueomorphism but the old Pepsi logo from 2003 or so also comes to mind, with the cracked ice and droplets of condensation on the spherical Pepsi logo. SUCH a stylish and cool look, nothing else has ever made me more immediately thirsty than that logo/general marketing illustration. Maybe not the style exactly but definitely aesthetic design similarities.
I've never been able to truly describe the early 2000s other than "Orange and bubbles" this video perfectly explains why I feel this way, and even better explains what I picture in my head, but can't explain with words. Thank you for this!!!
I've been longing for a way to gather everything that had this clean, shiny, bubble-esque appearance under one umbrella to make my own artwork based off of this aesthetic. YOU ARE THE ABSOLUTE MVP FOR FINALLY GIVING ME SOMETHING TO GOOGLE AND AGGREGATE. THANK YOU SO MUCH. I miss the optimism that flooded the general early 2000's surface-level culture--I was a tiny child back then before my life did the thing it does when you turn like, 13 and you life becomes overwhelmingly shitty all at once. I just want colors back! I can't wait to bring this back into my life by my own god damned hands. THANK YOU.
Frutiger Aero feel so refreshing, I want to go back in time...
I feel like styles like "liminal" or, perhaps more specifically, "weirdcore/dreamcore" touch upon this aesthetic greatly, and those kinds of images sometimes bring me to tears with how much nostalgia and sense of wonder they induce, so I think it's made a very small, niche comeback in that way focusing heavily on the dreamy, blissful, somewhat creepy and very nostalgic and weird aspects of it
I would like people to notice the optimism this style had towards the future too. Promises.
Like this perfect Utopia were everyone starts using technology for the good of society. A Happy future with technology in mind, and Aero as a theme. Co-existing peacefully with nature. Always keeping the promises of a good future without taking the weird aesthetic it has.
THAT could be a nice "Core" type of style. Combined with Aero, a look towards the future we will never have.
@@moister3727 That really hits the nail on the head for me. I would never have been able to put it in those words myself, but they fit perfectly to how I remember the 2000s.
@@d3punkt5 Me too, like a total 180° to what any futuristic dystopia can be
Yeah, I like liminal spaces too but this shouldn't be used as a corporate aesthetic
Why is everything "liminal" now.
I love old skeumorphic aero aesthetics like this and I really with they were used today
This style brings me back to a way more calm time, to my early teens... even with the recession happening in the background, 2006-2012 were years of progress and optimism.
Phones were used as phones (even though in 2012, touchscreen smartphones were pretty common) and not as an omni-tool, Facebook was more bound to the PC rather than to the phone, society was way, way less polarized and divided, and people were much friendlier.
It's a reminder of a time when the internet (online) and the life outside (offline) were separate but had a healthy coexistence as the latter served an escape from the former.
I can still hear the MSN Messenger message notification rolling, as I open the glossy transparent window, and I see my friend's suggestion to come to his house for a splitscreen game/jam sesh.
Man... these are very treasured memories.
I loved this aesthetic for so long. I loved the clear shiny look, I love the look and essence of water. And I sleek designs are just pleasant to look at. I think one of the things that really shaped my love for the aesthetic was Weather Channel. For anyone that loves the Frutiger Aero aesthetic, I highly HIGHLY recommend looking up Weather Channel's Local on the 8s segments from around 2006.
Omg I was OBSESSED with the Weather Channel/Nat Geo aesthetic, especially around 2006!! Was so playful, yet scientific/optimistic about technology and the future, honestly did wonders for making me actually interested in science in ways school didn't lol.
im still trying to find a weather channel winter bumper or something from 2009-2010 that has this wonderful frutiger aero-style music
@@NewWaveArch90 Might have it on twcclassics?
@@meowmasterL346 Same. I watched so much Weather Channel from 2003-2008, the peak probably being 2006. I've been listening to a lot of the music from it this past year or so because that was my favorite part
Music choice was perfect, felt like I was actually back there when the aesthetic was still being used - really cool video, I jumped into Photoshop and made my own Frutiger Aero stuff, never thought I'd actually be a fan of the look
Watching this on a TV from 2007 high is blissfully surreal
Fruitiger Aero and Skeuomorphism are some of my favorite aesthetics. It has such an interesting look to it, and it’s so nostalgic to me. It’s been interesting seeing more people embrace it in the past few weeks.
same, and i never knew the name of the Fruitiger Aero style, though i've always liked finding images that look like that on Google by using the time filter
Skeuomorphism always felt sort of nostalgic to me even as a kid. I don’t know why
2000s aestethic was too good for society. Its so optimistic, comfy, toyish and beautiful.
playing mirrors edge as a kid was for sure one of the core moments of my childhood where i internalized my affinity for this vision, which is quite ironic considering the oppressive and dystopian themes
I loved that game as a kid lol
Is Mirror's Edge Frutiger Aero considering it's actually super stark and minimalistic in design?
One architectural thing that I think was one of the most prominent aspects of this 2000s-era aesthetic, are those shiny silver ACM boards made to look "metallic". That gave a futuristic, tech visual. I still see it around like in mall interiors, store facades, from that era, I think that Apple stores still have something similar...
There's an overpass right behind my house (built in 2007/08) that was all covered with those when it opened, sadly it was left unmantained after and the city government removed them all this year (2022) after an accidental fire consumed them. Screamed 2000s aesthetic.
You are right! 🎯 that’s a very accurate insight that I didn’t realize. I know the look, and it does seem to be another part of the frutiger aero futurism vibe. Now that you mention it, I’m noticing these types of buildings pictured in Frutiger Aero art. It reminds me of the 2000’s eco futurism vibe which is definitely an aspect/sub aesthetic of frutiger aero.
that "graphic design is my passion" vibe
Very random but I love your voice it’s so chill, I think it’s how close you’re talking to the mic giving asmr vibes.
This was really an eye opening video for me. I've been looking for a long time a name and meaning for this aesthetic. Meanly because it reminds me of my childhood and all the fashion styles in the media. Frutiger Aero gives me these memories of nostalgia from the past that other things can't compete. It makes me feel like the world is calmer and easygoing. The style does have a strong emphasis on the feeling that you live in a utopian type of world where we have all the comforts of technology and at the same time we feel relaxed and free of the endless control of the internet and social media. It was a time when we had the best of bought worlds. I love looking at it because it is one of the only art types that gives me real joy by looking at it.
you can get a more windows 7 look for you're pc with open shell
Sameeee I love this aesthetic it is such a childhood type. It reminds me of being 6 years old
Part of me believes there was sort of a split between techology companies at the time. Microsoft clearly pushed towards a flat design with Windows 8 in 2012, but it was a complete failure. As for Apple, Steve Jobs died in 2011 with the new flat design only coming in 2-3 years later under Tim Cook. I doubt Steve had the flat design in mind. I'm pretty sure there's going to be a huge backlash to flat design soon, and we're already starting to see it.
Oh it's definitely starting, the seeds are being sown. I think the most reaching widespread distaste for flat minimalism thats starting up is company logos becoming flat and boring which many people seem to be showing a disliking for
People are definitely getting upset about it, but no one has come up with anything to replace it yet.
@@vincentsvirtues4172 I think neumorphism has potential but I've yet to see it be put into action
@@orbic521 I had to look it up. I love it! The buttons look very similar to pre-update Audacity. All the main media controls on that software looked like rubber membrane buttons. This should be implemented more.
@@bcj842 Agreed!! Its like a marriage of the old way and current way
When I think of the 2010s i think of blue glass buildings and it brings me back to being little
thanks for making this! i love aesthetics like y2k and frutiger aero, its so nostalgic and calming
This aesthetic does make me feel nostalgic for a lot of things in my childhood, particularly the images of blue water, bubbles and tropical flowers. Things like:
-Finding Nemo
-2002-03 era Bionicle and its PC game MNoG 2
-Going to the swimming pool with my family on Saturday afternoons
-SpongeBob
-Microsoft Plus! for Windows XP
-Taking water bottles to school on hot days
Finally, I've stumbled upon the name of an aesthetic I didn't even know existed! I thought myself to be alone in this. The hovering, miniaturized planet earth stuck in my mind, and the concept has inspired me creatively in a work of fiction. Very blue skies, and very green grass characterized the Y2K internet/tech feel, and I think this vibe seeped into the flash games movement, as well!
You hit the nail on the head
this has become my favorite aesthetic recently and ohmygod i love it, it really reminds me of a time during my childhood lmfaoo
This is one of the best things that I’ve watched for the last 6 months. Thank you so much for making this video. I knew this thing existed and always wanted to read about it, couldn’t really find words to describe it and then TH-cam recommends me this! I really hope this design comes back some day.
always loved this aesthetic. when i was a kid my family only used mac computers, but every summer i would live at my cousins’ house and play video games on their PCs. the windows vista aero theme is burned into my mind as equating to summer vacation, fun video games, and spending time with my cousins
I never realized how nostalgic all this stuff is.
Loved this!! I have always loved this aesthetic and a lot of popular aesthetics from the late 90's and 2000's, I like that this aesthetic has a name and now I know what to call it :) The bubbles, waves, and gloss always stuck with me as someone also interested in marine biology, it's funny how many companies used those same exact elements
I never knew what to call this. In my head it was the Sharp Aquos style, because there was an old ad for their RGBY Quattron TV with the blue water and yellow fish swimming out of the television. That has stuck with me since 2010.
It definitely felt like an offshoot of Utopian Scholastic but more corporate-promo geared towards adults rather than child education-based. Would love if you did a video on Utopian Scholastic design from the 90’s-early 2000’s
Always loved the Frutiger Aero aesthetic, and your analysis of its utopic future vision being painfully ironic due to the widespread technical dystopia it ushered in really blew me away. Underrated channel, really glad I came across this!
Great video! I didn't realize that this aesthetic extended beyond just Windows and the Wii. I find the research required for this video to end up with an 11 minute runtime quite impressive!
i like that you talked about the pages where you found out about this aesthetic. a lot of people who talk about aesthetics don’t cite their sources and that really grinds my gears.
anyway, i loved hearing your perspectives on this topic. i’m gonna subscribe (:
Excellent video! The 2000s aesthetic is truly an enigma, and this is a great job at defining and exploring one aspect of it :D Looking forward to seeing more :) - maybe you could look at something to do with the dark grey/brown colour coding that so much media had back in the day (Linkin Park, GTA III and IV, Emo rock, etc.)
I have to be honest, nobody will ever be able to bring back this aesthetic as it once was, lots of people like to use it and such, but being a kid back then with this aesthetic basically everywhere, you'll never get that feeling again.
Awesome video, I love frutiger aero.
Also your voice is very pretty, I really enjoyed listening to it. Will definitely share this with my friends and watch more of your videos.
"Frutiger Aero" might be my favourite aesthetic too. Everytime I see images of it, it reminds me how I woke up in 2006 Sunday morning. Full of happiness and optimism in front of my cousin's computer. Imagining my future, standing on the place from these images. Finally, my family has our own computer in 2010 and my father gave me his unused Sony Ericsson phone in 2011. It felt better and better because I think that was the peak of this aesthetic being implemented in all digital gadgets
i love these in depth videos on 2000s tech/design. its very important. i feel as time goes on we as a culture are just becoming plain. ._. idk we have to keep individuality alive and thats why early 2000s tech and design was so cool
A lot of the Frutiger Aero images presented in this video have made me notice a theme. At about the time you were describing how it ironically led us to a reality quite unlike what it was advertising, I noticed how all the "naturescapes" were either tempered with a background of big-business-looking office skyscrapers (noticeably contrasting with the natural theme), or they were oddly sanitised and displayed a tame "nature" consisting of maybe one species of grass and very sparse trees, with no wildlife or biodiversity. It feels like what you'd get if a clean-freak went out into nature and tidied everything up to their meticulous liking.
The "nature" it presents is a stomach-turning artificially-flavoured imitation of nature.
I don't know how to say this without sounding pompous as all hell but here goes: its aesthetic also seems heavily influenced by nature-culture dualism, to the point that the art is not a statement about dualism itself but is simply shaped by that ideology underlying it. Nature is seen as something "other", separate from humans and their culture and civilisation and often contrasted with it. A resource for us to tap into and use as we please. Instead of accepting nature as it is, it shuns its imperfections and seeks to tame and control it, and ultimately replace it with something "better". It shows us visions of lush grassy vistas, free of thorns, thistles and insects (except butterflies 'cos those are cute), and expects us to aspire to live in a world like that. And on top of that, even this sanitised view of nature it presents is contrasted with the human and cultural parts of its vision, seeing skyscrapers and technology as all fundamentally separate from and unaffected by nature, and equally nature as separate from our societies with a clear dividing line in between. We are more and more realising that this view of nature as something to be tamed and exploited may have worked on smaller scales, but with industry operating at massive global scales we have no choice but to acknowledge that they are one and the same, and that in harming nature we also harm ourselves. We fail to realise the contradiction when we tell nature to get lost and make room for human culture; we cannot exist without nature, and we are nature, and when we poison and pollute nature we poison our own societies.
So while this looks like it's presenting a positive environmentalist message, its implicit message that we are to control and corral nature until it pleases us is exactly the problem that it should be asking us to solve, and part of the great irony you touch upon in this video. It is exactly the type of flawed reasoning that the solarpunk aesthetic is designed to reconsider (though I think many solarpunk artists still fall into similar patterns unintentionally). Even outside of intentional solarpunk, I think we are already somewhat reconsidering this; even contemporary videogames (sorry, that's the kind of art I consume lmao) have been trending in this direction with examples such as Kirby's Forgotten Land and Breath of the Wild leading us to imagine a world in which the artificial and natural have begun to merge again, and people live their lives more in harmony with nature. There's no sense of loss or doom intended in being presented a world like this; everyone is already at peace with the situation and arguably better off for it. You might walk around Hyrule thinking "wow, what an interesting history this place has", but you probably don't go around thinking "What a shame, I wish this was a bustling industrial city, a maze of buildings and shops like it once was". They're a unanimously positive vision of a world where people live comfortable lives not despite but because people have overcome the desire to try to tame nature and expand human industry out to infinity.
I’m not reading allat 😮
@@Notkiralol real
I read it all. This was amazing input on this topic. You have such a good point about the sanitization of nature and making it separate from us. This aesthetic was made with bias or very intentionally. It is a product of developing technology in a world run by business.
@@Notkiralol you know making fun of people writing long post expressing anything other than ironic cringe humour stopped being funny since 2019
thank you for this. i read it all and it was worth it