The
80s typography was loud, but also had a sense of simplicity as well. The
typography seemed like it contained two opposite characteristics at the same
time. For this reason though, I love the 80s typography. I personally divide
the 80s typography in two different categories; one is round, and the other is
geometrical. Although those two characteristics are very different stylistically,
both styles had bright, vivid font with a darker background, with
futuristic-metropolis feel.
Bubbly
handwriting styles were a trend in the 70s, and this style choice bled over to
the 80s. Of course though, designers did not keep the exact same style but
rather made a different variation of it. If the 70s typefaces had mostly
rounded corners, but in the 80s typefaces were less rounded, and instead got
bolder. Rob Roy Kelly invented the first, and original rounded font in 1938. The
80s were a revival of the geometrical font style, but also had a more futuristic,
rounder form.
In
addition, the color palette shifted from softer colors to strong, bright
colors, and there was often the use of strong color contrasts. To make the
contrast dramatic, neon coloring was popular choice often used. As a result,
most of the typography during the 80s looked very futuristic.
During
the 80s, the Sci-Fi genre in entertainment was back in style, people were
obsessed with technology, and cyber punk was popular. At that time, technology
started becoming much more advanced and used by many more of the general
public. Its growth made people wonder in
excitement what would happen in near future due to this fast-paced technology
development. As people’s expectations had changed, people soon expressed their
ideas of was to come through art, and movies as seen from the example of movie
posters below. This had a big part to do with all
the many movies in 80s that had robots, advanced technology, and the future.
At
the same time, geometric shapes had started to have its place in typography. It
looked more “cyber,” and digital like than rounder fonts. Bold San-Serif fonts
were being used extensively, especially in movie posters. Examples of this
usage can be seen in the movie posters of is Star Trek, The Terminator, and Tron.
Either
the angular fonts or the neon color palettes were used even if the films were
not so related to Sci-Fi. For example, License to Drive (comedy), or Cocktail
(romantic comedy) used a digital-look design even though they were completely
opposite from the Sci-Fi genre that inspired the design’s creation.
Trends
and styles repeat themselves, and come back into fashion, use, and style. Each
time period’s style reflects the time’s different values or societal ideas. The
80s typography was from 50s, which had bold San-Serif. And now, the 2010s, the
bold San-Serif style has come back, showing a new, but in ways similar to the
80s, reflection of our generation, which uses bold San-Serif with strong color
contrast. Today, designs use rounder fonts. Companies prefer to use softer
San-Serif fonts because it looks friendly, and trustworthy, and this that is
suited for the Internet generation.
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