NOSTALGIA SPARES NO ONE

“This is the future that they promised us!”

For every issue of Edgewood Magazine, we’ve chosen a central color, Volume 4 being the cyber shade of cyan blue, a direct reference to the aesthetic commonly dubbed as “frutiger aero.”

According to frutiger-aero.org, “Frutiger Aero, also referred to as ‘Web 2.0 Gloss’, was a widespread design style that dominated various fields, including advertising, media, stock imagery, and technology, from approximately 2004 to 2013.” This website highlights the entire timeline of the movement, referencing the peak, death, and subsequent resurgence of the styling post-covid. The concept itself is simple; it revolves around technology.

Though, our world has seemed to revolve around technology for quite some time now, with new generations of human beings that either do not, or never will, remember a time without computers. In an age where anything we could imagine is constantly at our fingertips, we seem to be yearning for more simplicity, while also trying to subvert ourselves from styles, such as the inherently negative, “sad baby beige,” which is often categorized under “minimalism.” I would argue that frutiger aero was, and still is, one of the most solid choices for design that is both stimulating to the eye and comforting to the mind. It’s clean, but not sharp, often visually defined with features that are “bubbly” or “glossy,” and, at the time, provided an online interface to consumers that felt promising.

With the resurgence of the aesthetic on social media platforms, more specifically TikTok, the consensus seems to be that frutiger aero was “the future that they promised us.” Videos featuring slideshow images of these online interfaces all seem to include captions that circle back to something that it feels we, as a society, are missing out on, almost as if it were never really there to begin with. A lot of us are able to remember using digital systems like Windows Aero, as well as Windows XP, a derivative of the short lived 80s-adjacent “vaporwave” aesthetic that proceeded the birth of frutiger aero, but even vaporwave during its time was hinging on the past.

The want to move forward, has started shaping itself as the need to go back, proven by a steady uprise in content that, for the purposes of this essay, I will call “nostalgia bait,” that centers itself around early childhood. The comments on these videos are flooded with the mentality that not only SHOULD the world look like this, but that it is now our responsibility, as adults, to build it. The top comment on one such video said, “we can still make this into reality,” while underneath, another user shared, “This used to make me so hopeful for the future.” Frutiger aero felt like a tangible reality. It functioned within the early stages of household technology, and it felt so much “newer” than perhaps it ever really was. It felt like the future that we, in modern times, need “back.”

But where did it go beyond the landfills full of old brick-like computer monitors? Another TikTok commenter said, “I feel like it would [have] been like this without the pandemic.” During lockdown, all that any person really had was their computer, or more accurately, their smartphones. Not only was internet connection the only real practical means of personal communication, it also provided easy access to news sources, a gap that television had been filling for decades prior. Frutiger aero was one of the first aesthetic movements that was almost entirely dependent on its place of function rather than media itself. If not for the technology, the impact of imagery, such as this very certain shade of blue, would not even compare to the feeling it invokes now. One user commented, “...its similar to uncanny valley, it reminds you of things that you’ve seen before, but can’t quite remember [because] of how long ago it was.” Frutiger aero seems to bring with it a sense of unease, in the way that when engaging with it, we feel that something is wrong, but we cannot place exactly what. We only feel that we are lacking in something.

Nostalgia bait exists to invoke emotion, and therefore, this call for action. A lot of these comments, though, are entirely visually based, and negate the possibility of a society that looks like these images are being claimed to have promised. To elaborate on what it means to “bait,” I’d like to return to consumerist culture and its accessibility. TikTok especially has become a hub for what “the next big thing” may be, and with so many products constantly circulating the algorithm, they almost always feel like a waste of materials rather than a genuine advancement. The next thing turns into the next, next thing within a swipe, and even valuable art tends to lose its integrity when paired next to endless marketing. The reality, simplified, is that people do not want to be blatantly marketed to, but they want to be excited. Frutiger aero felt exciting because so was the technology itself. One online retailer by the name of Unjust Jewelry has combined all aspects of this phenomenon, marketing wallets and chains through not only their physically referential design, but more importantly their packaging. Their frutiger aero charm bracelet eventually went viral due to the classic “start up sounds” that greet you upon opening its carrying case. Shoppers were excited by this, not out of want to be a representative of this time period, but because the bracelet’s audible packaging gave them a sense of familiarity. This feature feels like that “promised future,” it is a new way of interacting with a product, all while being a more than blatant call back to the past.

We exist with the sense that online shopping is fun and easy, and while functioning under COVID-19, it is necessary, but this ease brings a problem. It almost becomes a bit of a paradox, in the way that time specific artistry like these accessories start to lose their credibility overtime through the repetition of overconsumption. What once was a cool piece to ogle at online and impress your friends with, now becomes another comment section begging for more. TikTok continues to perpetuate these ideals, with an influx of content that both slanders online shopping, but also tends to praise it. Even before the TikTok Shop, sites such as Temu and Shein have been constant sources of anxious commentary. They have seemed to normalize “dropshipping,” a means of business in which items are mass produced, often overseas, and shipped to the retailer to be repackaged by their branding and then resold, all while in an economy where quality has already stopped being able to outweigh quantity.

The aftershock of frutiger aero bred multiple aesthetics that focused themselves online, all under various names and conjoined into the constant pressure to be up to date and yet still referential. “Big branding” has since fluctuated in terms of importance, with more individuals opting for “dupes” of items rather than shopping with the companies themselves. Before the normalization of sites like Temu, online fashion storefronts such as StoreDogDog or KoKoPie CoCo offered a deceivingly easy outlet for matching the aesthetics of the time, with their reviews being flooded by unnecessarily long package shipping times and poor quality items upon arrival. However, both of these websites in question still exist, and especially in the case of KoKoPie, now are reliant on that vision of the past. The listings for their items all now include “buzzwords,” quantifying their merchandise with descriptions like “Tumblr,” “Kawaii,” or incredibly overtly, “Aesthetic.” Their current prices, though, do not match the nostalgia they are trying to re-reel their buyers in with, offering “goth” boots at an obscenely high cost given their origin and material. Their tactic, or perhaps their hope, is that the “wanting” will be enough to overlook the reality.

“Reality” smacks us in the face everyday. Especially in America, the current administration has made engaging with news content so significantly unappealing at a rate that almost completely removes a sense of urgency to change any of the root problems. When discussing politics, the sentiment seems to always return to uncertainty, the idea that it is all so ridiculous, the feeling is unreal. “The real world” has become less tangible to the average person that it has ever been before, making individuals more inclined to make a wasteful purchase, even if it only grounds them in the moment of opening the box and trying the item on. Whether these polyester t-shirts or thoughtfully crafted accessory cases end up in the trash or in a dresser drawer, nostalgia spares no one. We are constantly looking for pieces of ourselves, and the simplest way to do that is through what we already know.

This piece is not to say that nostalgia is inherently negative. I’d wager that in a society that seems to prioritize overexhaustion, and packages it as “the grind,” the increased accessibility of comfortability is a genuinely good thing. The issue lies most in its presentation. The beauty in the aesthetics of frutiger aero is not only its fluid appearance, but the historical periods it has existed in. While the actuality of rebuilding cities to reflect these landscapes is not the most approachable task, the pleading for change continues to repeat itself with every internet trend that cycles. In order to make these changes, we can not lend ourselves only to the perceived depiction of beauty or serenity. Aesthetics with an impact like frutiger aero call to guide us into a better way of living. If not, their purpose finds itself in the same landfills consumption has already created. That feeling of hope is not entirely lost, but now, more than ever, it must be transformative.

SOURCES:

frutiger-aero.org

https://www.tiktok.com/@alannagrace.nostalgia/video/7456955696500722986?lang=en&q=frutiger%20aero&t=1749185007426

https://www.tiktok.com/@junipiepie/video/7290051638188887298?lang=en&q=frutiger%20aero&t=1749185007426

https://www.tiktok.com/@unjustjewelry/video/7401559056407727390?lang=en&q=frutiger%20aero&t=1749185007426

https://www.tiktok.com/@unjustjewelry/video/7489535595270753578?lang=en

https://kokopiecoco.com/