Retro and Vintage In Modern Web Design

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Vitaly Friedman loves beautiful content and doesn’t like to give in easily. When he is not writing, he’s most probably running front-end & UX … More about Vitaly ↬

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Retro and vintage are becoming a new trend. Once rarely used in this robust, dynamic medium, early, retro and vintage elements are now becoming more and more popular in a variety of design contexts. Online shops, corporate designs, portfolios and blogs incorporate both styles on a small and large scale. When applying “old-style” elements to their works, designers produce creative and appealing designs that make their websites stand out and look really different. As a matter of fact, if executed carefully, such designs almost never look boring, although one might intuitively think that the opposite would be the case.

Retro and vintage are becoming a new trend. Once rarely used in this robust, dynamic medium, early, retro and vintage elements are now becoming more and more popular in a variety of design contexts. Online shops, corporate designs, portfolios and blogs incorporate both styles on a small and large scale. When applying “old-style” elements to their works, designers produce creative and appealing designs that make their websites stand out and look really different. As a matter of fact, if executed carefully, such designs almost never look boring, although one might intuitively think that the opposite would be the case.

Retro and vintage designs exhibit graphic solutions that are strongly influenced by the time period that they are supposed to represent. While retro focuses on the style of the 1910s to 1930s, vintage recalls the time period between the 1950s and 1980s. In both cases, design elements reflect some old-fashioned motifs, trends, personalities and objects that had been an essential part of our lives in the past.

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Such elements create a nostalgic atmosphere, awaken feelings and memories and attempt to communicate information effectively using emotions. Some such designs make use of so-called “classical conditioning” – a technique used to associate a stimulus with an unconscious physical or emotional response.

The Secrets Of Vintage and Retro Designs

What elements do designers use to create a genuine vintage or retro atmosphere? What colors are used? And what kinds of graphics are usually embedded in such designs? Let’s find out. According to our research, common graphic elements for such designs are:

illustrations from old posters, movies, newspapers, CDs, vinyls, ads;

Retro and Vintage

old-style typography (e.g. Roman typefaces);

Retro and Vintage

script fonts and handwriting;

Retro and Vintage

old radio devices;

Retro and Vintage

old TV devices;

Retro and Vintage

old cars;

Retro and Vintage

old packaging;

Retro and Vintage

old photos;

Retro and Vintage

vibrant rainbow colors (high contrast, neon-style);

Retro and Vintage

torn, used paper with stains (often yellowish paper);

Retro and Vintage

dark, dirty colors (brown, dark red, dark blue) and textures (e.g. paper);

Retro and Vintage

scrapbooks;

Retro and Vintage

pop-art elements (see also Pop Art Is Alive: Classics and Modern Artworks);

Retro and Vintage

retro illustrations;

Retro and Vintage

Vintage and retro are often combined with a hand-drawing style and grunge style.

Some designs go even further and not only use retro or vintage elements but try to achieve a Renaissance look. You can find some examples of such designs at the end of this post.

In all of these cases, designers use their creativity to offer something truly different and make the design literally stand out. Let’s take a look at some beautiful examples of what can be achieved using this technique.

Below, you’ll find a showcase of 50 beautiful retro, vintage and Renaissance designs. Some of them are Flash-based, and most of them are CSS-based: for us it was not important how the design was achieved; rather, it was more important what came out of the designer’s approach in the end.

Showcase Of Retro and Vintage Web Designs

CSS Tinderbox (the design is different now - the site was recently redesigned)

Retro and Vintage Designs - CSS Tinderbox

Custom Design

Retro and Vintage Designs - Custom Design | graphic, product and web design

Big Rig Design

Retro and Vintage Designs - Big Rig Design - Design and Marketing

AdaptD.com

Retro and Vintage Designs - AdaptD.com - Web Design and Development

FortySeven Media

Retro and Vintage Designs

Jeffrey Sarmiento

Retro and Vintage Designs - Portfolio and blog of Jeffrey Sarmiento a web designer/developer from Toronto, Canada currfigure working for FreshBooksLevel2D.com
Retro and Vintage Designs -
Rob Across America
Retro and Vintage Designs - Rob Across America
Sensi Soft
Retro and Vintage Designs - Sensi SoftThe New York Moon
Retro and Vintage Designs - The New York Moon - Neighborhood
~ The Statement ~ The Official Blog of The Old State
Retro and Vintage Designs - ~ The Statement ~ The Official Blog of The Old State
MacTarnahan's Brewing Company
Retro and Vintage Designs - MacTarnahan's Brewing Company
Tricycle Terror
Retro and Vintage Designs - Tricycle Terror
Charlies Loan
Retro and Vintage Designs - Charlies Loan Payday Loans Short term cash loans fast
Small Stone Recordings
Retro and Vintage Designs - Small Stone Recordings
Big Cartel
Retro and Vintage Designs - Big Cartel » Bringing the Art to the Cart
The Ernest Hemingway Collection
Retro and Vintage Designs - The Ernest Hemingway Collection
Five Cent Stand - Bitter Kiss
Retro and Vintage Designs - Five Cent Stand - Bitter Kiss
Prahba
Retro and Vintage Designs - Prahba | Creative Minds: Graphic and Web Design
Thigpen Designs
Retro and Vintage Designs - Thigpen Designs - 770.527.3958
Team Mongolmania
Retro and Vintage Designs - Team Mongolmania
The Superest
Retro and Vintage Designs - The Superest: Who is the superest hero of them all?
Red&Blu Winter '08-'09
Retro and Vintage Designs - // / RedBlu Winter '08-'09 // /
Booreiland
Retro and Vintage Designs - Booreiland - platform for creative productions
Fuelhaus
Retro and Vintage Designs - Fuelhaus Brand Strategy, Marketing, Design Agency
intensify.org
Retro and Vintage Designs - intensify.org
Mister-Aero
Retro and Vintage Designs
The Dollar Dreadful Family Library
Retro and Vintage Designs
Creating Passionate Users
Retro and Vintage Designs
Dennis Jones Artwork
Retro and Vintage Designs
Capitol Media
Retro and Vintage Designs
One Horse Shy
Retro and Vintage Designs
BlackMoon Development
Retro and Vintage Designs
Sourcebits TangledDecals
Retro and Vintage Designs
FOWA Miami
Retro and Vintage Designs
Bestial design
Retro and Vintage Designs
The First Twenty
Retro and Vintage Designs
The Blizzards
Retro and Vintage Designs
Internet Zillionaire
Retro and Vintage Designs

Renaissance-Designs

Theocacao

Retro and Vintage Designs