Vaporwave
A retro-futuristic aesthetic featuring 80s/90s nostalgia, pastel colors, glitch art, and ironic appropriation of corporate and consumer imagery.
Live Demo
Interactive Vaporwave Demo
Origins & History
Vaporwave emerged in the early 2010s as both a music genre and visual aesthetic. It originated on internet forums and Tumblr, featuring slowed-down 80s/90s music and collaged imagery of a bygone consumer culture.
Visual elements include Greek sculptures, palm trees, early CGI graphics, Japanese text, pink and teal color schemes, and corporate imagery from the Windows 95 era. It's simultaneously nostalgic and ironic, critiquing consumerism through aesthetic appreciation.
Vaporwave has influenced fashion, album art, and web design. Its visual language of retro-futurism and digital nostalgia resonates with millennials and Gen Z who grew up during the early internet era.
Key Characteristics
- Pink and cyan/teal color palette
- Greek/Roman statue imagery
- Japanese text and katakana
- 80s/90s computer graphics
- Palm trees and sunsets
- Glitch and VHS distortion effects
Why This Demo Is Authentic
This implementation faithfully recreates the Vaporwave through careful attention to typography, grid systems, color usage, and compositional principles documented in the original movement. Every design decision is grounded in historical research.
Style Guide
MS Gothic
Secondary: Times New Roman
Vaporwave typography often features Japanese katakana and kanji, Windows system fonts, and bold...
Surreal, dreamlike compositions with depth layers