carnellousthecat

Spacefaring

Among the Earth, among the stars. They/them plural system, 30, pan. This is a blog about retrofuturism, americana, technology, and everything space

596 posts

You Know That Sort Of Technological/sci-fi Aesthetic That Was Most Prevalent In The Late80s To The Mid-90s

You know that sort of technological/sci-fi aesthetic that was most prevalent in the late ‘80s to the mid-’90s that used a lot of grey to beige colors and angular shapes with heavily rounded edges and corners?

Syd Mead was certainly a big influence, though a bit sleeker than most examples:

One of the greatest exemplars of the aesthetic is the interior of the Enterprise-D on Star Trek: The Next Generation:

It seems to be designed to appear both futuristic and welcoming. The plastic usually has a grainy texture so it doesn’t look so shiny and cold. Light sources are soft, with the lightbulbs concealed behind corners or plastic coverings that diffuse the light; it was also usually a bit dimmer to feel more indoorsy and cosy. Pure whites are shunned. Chairs and couches are made to appear comfortable at first glance (even if weird angles and slopes would compromise comfort in practice). Ceilings and walls slope inwards, accentuating the low, cosy feeling. It makes me think of being in an airliner, since airliner interiors have a similar aesthetic (that worked to ST:TNG’s advantage; since the interiors reminded me of an airplane, it felt like they really were in a spaceship).

In some ways it seems to be a softer, cosier update of the ‘60s space age aesthetic, and there’s a smooth transition to the colder, shinier Y2K aesthetic.