The Frutiger Aero aesthetic, which was popular in the early 2000s, is back in fashion on TikTok. Motorola flip phones and colored iPods come to life again. Dolphins and tropical fish are swimming everywhere again. Bubbles, curved lines, fluo meadows and skies invade the graphics.
The Frutiger Aero aesthetic is named after Adrian Frutiger and Windows Aero. The former created the homonymous font that characterized the products of the trend. The latter is the design language of Windows Vista and Windows 7. Aero is an acronym that stands for Authentic, Energetic, Reflective and Open.
The same qualities people attributed to technology during the transition between analog and digital. A time when technology represented a bright future, but it was also closer to nature. Nature inspired the first models of mobile phones and personal computers. For example, iMac G3 was available in five colors or, as the advertisement claimed, fruit flavors: blueberry, strawberry, tangerine, grapes and lime.
Technology seemed to intensify nature, make it brighter and more tangible. Wallpapers and screen savers portrayed animals, especially marine, that seemed to pierce the screen. Or utopian scenarios, where skyscrapers with soft lines stood surrounded by bright colors meadows.
The curved lines, which made viral the bubble image, mirrored an ideal civilization, welcoming, with no edges. This fluid design characterized not just technology, but also constructions and objects. Rounded yachts, swimming pools, villas and furniture were musts for wealthy people.
The others were content to fill their bathrooms with soap holders, like the Palmolive ones, full of small fishes. Indeed, the sea and its inhabitants played a key role in this aesthetic. Wherever a space could be made, it was filled with colored liquid, as to represent displays’ liquid crystals.
The Frutiger Aero aesthetic was synonymous with optimism, relaxation, good humor and safety. Things that are missing today, in a world where technology seems increasingly cold and distant. Its return expresses nostalgia for the future we expected and never got. But maybe someone’s still willing to fight for it.
