Core77
- Topics
- Features
-
Awards
- Awards
- 2022 Design Awards Results;
- Jobs
-
Firms
- Firms
- Search Firms;
- Firm Projects
- Forums
-
More...
- About Us
- Contact Us
- Advertise
- About
- Terms of Use
Beyond Retro Design: People Want New Things That are Old, or Old Things That are New
I think the same thing goes for keyboards nowadays. Just look at Lofree, Qwerkywriter, iTypewriter.Lofree has the nicest design but the other two are moronic.
Totally agreed. I backed Lofree and can't wait to tap tap tap on that instead of the efficient yet soul-less Apple wireless keyboard on which I'm typing this comment
I did a "restofication" on my 1963 International Harvester Metro. I would love to take Art Deco design and use that as a guiding visual cue for modern shop tools.
Motorbikes have been into the retro thing for a long while but recently a few retro-inspired-but-new bikes came out, this one is even surprisingly affordable!
http://scramblerducati.com/en/
When poorly done, retro design is an uninspired reboot of once good ideas that too often becomes a jumbled mess of poorly executed reiteration. We see it all the time not only in automotive design (PT Cruiser, I'm looking at you), but also in film and TV (new MacGyver and Lethal Weapon TV shows, A-Team movie, etc). Retro plays on our romanticism of the past. The older we get, the softer our memories become and the more we yearn to reconnect with a time that we think was more innocent and less jaded. Of course, we tend to gloss over the reality of older things, such as how dangerous, heavy, awkward, and unreliable these things used to be back when they were new. The same goes for past relationships. Why did I ever break up with so and so... and then you remember how insane / messy / opinionated / ignorant / selfish that person used to be and how crazy they made your life. I don't mind touches of retro design, as it tends to 'warm' up modern technology by infusing the tactility and craftsmanship of the old and analog onto the data driven, automated, CAD defined design processes of today. I would pause, however, at over romanticising things past. I'd LOVE an old e-type but in reality, driving one day to day would be uncomfortable and not nearly as safe as a modern day car w/ computer modelled high strength steel unibody chassis and active suspension and dynamic drive systems. A great example of retro done right is the Singer 911. Looks the part of a classic 911, but has the power, handling, and brakes of a modern Porsche. Superb attention to detail without restricting themselves to maintaining the 'purity' of a traditional restoration. And yeah, Braun has a whole catalog of classic Dieter Rams designs I'd love to see revamped and reissued. No razors yet, but the classic Braun watches have been reissued and gently updated. Certainly a modern classic.
Is the "same thing but pocket size" trend - if it as a trend only - a kind of old but new thing too, looking at the NES Classic Mini, for example?
A Commodore 64 with a floppy drive. Although I can probably get that on EBay.
Why is it a requirement, in all car and motorcycle videos, that the road leads to a beach? And an empty beach at that? I guess sometimes there's a woman/man waiting.