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Frutiger Metro

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This article is part of a series on the Frutiger Family

Frutiger Metro, also known (historically or initially) as Abstract Vector Art, is a broad digital design aesthetic primarily prominent in the late 2000s. This style is characterized by the vibrant and often glossy use of vector graphics, creating solid areas of color with crisp, geometrically neat outlines, and a distinct lack of hand-drawn elements.

It typically features abstract flourishes, fluid shapes, solid silhouettes, and gradient blocks, often set against a monochrome background, usually white or black. Its compositions often lean towards a maximalist design philosophy, distinct from the skeuomorphic realism of aesthetics like Frutiger Aero, focusing instead on stylized, non-photorealistic forms. In animated contexts, designs may flow outwards from a central point, gaining variety and complexity as they grow. This aesthetic was part of a larger trend towards humanist, maximalist computer-aided graphic design in that decade.

The name "Frutiger Metro" was coined on Aesthetics Wiki and gained popularity within online aesthetic discourse. The "Frutiger" component refers to its association with the wider "Frutiger Family" of 2000s aesthetics, drawing from common elements such as digital sheen, translucency, and an overall optimistic tone. The "Metro" part of the name references the Metro design language of Windows 8; however, despite this namesake, Frutiger Metro's visual expression often contrasts with Metro's characteristic flatness and minimalism, favoring a more elaborate and abundant use of vector elements. This aesthetic typically catered to a pre-teen or teenage demographic.

History[]

The aesthetic was prominent in the late 2000s through the early 2010s, forming part of a larger trend towards humanist and maximalist computer-aided graphic design during that decade.

While the aesthetic was prevalent, the term "Frutiger Metro" was not its original or widespread name during its peak. Instead, the style was often referred to by more general descriptive terms such as "vector maximalism," "abstract vector art," or simply "vector art," describing its visual nature. The term "Frutiger Metro" was later coined in 2023 on Aesthetics Wiki, gaining popularity within online aesthetic discourse. The "Frutiger" component of the name refers to its association with the wider "Frutiger Family" of 2000s aesthetics, drawing from shared elements like a digital sheen, translucency, and an optimistic tone. The "Metro" part of the name references Microsoft's Metro design language, which influenced user interfaces on platforms like the Xbox 360 and Windows 8. However, the aesthetic's maximalist visual expression often contrasts with Metro's characteristic flatness and minimalism, favoring a more elaborate use of vector elements despite the shared nomenclature.

The aesthetic is sometimes described as an "offspring" of Frutiger Aero but possesses significant differences. While Frutiger Aero emphasized three-dimensional designs, skeuomorphic realism, and an optimistic vision of the future that ultimately did not materialize, this aesthetic largely maintained a two-dimensional design, existing more as an aesthetic of the "present moment." It was commonly targeted towards younger demographics, frequently appearing in the design of CDs, toys, and gaming.

The aesthetic was extensively used across various forms of media and products. In user interfaces and advertising, it manifested in original iPod silhouette videos, Cox's internet advertisements from around 2004, Windows XP advertisements with abstract patterns, and the distinct look of Xbox 360 dashboards. For music, it appeared on numerous CD covers, including compilations and albums by artists such as Gym Class Heroes, Lily Allen, Fort Minor, Travy McCoy, Kanye West (in music videos like "The Good Life"), Kid Cudi ("Day and Night"), and Common ("Universal Mind Control"). Video games like the Just Dance series (especially Just Dance 3), Wii Sports Resort, Rayman Origins, de Blob 2, and LittleBigPlanet incorporated its visual style in their menus and backgrounds. The aesthetic also found its way into physical products, including Kids Bop album covers, grade school yearbooks, and Domo merchandise.

The aesthetic's decline in the early to mid-2010s coincided with a broader shift away from maximalist designs towards flatter, more minimalist aesthetics. This transition was evident in the move from Windows 7's Aero interface to Windows 8's Metro UI and the shift in mobile operating systems like iOS 7 towards simplified, less cluttered designs. Companies began to perceive the colorful, maximalist designs as less practical and more ornamental, prioritizing efficiency and functionality. While some arguments suggested that the abstract nature of the aesthetic detracted from usability, others maintained that its vibrant backgrounds and gradients enhanced user engagement, particularly in gaming. Despite its decline in mainstream prevalence, the aesthetic has seen a resurgence in online content, appearing in music videos by contemporary artists such as PinkPantheress and Romance Planet, as well as in fan-created edits on platforms like YouTube and TikTok.

Visuals[]

Frutiger Metro's visual style is defined by its vibrant and often glossy use of vector graphics. This aesthetic employs abstract shapes, flowing lines, and intricate patterns, characterized by crisp, geometrically neat outlines and a distinct lack of hand-drawn elements. Compositions are typically maximalist, featuring an abundance of overlapping forms, gradient blocks, and a wide array of bright, saturated colors. A digital sheen and translucent effects are often present. Common visual motifs include abstract flowers, striped circles, flourishes, stars, splats, human silhouettes, and elements related to music such as speakers, DJ mixers, and headphones. These designs were created using digital graphic tools, allowing for complex and layered arrangements.

Related Aesthetics & Subgenres[]

Related Aesthetics[]

Frutiger Aero[]

Main article: Frutiger Aero

Frutiger Aero (also known as Web 2.0 Gloss) is a design style and aesthetic that was prevalent in advertising, stock imagery and technology from roughly 2004-2013, following the end of the Y2K Futurism era and overlapping with the McBling, Surf Crush, Frutiger Metro and Electropop 08 aesthetics. It is characterized by its vast use of Skeuomorphism, glossy textures, cloudy skies, tropical fish, water, bubbles, glass, lens flare, sprawling patterns, "humanism", aero glass, bokeh, Frutiger fonts, auroras and bright, vibrant colors (usually greens and blues). Frutiger Aero and Frutiger Metro are very similar and adjacent aesthetics, both incorporating the same themes and being popular around the same time. The main difference between Frutiger Aero and Frutiger Metro, however, is that the former commonly makes use of 3D-depth filled graphic designs, while the latter uses 2D flat vector-based patterns and graphic designs.

Vectorbloom[]

Main article: Vectorbloom

Vectorbloom is a Vectorflourish sub-aesthetic that rose to popularity during the Early-2000s and maintained its popularity into the Early-2010s. It coexisted alongside contemporary aesthetics such as Frutiger Aero and Frutiger Metro, common characteristics including the use of flowers, flourishes, and occasionally animals, on exclusively flat, yet maximalist patterns that contain flat colors and gradients. Vectorbloom takes inspiration from 1960s psychedelic graphic designs and the early styles of Art Nouveau.

Subgenres[]

Vectorgarden[]

Main article: Vectorgarden

Vectorgarden (formerly known as Floral Metro) is a subgenre of Vectorflourish, Frutiger Aero, and Frutiger Metro. It is characterized by minimalist abstract flourish, feminine patterns, flowers, auroras, butterflies, bubbles, as well by the heavy use of gradients, transparent, and glossy textures. Vectorgarden was popular between the Mid-2000s and Mid-2010s, sharing a lot of overlap with Frutiger Aero since they share many of their visual motifs such as humanism, nature, auroras, and glossy textures. Frutiger Metro embodies many of these motifs and also shares one of Vectorgarden's core characteristics of being used in an exclusively flat, maximalist style.

Funky Metro[]

Funky Metro is one of the most common sub-aesthetics of Frutiger Metro. Music and partying are the most defining themes of this sub-aesthetic, musical instruments, speakers, DJs, headphones, microphones, and human silhouettes being prominent characteristics. It also shares a lot of similarities and overlap with Superflat Pop and Four Colors with the use of vivid and vibrant colors, primarily targeted toward teenage and young adult demographics.

Rave Metro[]

Rave Metro is an aesthetic that lasted from 2004-2015. It has features elements that can be associated with raves, disco, and rock music. This can include (but isn’t limited to): large speakers, electric guitars, DJ mixers, microphones, headphones, music notes, electric auroras, zebra print, stars, etc. Rave Metro can sometimes overlap with Funky Metro and Grunge Metro, making it like a middle ground between the two. Rave Metro typically tends to lean into the more feminine side, hence why hot pink is such a common motif.

Similar aesthetics include Teenpunk, McBling, and Pink Paris Design.

Grungy Metro[]

Grungy Metro focuses on the grungy elements of Frutiger Metro, which are often associated with the Emo, Scene, and UrBling aesthetics. Splats, overlapping vector patterns, and the heavy use of the color black are the main visual motifs seen in this style.

Música Metro[]

Música Metro is an aesthetic that mainly focuses on soft music rather than loud and vibrant elements. It revolves all around music, with its most common motifs being music notes and bar-lines. Due to its heavy focus on music and fairly broad visuals, this aesthetic can often overlap with other Frutiger Metro sub-genres such as Funky Metro and Rave Metro, however, Música Metro is separated from these aesthetics by its heavy use of pastels and much softer visual style, which is a lot closer to the likes of Vectorgarden.

Music[]

Songs[]

  • 360 by Charli XCX
  • Fancy by Iggy Azalea (ft. Charli XCX)
  • Metro Club by Ax14
  • Avast Your Ass by Kitsune^2
  • Baila Mi Corazón by Belanova
  • Clips Animados (DJ Rozenildo Negrão)
  • Colour of My Dreams (Jens O. Re-Edit) by DJ Sequenza
  • Electrosaturator by Tilt-Six feat. Hatsune Miku
  • Fantasía Pop Album by Belanova
  • I Like That by Static Revenger & Richard Vission ft. LUCIANA
  • Jerk it Out by Caesars
  • Joyride by Ke$ha
  • Lollipop by MIKA
  • Mathletics Times Tables Toons (animated songs)
  • Meltdown by iroha(sasaki) feat. Kagamine Rin
  • Metaphi by Lloyds TSB Advert (Dubstep Remix)
  • Nice to meet you by PinkPantheress feat. Central Cee
  • Pink or Black by Hatsune Miku
  • Po Pi Po by Lamaze-P feat. Hatsune Miku
  • Psycho Teddy by Jamster
  • Rainbow Tylenol by Kitsune^2
  • Skuggin' Around by Kitsune^2
  • This Too Shall Pass by OK GO
  • Triple Baka by Hatsune Miku
  • Visual Dreams by Girls' Generation (in collaboration with Intel™)
  • We R Who We R by Ke$ha
  • Weekender Girl by Hachiouji-P and kz (livetune) feat. Hatsune Miku

Media[]

Film & Television[]

  • 6teen (2004-2010)
  • A.N.T. Farm (2011-2014)
  • All Grown Up (2003-2008)
  • Barbie: The Princess & The Popstar (2012)
  • Barbie: Thumbelina (2009)
  • Biz Kid$ (2008-2017)
  • Camp Rock (2008)
  • Casper's Scare School (2009-2012)
  • Chop Socky Chooks (2007-2008)
  • CJ the DJ (2009-2010)
  • CN CHECK it Era (2010-2016)
  • CN Noods Era (2008-2010)
  • Domo TV (2008)
  • Dude, That's My Ghost! (2013)
  • Hanazuki: Full of Treasures (2017-2019)
  • Happy Monster Band (2007-2008)
  • Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi (2004-2006)
  • How to Rock (2012)
  • iCarly (2007-2012)
  • Johnny Test (2005-2014, 2021-present)
  • Julius Jr. (Paul Frank) (2013)
  • Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil (2010)
  • Legally Blonde (2001)
  • Littlest Pet Shop (2012-2016)
  • Lucky Fred (2011-2018)
  • Monster High (2010-2016)
  • Morangos com Açúcar Season 3 (2005)
  • More than a Game (2008)
  • Rabbids Invasion (2013)
  • Shorty McShorts' Shorts (2006-2007)
  • Sushi Pack (2007-2009)
  • Team Umizoomi (2010-2015)
  • The Amazing World of Gumball (2010-2019)
  • The Backyardigans (2004-2013)
  • The Electric Company (2009-2011)
  • The Garfield Show/Garfield & Cie (2008-2015)
  • The Fresh Beat Band (2009-2013)
  • Troo (2008-2009)
  • Violetta (2012-2015)
  • Winx Club (2004-2019)
  • Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! (2006-2010)
  • Zoey 101 (2005-2008)
  • Ax14 (2024)
  • Дом 2/Dom-2/House-2 (2004-2020)

Anime[]

  • PaRappa the Rapper: The Animation (2001)
  • Hetalia (2006-2022)
  • Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt (2010)
  • Gatchaman Crowds (2013-2015)
  • Pop Team Epic (2018-2022)
  • Oda Cinnamon Nobunaga (2020, Opening only)

Video Games[]

  • ANTONBLAST (2024)
  • All Points Bulletin (2010)
  • Arcade Jumper (2011)
  • Barbiegirls.com (2007-2011)
  • Beaterator (2009)
  • Beats (2007)
  • Block Breaker series (2002-2012)
  • Captain Rainbow (2008)
  • Class of '09 (2021)
  • Cytus (2012)
  • Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (2010)
  • de BLOB (2008-2011)
  • Deltarune (2018)
  • DJ Hero 2 (2010)
  • DJ Star (2009)
  • Everythinggirl.com
  • Feel the Magic: XY/XX (2004/2005)
  • Friday Night Funkin (2020-2021)
  • Fruit Ninja (2010)
  • Geometry Dash (2013-present)
  • Hohokum (2014)
  • Jet Set Radio (2000)
  • Just Dance series (2009-present)
  • Katamari series (2004-present)
  • Klonoa series (1997-present)
  • LittleBigPlanet series (2008-2014)
  • Littlest Pet Shop: Garden (2008) (Vectorbloom and Vector Garden only)
  • LocoRoco (2006)
  • Lumines (2004-2018)
  • Mario Kart 8 (2014-2023)
  • ModNation Racers (2010)
  • Moshi Monsters (2008-2019)
  • Motorstorm: Arctic Edge (2009)
  • Movie Star Planet (2009)
  • My Candy Love (2012-2021)
  • Need for Speed ProStreet (2007)
  • Need for Speed Shift (2009) (PSP Version)
  • No Straight Roads (2020)
  • osu!stream (2011)
  • Patapon (2007)
  • Persona series (2006-2008 and 2024)
  • Pixeljunk Eden (2008)
  • Pop'n Music 14 FEVER! (2006)
  • Pop'n Music Portable (2010)
  • RAVE ROUGH (TBA)
  • Rayman series (2008-2019)
  • SingStar series (2004-2017)
  • Skate Park City (2008)
  • Super Monkey Ball: Step & Roll (2010)
  • Sonic Generations (2011)
  • Superbeat Xonic (2015)
  • The World Ends With You (2007)
  • Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (2005)
  • Undertale (2015)
  • Wario: Master of Disguise (2007)
  • Zubo (2008)

Technology[]

  • Microsoft Xbox 360 S & Xbox 360 E (2010-2013)
  • Microsoft Windows 8 (2012)
  • Microsoft Xbox One (Early Dashboards) (2013-2015)
  • iPod Touch (2008-2010)
  • Android Jellybean 4.2 (2012)
  • Android KitKat (2013)
  • PlayStation 4 (2013)
  • Barbiegirls mp3 players (2007-2010)

Artists[]

  • nohluhn on Instagram
  • ReaperXXIV on DeviantArt
  • Osamu Sato
  • kalvindesign on DeviantArt
  • Beatriz Milhazes
  • Cody Vondell

Toys[]

  • Polly Pocket (1985-present)
  • Littlest Pet Shop (2005-present)
  • iZ (2005)
  • iDog (2005-2009)
  • Kawaii Crush (2013-2015)
  • Novi Stars (2012-2014)
  • Lego Friends (2012-present)
  • Barbie lines including Fashion Fever, Thumbelina, Early Fashionistas, Mini B/Peekaboo Petites, ect.
  • MyMeebas
  • Pop Soft Plush
  • Harumika
  • LeapFrog (LeapPads and Leapsters Explorer and GS)
  • Vtech

Gallery (miscellaneous)[]

Videos[]

External Links[]

References[]


Navigation[]

Frutiger Family

Members
Bright Tertiaries • Dark Aero • DORFic • Four Colors • Frutiger Aero • Frutiger Eco • Frutiger Metro (Flat Metro • Funky Metro • Grungy Metro • Música Metro • Rave Metro) • Technozen • UrBling • Vectorflourish (Vectorbloom • Vectorgarden)

Related Topics
Abstract Tech • Frutiger Family • Skeuomorphism

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