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Vectorheart is an aesthetic that emerged in the mid/late-1990s. It is characterized by striking vector shapes, 45- and/or 60-degree diagonal lines, futuristic fonts, and flat, (usually) high contrast colors. The exact origin of the Vectorheart aesthetic is hard to define, but pioneers of the style include design firms such as Bionic Systems and The Designers Republic.[1] Often considered a subgenre of Y2K Futurism, Vectorheart grew in popularity during the early-2000s, but went out of fashion in the mainstream in the early-2010s. Since then, it has seen some small resurgence beginning in the late-2010s. It was popular alongside Frutiger Metro, Vectorflourish, Gen X Soft Club, and other aesthetics of the 2000s.

The Wipeout series, in which the Designers Republic was involved with for the first three games, is commonly associated with Vectorheart and thus the aesthetic is also occassionally known as Wipeout Design.[2]

History[]

1990s[]

The exact origin of the Vectorheart aesthetic is hard to define, but pioneers of the style include design firms such as Bionic Systems and The Designers Republic.[1] Vectorheart began to appear in the Late-1990s, often associated with Y2K Futurism due to its sleek, cutting edge style. This style complimented the futurism that Y2K Futurism promoted, leading to a lot of overlap between the two. Vectorheart also strongly resembles Gen X Soft Club, another Y2K subgenre, incorporating the same abstract flourishes and design philosophy.

2000s[]

Vectorheart maintained its popularity into the Early-2000s, and the into the Mid-2000s. During the Mid-2000s, other adjacent aesthetics such a Y2K Futurism began to fall into decline. Despite this, Vectorheart maintained its popularity into the 2010s, being popular alongside aesthetics like Frutiger Metro and Vectorflourish. During this time, Vectorheart was used for purposes like advertising, art, web design, magazine covers, and more.

Early-2010s[]

Starting at the Early-2010s, Vectorheart saw a considerable decline in its popularity. This was due to design philosophies such as Flat Design becoming mainstream. Flat Design largely omitted the visually complex and cutting edge visuals of Vectorheart for a more simple and easy to understand look. This, combined with other adjacent aesthetics such as Vectorflourish seeing decline, contributed to Vectorheart falling out of mainstream usage and popularity.

Visuals[]

Vectorheart is characterized by striking vector shapes, 45- and/or 60-degree diagonal lines, futuristic fonts, and flat, (usually) high contrast colors. The style is loosely inspired by Swiss modernism, utilitarian industrial design,[1] brutalism, and to an extent, Peter Saville's album cover designs for Factory Records. The look is considered maximum-minimalist by some, and is often mixed with the typical look of Y2K Futurism, Gen X Soft Club, and Metalheart. Vectorheart's sleek maximum-minimalist design philosophy led to it being popular in depictions of the future, or things that were trying to look futuristic.

In addition, many Vectorheart artists, most notably the Designers Republic, often incorporate references to Japanese culture, for example kanji characters and ties to anime-influenced artwork. Vectorheart may also contain themes of anti-establishment and anti-consumerism, and it is not uncommon for Vectorheart artists to include exaggerated depictions of consumer culture, for example the over-abundance of logos, in-your-face advertising and liberal usage of trademark (™) and copyright (© and ®) symbols, as seen in the Wipeout games.

Gallery[]

Media[]

  • Lancer tabletop RPG (2019)

Videogames[]

  • Wipeout series (1995-2012)
  • Hardwar (1998)
  • Ridge Racer Type 4 (1998)
  • Ace Combat 3 (1999)
  • Wiiware art-style games (2008-2010)
  • Rez (2002)
  • n+ (2008)
  • Pokémon Black 2 & White 2 (2012)
  • Antichamber (2013)
  • n++ (2015)
  • Superhot (2016)
  • Graceful Explosion Machine (2017)
  • Manifold Garden (2019)
  • Sayonara Wild Hearts (2019)
  • Pacer (originally Formula Fusion, 2020)
  • Operius (2021)

Videos[]

Neo-Vectorheart[]

Starting in the late 2010s, a pseudo-revival of the Vectorheart aesthetic emerged as part of the Neo-Y2K movement called "Neo-Vectorheart." The aesthetic incorporates 45- and/or 60-degree angles; Neubrutalist vernacular; bright, contrasting, and occasionally monochromatic color schemes; and maximalist motifs inspired by Cyberpunk visuals and "gamer-grunge"[1]. The visual style found within Neo-Vectorheart prioritizes sleek, dynamic designs, often as an homage or pastiche of the work done by the design firms that popularized the original Vectorheart look.

History[]

During the Late-2010s to the Early-2020s, there has been a resurgence in Vectorheart. This was inspired by similar Neo-Y2K movements going on at the same time. Neo-Vectorheart has come to be embraced by online gamers, it being said to incorporate maximalist "gamer-grunge". Neo-Vectorheart is also popular in the realm of logo design.

Visuals[]

Neo-Vectorheart, similar to Vectorheart, is characterized by striking vector shapes, 45- and/or 60-degree diagonal lines, and futuristic fonts. Neo-Vectorheart is distinguished from regular Vectorheart due to its monochromatic color schemes and less abstract patterns than regular Vectorheart. Black and white are the most commonly found colors in this subgenre, with other colors generally being used as complimentary/accent colors rather than primary ones; this monochromatic motif also works well on logos, one of Neo-Vectorheart's primary categories.

Gallery[]

Media[]

Videos[]

External Links[]

External resources can help you get a better understanding of this aesthetic.

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Vectorheart. Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute. July 2, 2021. Retrieved July 6 2022
  2. https://www.reddit.com/r/AdobeIllustrator/comments/17pit5o/comment/k869evd/
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