Deep dives into the logos, posters, movements, and color palettes that made the 80s the most visually unhinged decade in history.
Forget the music for a second. The visual identity of Wham! was a masterclass in bold typography and unapologetic color. Here's why it still holds up.
In 1984, graphic design was in the middle of an identity crisis — and Wham! walked in wearing neon yellow and didn't apologize for a single pixel. The Wham! logo, with its exclamation point treated as a design element rather than punctuation, was a deliberate act of visual aggression against the muted, corporate design language that had dominated the late 70s.
Ettore Sottsass walked so your Instagram feed could run. A deep dive into the movement that made squiggles and clashing colors a legitimate design language.
Hot pink, electric cyan, laser yellow. The 80s color palette wasn't an accident — it was a deliberate rejection of the beige decade that came before it.
A giant M with tiny TV scrawled on it. It looked like it was designed in an afternoon. It was. And it changed visual branding forever.
Drop shadows, chrome gradients, outlined type, and condensed sans-serifs pushed to their absolute limit. The 80s committed every type crime — and it was glorious.
Pink and teal. Two colors that had no business being together. Then Michael Mann put them on television and the entire design world lost its mind.
The 2026 Hello Kitty x Converse collab feels like the ’80s crashed into a Sanrio store from sticker book graphics and bold colors to the punk rock history of Chuck Taylors. I take a look at why this design feels so nostalgic and what makes it work from a graphic designer’s point of view. It’s a perfect example of what inspires my own work: playful design, rad personality with retro attitude.
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