If you’re familiar with technology from the 2000s, you may recognize the imagery of the Frutiger Aero aesthetic. It can be explained as a depiction of the future through the eyes of the 2000s, which was typically depicted as one that mixed technology with nature. Let’s unravel what makes Frutiger Aero such a beautiful and unique, yet forgotten and underutilized form of media.
Frutiger Aero has many elements that contribute to its aesthetic. The key colors of this aesthetic are blue, green, and white. And while this doesn’t seem too unique on its own, it’s what these colors represent, which makes them so special.
Frutiger Aero combines futuristic and technological elements with ecological and aquatic elements, giving it a clean, vibrant, and overall pleasant look. This is very apparent in most of the imagery of Frutiger Aero, almost always featuring clear water, green grass, and a bright blue sky.
Blue is usually the most overwhelming color when it comes to the Frutiger Aero aesthetic.This is because it represents both the sky and water aspects of the aesthetic. Some imagery from Frutiger Aero features aquarium-like designs, including water, fish, and bubbles. And even if there are no aquatic elements in a piece of Frutiger Aero media, blue is still usually a main color because it is almost always used as the sky.
Green is another key color of this aesthetic. Although not in all pieces of Frutiger Aero, it represents the ecological aspects of Frutiger Aero. Most of the time this color is mainly grass, leaves, and trees.
Lastly, white usually represents the technology aspect of Frutiger Aero, giving it the more futuristic appearance. This is what makes Frutiger Aero unique because it is what solidifies the difference between Frutiger Aero and regular nature media. By adding this, it creates a beautiful and peaceful landscape that emphasizes the coexistence of nature and technology. It goes to show how the future could possibly look if done right.
From 2000-2010, many graphic designs featured on phones and computers such as app icons looked more detailed and typically were rendered to resemble its real life counterpart. This is also known as skeuomorphism. For example, the YouTube app icon used to be an old-looking television. The old camera app icon used to be a very highly detailed camera, instead of the minimalistic camera silhouette we have today.
But because most skeuomorphic designs have been replaced with more minimalist ones after 2010, they have become underused and forgotten. And because skeuomorphism plays such a big role in the Frutiger Aero aesthetic, its decline went hand-in-hand with the decline of Frutiger Aero as well.
Despite the adoption of minimalistic interfaces that caused a decline in skeuomorphism, Frutiger Aero is still a fairly popular aesthetic that resurfaces every once in a while.
