… but never received.
Frutiger Aero (/fruːtɪɡər ɛəroʊ/) is a design style that was prevalent from the mid-2000s to the early 2010s. It originated in user interface designs, but later influenced various other media. It was named in 2017 by Sofia Lee of the Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute, and reemerged in 2023 as a social media aesthetic, becoming popular with Generation Z as an object of nostalgia. Frutiger Aero art features optimistic themes of technology in harmony with nature and often includes natural imagery, bright colors, and skeuomorphic elements [1].
I can’t say if I’m Gen Z or not, but I definitely can relate to the Frutiger Aero nostalgia. I used to play around with Windows 7 customization features, and I will never forget Mirror’s Edge’s iconic City of Glass. It was all bright, colorful, and predicted a future where technology would help us solve all our problems. It never promised to do so, as it was just part of smart marketing, yet a child’s brain wasn’t concerned about that back then.
With the rise of flat design, we’ve lost the glossy and colorful interfaces, and as technology became more and more integrated into our lives, the vision of the future adjusted accordingly. Nowadays, technology is not a magic genie that was released from the bottle maybe like ten years ago and flexing its powers, but a regular, everyday tool like a fork or a spoon. I would even allow myself to say that it’s lost its charm! Anyway, this post is not a rant trying to prove that “it was better back then” but a token of appreciation to all the designers and innovators who were navigating unknown waters and tried to do their best. And God damn, they did!
Today, I’ve created a little WordPress plugin that changes the design of my page to be more Frutiger Aero–like (I could make it a permanent redesign, but I have to admit that it would look a little bit too unprofessional in 2025). You can turn it on by using the switch at the bottom right corner. It’s not the best design, but I am not much of a designer.
If you feel a nostalgic yearning for some glassy interfaces or maybe you are just curious, I can recommend some resources:
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