“Retro” literally means “backwards” in Latin, and that’s exactly the kind of expression it represents: an aged style that was once popular and culturally significant, but has since faded from fame. The biggest hallmark of design and style that’s considered retro today hails from the 1950’s and 1960’s – the period that brought the baby boomers and big economical and sociological changes in the United States.
Retro is a style that’s heavily influenced by art deco – a linear, symmetrical design with rich colors and clean surfaces. Retro pop art played a big part in the emergence of the style, such as retro advertising and poster design. Another area is Retro-futurism, which incorporates science fiction into retro, seen in cartoons such as The Jetsons, and video games such as BioShock.
Despite retro’s history and iconic style, it’s been out of the mainstream limelight for many decades. Ironically this is also the reason behind its resurgence among designers. Being different and bringing back old memories, retro has become “in” in recent years, with more and more designers opting to use its style for websites, logos, graphics, and more.
Today, we’ll be taking a look at retro logos, a particular area where the style is thriving today. I hope you will enjoy this collection of excellent retro and vintage logos.
Recommended Reading: Retro and Vintage Web Design – Best of
“AutoDetailer”. By “Oronoz”
“Red Dog”. By Micah Harris
“Doc’s Catering”. By Carl Miner
“Truephonic”. By Chuck Cogan
“Garage”. By “Greenade”
“J.S. Electric”. By Carl Miner
“Dolly”. By “I Am Tiago”
“FizzNiche”. By “Myth-Sh”
“Cinepire”. By Danny Greta
“Atomic Wrangler”. By Rich Guske
“Pixelfly”. By Max Di Capua
“Dayna”. By Alex Sheldon
“Flamin”. By Pete Lacey
“Avionics Master”. By Joshua Sortino
“Tokyo Bicycles”. By Emir Ayouni
“Vectips”. By Ryan Putnam
“Songbird”. By Jake Dougard
“Volvo”. By Simon Gustavsson
“IQ Accessories”. By Chris Meyers
“Hotel Films”. By Paul Clarmont
“Interlocked”. By Greg Sogho
“Studio 85″. By JoseDesign
“The Urban Sound Of Amsterdam”. By JoseDesign
“El Amigo”. By Imaginari Interactive
“Giant Leap”. By Adam Prunty
“Eat Pizza Here”. By Sean Costik
“United Parcel Service”. By Matt Chase
“Wheatlys”. By James Waldner
“Pioneer”. By Logomotive
“Reforger”. By Paul Clarmont
