The Frutiger Aero Archive

History of Frutiger Aero

This section is a brief explanation of the history of Frutiger Aero, from its rise to its decline, and the sub-aesthetics that derived from it. I have done my best to be accurate, however, if you think something is incorrect, please let me know by contacting me or sending a message on the Guestbook. Any help is appreciated.

Beginning
Golden Age
Downfall
CARI defines Frutiger Aero
Revival
Sub-Aesthetics
Sources

(2001-2005) Beginning

Some elements of Frutiger Aero can be found as early as 2001, with Mac OS X 10.0 Cheetah, which featured the Aqua theme, although it is not completely Frutiger Aero, it utilized Skeuomorphism which will be an important part of it. The famous Bliss wallpaper is also an example of it, despite Windows XP itself being Y2K.

Windows Aero, which would give part of its name to Frutiger Aero, made its first appearance in Longhorn Build 5048, one of the pre-production builds of Windows Vista. There is also a glimpse of Frutiger Aero in the Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005.

Longhorn build 5048 Media Center Edition 2005

Media Center (2005)

(2007) Golden Age

Wanting to offer their users something new and modern, Microsoft decided to develop a more aesthetically pleasing graphical user interface and visual style, known as Windows Aero, to add to their operating system.

"What is AERO? AERO stands for Authentic, Energetic, Reflective, and Open and is the user experience guidelines for Windows Vista, governing the look and feel of the operating system. These guidelines express not just the way the pixels are drawn, but how the user interacts with the system and the feelings it should evoke. These guidelines and the AERO user interface, are the result of years of design and user research by Microsoft."

In 2007, Windows Vista was officially released with the Aero theme. Despite its beauty, the OS itself had little success because of numerous technical issues with the hardware of the time, and glitches within the operating system. This was fixed later on in the service packs, but by then, the damage to its reputation was already done.

In 2009, Windows 7 released as an improved, more polished version of Vista, and it was a huge success. It is still regarded by some as the best version of Windows, because of its beautiful interface, simplicity, and user-friendliness.

The Seventh Generation of Video Game Consoles also started using Frutiger Aero designs for their graphical user interfaces, the Wii being the most famous exemple of it.

Skeuomorphism, one of the elements of Frutiger Aero, which is a design concept/aesthetic of making items resemble their real-world counterparts, also gained popularity around that time. Although it is widely used in Frutiger Aero, it is not Frutiger Aero on its own.

Apple, with Scott Forstall leading the software development team, included it in the iPhone, which had a massive influence on technology moving forward.

During this time, most of the big tech corporations had embraced the new design aesthetic, and it became widely used in advertisements, stock imagery, websites, media, and tech gadgets of all sorts. An example is the iDog robot dog, which featured the ability to receive sound input from an MP3 player or iPod and dance to the music's rhythm.

Windows Vista (2007)

Windows 7 (2009)

(2012-2013) Downfall

In 2012, the industry started to shift focus away from Frutiger Aero. With the rising popularity of smartphones, the future of computers was unknown.

Microsoft, not wanting to fall behind, released Windows 8, which looked completely different from Windows 7's Aero design, the new interface was called "Metro", it was an effort to merge their tablet, phone, and computer interfaces into one. The OS was called "confusing" by most PC users, used to a more traditional interface, notably because of the removal of the start button.

Microsoft would later bring back the start button with the release of Windows 8.1, but it would not save the OS from unpopularity. Despite this, a new trend was set in the industry. In 2013, Apple stopped using skeuomorphism in their newly released iOS 7, which had a new look, featuring sharper, flatter icons, and slimmer fonts.

Jony Ive, Apple's head of design, made this comment about it: "There is a profound and enduring beauty in simplicity, in clarity, in efficiency. True simplicity is derived from so much more than just the absence of clutter and ornamentation - it's about bringing order to complexity. iOS 7 is a clear representation of these goals. It has a whole new structure that is coherent and applied across the entire system."

Over time, Flat design and minimalism became widely used, and Frutiger Aero and skeuomorphism lost popularity. The Wii U, released in 2012 by Nintendo, known as the last console to feature a Frutiger Aero interface, was a failure, only selling 13 million units.

iOS 6 to iOS 7 (2013)

Windows 8 (2012)

(2017) CARI defines Frutiger Aero

In 2017, Sofia Lee (known mononymously as Sofi) from CARI, which stands for "Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute", an online community dedicated to developing a visual lexicon of consumer ephemera from the 1970s until now, coined the term "Frutiger Aero", they define it as "the corporate tech aesthetic popular from approximately 2005 through 2013."

With prominent motifs being (I quote):

Skeumorphism in UI/UX design
Glossy design
Frutiger/humanist sans-serif typefaces
Tertiary color palettes
Glassy/transparent materials
Photographs of aurora borealis
Bokeh photography
Macro photographs of grass

The first part of the name "Frutiger" is derived from the Frutiger typefaces, designed by Adrian Frutiger.

The second part "Aero" is derived from the Windows Aero design interface.

Frutiger Aero vs Y2K

Frutiger Aero Wallpapers

(2022) Revival

Frutiger Aero regained popularity around 2022 thanks to social media, people that were kids when it was popular, now being adults, are returning to the aesthetic, but also younger people that were not around still enjoy it.

It will probably never become mainstream again as a design trend, however nothing prevents you to create cool artworks, wallpapers, music, and theme your computer to look Frutiger Aero, to celebrate the good old days, or simply for the love of art.

Join these cool places to find other people that like the aesthetic:

The Sub-Aesthetics

There are many sub-aesthetics, or subgenres of Frutiger Aero that the community has defined, that were present during the same time period. Here is a brief description of a few popular ones, this is not an exhaustive list.

Frutiger Eco

Frutiger Eco puts it's emphasis on living in harmony with nature, sustainability, optimism, while also incorporating futuristic themes. Frutiger Eco images often portray a utopian eco-friendly future, and tries to bring awareness to climate change, and the importance of taking care of planet Earth. Key colors used are Green, Teal, White, Yellow, and Blue.

Futuristic city with green Earth Frutiger Eco Wallpaper 2

Green Earth

Helvetica Aqua Aero

Helvetica Aqua Aero, also known as Frutiger Aqua, Aquacore, Low Frutiger, and Helvetica Aqua, places it's emphasis on tropical habitats, the beach, tropical fish, bubbles, water, and aquatic colors. Like Frutiger Aero, it also features gloss, futurism, and gradients. The main colors are vibrant blue, teal, lime green, aquamarine and yellow.

Sea life, hot air balloons Helvetica Aqua Aero 2

Monitor and ocean

Dark Aero / Frutiger Ego

Dark Aero, also called Mata Nero or Frutiger Ego is a variant of Frutiger Aero that uses a darker color palette. Aero glass is often used. It was commonly used in computers, TVs, cars, and smartphones.

Dark Glass Dark Aero 2

Dark Aero Interface

Technozen

Technozen is the Japanese counterpart to Frutiger Aero. It is more simple, professional looking, and sleek. Technozen is more evocative of Asian design than Frutiger Aero which is more universal. The Wii and the DS are popular exemples of it.