I think #cyberpunk aesthetic works best when its using 80's / early 00's tech designs. The earlier, the better.
Cyberpunk is supposed to impart the feeling of oppressive, omnipresent technology. In that way the old heavy, 'boxy' electromechanical designs with visible cables and moving parts just makes it more present and hard to ignore.
No slick Apple 'designed in California' devices. No paper thin laptops. No 'beautiful, frictionless' design. You want a display? Make it a big hefty CRT or a thin flat display with far too many thick cables in the back.
Cyberpunk technology is not your friend.
It's not here to serve you, it's here to control you - and the only way to fight it is to learn how to control it back.
One good example for an artist who gets it is Josan Gonzalez, I recommend checking out his work.
In my opinion, the contrast between oppressive apple-clean services and ugly-but-free devices works best.
Free tech tends to be ugly because it was designed to be repaired. Tubes can be changed, connections are big so they can be swapped and examined; repairable stuff is big because it has screws, fuses, levers, switches and sockets.
Slick stuff is slick because it was designed to be small and look nice on the outside at the expense of space, repairability and reusability. Instead of screwing you need to break, or use specialized tools. Components can't be swapped, only full systems to be replaced with newer ones.
A favorite #cyberpunk setting of mine is the old man's repair shop, where he has tools and cardboard boxes of rigid spare components, filled with the faint odor of soldering tin and metal.
By contrast, the slick white clean Apple store is dystopian; monoculture of centrally controlled devices and consumer electronics, reminding us of works like THX-1138, P... show more
In my opinion, the contrast between oppressive apple-clean services and ugly-but-free devices works best.
Free tech tends to be ugly because it was designed to be repaired. Tubes can be changed, connections are big so they can be swapped and examined; repairable stuff is big because it has screws, fuses, levers, switches and sockets.
Slick stuff is slick because it was designed to be small and look nice on the outside at the expense of space, repairability and reusability. Instead of screwing you need to break, or use specialized tools. Components can't be swapped, only full systems to be replaced with newer ones.
A favorite #cyberpunk setting of mine is the old man's repair shop, where he has tools and cardboard boxes of rigid spare components, filled with the faint odor of soldering tin and metal.
By contrast, the slick white clean Apple store is dystopian; monoculture of centrally controlled devices and consumer electronics, reminding us of works like THX-1138, Portal or Minority Report.
Ugly tech is friendly; it can be hacked, maintained and fixed. Shiny tech is evil; opaque, oppressive and sealed under a pretty hood.
Content warning: about "ugly" tech and my aspirations, mental health (negative)
@yuki2501 I want to create tech of the kind you describe as "ugly". This was my second biggest dream in life (biggest was physically becoming a plasmacat girl) before my depression made me too numb to have any deep desires other than the suffering to end)
Though I don't think good tech has to be ugly. It will be physically larger, but it could still be made aesthetically pleasing. And it could even be designed for aesthetic customization.
Cyber Yuki
in reply to Polychrome :clockworkheart: • • •Free tech tends to be ugly because it was designed to be repaired. Tubes can be changed, connections are big so they can be swapped and examined; repairable stuff is big because it has screws, fuses, levers, switches and sockets.
Slick stuff is slick because it was designed to be small and look nice on the outside at the expense of space, repairability and reusability. Instead of screwing you need to break, or use specialized tools. Components can't be swapped, only full systems to be replaced with newer ones.
A favorite #cyberpunk setting of mine is the old man's repair shop, where he has tools and cardboard boxes of rigid spare components, filled with the faint odor of soldering tin and metal.
By contrast, the slick white clean Apple store is dystopian; monoculture of centrally controlled devices and consumer electronics, reminding us of works like THX-1138, P... show more
Free tech tends to be ugly because it was designed to be repaired. Tubes can be changed, connections are big so they can be swapped and examined; repairable stuff is big because it has screws, fuses, levers, switches and sockets.
Slick stuff is slick because it was designed to be small and look nice on the outside at the expense of space, repairability and reusability. Instead of screwing you need to break, or use specialized tools. Components can't be swapped, only full systems to be replaced with newer ones.
A favorite #cyberpunk setting of mine is the old man's repair shop, where he has tools and cardboard boxes of rigid spare components, filled with the faint odor of soldering tin and metal.
By contrast, the slick white clean Apple store is dystopian; monoculture of centrally controlled devices and consumer electronics, reminding us of works like THX-1138, Portal or Minority Report.
Ugly tech is friendly; it can be hacked, maintained and fixed. Shiny tech is evil; opaque, oppressive and sealed under a pretty hood.
Luna Saphira Dragofelis 🐱
in reply to Cyber Yuki • • •Content warning: about "ugly" tech and my aspirations, mental health (negative)
Though I don't think good tech has to be ugly. It will be physically larger, but it could still be made aesthetically pleasing. And it could even be designed for aesthetic customization.