Correction: 2:56 should just be Gameboy, not the advance (GBA). The original Gameboy model was made translucent as part of the "Play it Loud" product line after its initial release. A better (and more factually correct) example of clear tech in the 80s is the Unisonic 6900 corded telephone from 1987.

the whole Y2K era was just the perfect time to be a young child... just take me back

Marketing. Companies wanted to look futuristic and "ahead of the curve". The dawn of the a new century was the perfect time to do that.

I felt like i was living more in the future in 2000 then now in 2024

I feel like the minimal aesthetics today come from companies just being cheap.

Honestly, I would be very happy if the world just got stuck in the late 90s and early 2000s. Sure, I will miss the smartphones that combine 10 gadgets of that era into your pocket but there was just that charm of having to go to different places to get what you wanted: library, movie rental stores, photostudios, arcades, Internet clubs and so on. People actually socialized more because of that.

We had no idea how happy were, how good things were..

The futurism of the late 90s-early 2000s was so creative and interesting. The designs, music (particularly electronic) and other media coming out of that era was really incredible. You could tell that people were optimistic and hopeful about the future with those sorts of visions. What a shame that we let em down, man.

Y2K is my favorite aesethetic I still remember my uncle showing me the matrix when I was 6 and somthing about the aesethetic really clicked in for me.

i miss it. i miss the internet still feeling a little bit lawless and being able to find little corners of the web untouched by algorithms and advertising. i miss buying something and owning it for life without having to pay monthly subscriptions. i miss not having instant answers to everything a click away, and actually having to take the time to discover things myself. i miss the aesthetics. i miss the pixels. i miss the slower pace.

Love Metalheart. Y2K was cool. Now all we have is flat modern boring stuff.

Those Y2K and early 2000s aesthetics look way much cooler than the aesthetics of today. Also, as a guy who wants to create his own independent comic books I would definitely bring back the Y2K aesthetic and put it into my own art really give it a major edge.

I want to go back

I was a young teenager in 2000 and remember it all well, especially the tech/gaming stuff - it was a FUN time to be a kid/teen

Everything was so colorful and felt more alive back in the early 2000's, shame that now everything is so minimalistic and void of any colors

Often design is influenced by the latest technology 2000s. Chrome influenced by more advanced 3D rendering 1980s: Neon influenced by the colors computers could display at that time Now: Minimalism influenced by needing wires less thanks to stronger Wi-FI, Bluetooth

I really wish companies made translucent plastic versions of electronics again. I’ll never forget being young and going to a cousins house who had a green translucent nintendo 64 and having my mind blown as I’d never even knew they existed. Such a beautiful aesthetic that would be awesome to see on newer consoles and phones even.

Can't believe that was 24 years ago...

I just miss the sense of discovery and feeling like we were in the midst of a revolution. Now society and technology seems to have plateaued in recent years.

The fact that I’ll never be able to relive this time

"Been around since the 80's in things like the game boy advance " My guy the GBA is from 2001

chromecore and frutiger aero were such great aesthetics

Early 2000s, a time when technology was rapidly evolving and urban landscapes were dominated by towering skyscrapers and bustling corporate environments. This era represents a unique blend of classic and modern elements, with the emergence of new technologies like PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) , the widespread use of music CDs, and the game console s My feelings towards this period may stem from a sense of excitement and possibility, as the world was on the cusp of major technological advancements that would shape the way we live and interact with each other. The sleek, futuristic aesthetics of tall buildings and the fast-paced corporate world might evoke a sense of nostalgia for a time when the future seemed full of promise and potential. At the same time, there's likely a hint of sentimentality for the simplicity and tangibility of technology like PDAs and CDs, which offered a more tactile and personal experience compared to today's digital devices. This combination of nostalgia for both the modern and the classic aspects of the early 2000s can create a unique and deeply nostalgic feeling, transporting you back to a time when the world was both familiar and full of endless possibilities.

You just had to be there.

The golden era of EVERYTHING.

Another reason that Chromecore became popular is that computer-controlled printing presses got a lot better at reproducing neutral grey (chrome) and full color in the same pass. Before that, chrome tended to have a blue or green cast.

Because it was like the 50s. This is what yall thought the future would look like.

homies call everything a core like dang if im poopin in the bathroom call that toiletcore? i sware

its true its weird how back then transparent colored things were cool and the best and now when we see them its more like there worse and a knock of because they are transparent

hey! im the artist that made that cover at 1:39 - im not sure how relevant this is in the context of your vid but i made that in like 2020/2021 i think but it was definitely meant to be emulating that chrome aesthetic, as well as some frutiger aero inspo. great vid! :p

To put all my thoughts into a few words.... I miss this aesthetic.

The good old days. Early 90s early 2000s we’re such a great time to grow up in as a kid, I’m so grateful I got to experience it.

Seeing how things are now, I realize how grateful I should be to have been born in 1989. It was such a great time to grow up. To get to be a kid. The world seemed to have so many creative outlets & forms of expression. Ways for kids, teens and adults could interact with our surroundings. We had a foundational environment. One that had places to go, things to do, area's with unique style & very creative design. I really miss the Vibe & Approach of that Era. Looking back with hindsight it really did feel like things treated us all like it respected our intelligence, our time & what kind of experience we were going to have. While also providing outlets in our society that helped us feel like a kid inside no matter what age we were. It felt like things acknowledged you. You are a customer, a fan, a person. In a hyper capitalistic society, the least they can do is use basic decency to try and make us feel like they care if we have a good time because without us they can't succeed. The creativity that came from that era really put effort into it's ingenuity. It's almost like every everything took pride in who could find the most creative and unique ways to do things, design things, come up with ways people could enjoy engaging with their company. For things to go from that 90's-Y2K era, to then shift to this bland, soulless, minimalistic approach feels very Dystopian. I really hope we find a way to reconnect with these core things that we clearly saw positive benefits having it apart of our society. The world really needs this right now. Look how soulless so much has become nowadays? Look at the horrible aesthetics, poor quality & poor creative design in modern cities. Even our shows, movies, & video games need a revolution. Things have become so bland, bleek, and minimalistic to the point that it doesn't even make since. Most Old house's/building's/únique shop's are gone. Interesting oddities like drive in movie theaters, indoor fun zones, arcade's, magazines that included a demo disc so you can try out game's. You could go to blockbuster/Hollywood video, McDonald's had N64's & crazy fun zones & covered in wacky art all over. We could preview music before buying it, they had an amazing selection of well made kid's toy's, Roller Rink's, Garbage pale kid's card's. You get the point. Bring back Retro-Futurism. Bring back Y2K Vibes. ANYTHING compared to this current Dystopian toxic positivity. Our society feels more lost now then it ever has. Basic living has never been so unaffordable. Society is solely focused on unhealthy capitalistic agendas. Where anything that isn't constantly increasing profits or gaining investors, is a failure and has no value to society.. Our Quality of Life should be better than this. Basic living shouldn't be this unaffordable. People should be able to have fun, dork around, have things that engage them. The list goes on. Bring me back to the 90's.

What a time to be alive

Half Life 2 and Portal 1 have a very Gen X soft club aesthetic. Half Life 2 especially city 17 has always reminded me of the OK Computer cover.

I love album covers and advertisment with that Gen X Soft Club aesthetics. It looks so effortless and stylish but has this indistinguishable late 90s early 00s vibe Media design at that time also felt a lot more creative and original than today. Today everybody trys so hard to look clean and minimalistic and that's boring.

I love the 90s/ 00s

I'm a huge enthusiast on Y2K fashion, and that whole fashion trend from that period was supposed to represent that future since the 90s were coming to an end and we were now getting ready to go into the new millennium with this futuristic mindset. Sega Dreamcast vibe, design, the iMacs, the edgy tribal designs on clothing, and everything felt so connected to that era for me. Unfortunately, Y2K was the last "total" aesthetic, and we'll never see anything like that again because of the internet.

I remember also that in 1998-99 there was kinda like a green cyberpunk aesthetic in movies like matrix or swordfish

'edgier version of cybercore' *'By the Way' by Red Hot Chili Peppers plays

We would celebrate new years at my dad’s side of the family every year. So for the last night of 1999, I was 10, my aunts house was packed. My dad and uncle had the bright idea to kill the power to the house once the ball dropped 😂 Y2K! 😱 it was hilarious.

That Busta and Janet Jackson song is so dope. I was just listening to it the other day. Even rewatched the music video. Nostalgic 😁

I wonder if the young people who were born after like this aesthetic? I'm curious because being a kid back then felt like I was living the future with chrome/translucent tech and everything from menus, posters and ads looked more stylish compared to now where everything looks so minimalist like style has taken a back seat for idk mass production maybe or accessibility? Am I just nostalgic because if not why aren't we seeing any of these return? I'd have thought that with all the stylish scifi franchises we've grown up with things would look more futuristic

2000 tech area was so cool im glad i got a lil taste of it being born in 2001

long live chromecore! haha man everything that came out from 99-04 just looked so cool and futuristic. It was just a bit later and the colors didn't match the aesthetics mentioned but I remember when the GameCube came out and how it looked felt super futuristic!

Petition to bring back translucent electronics

One can argue that technically the "Clear Craze" is still very popular to this day Inside of Prisons where They allow Guards to see if the Prisoners have hide something secretly inside Their devices or not

Honestly I was never too TOO much of a fan of the 90's XTREME aesthetic... but this? This stood the test of time by surviving through 3 decades. Gimme more of this, please, my tech CEO godkings who decide our fate.

clear colored plastic stuff is something i still absolutely love, especially if it's got like the glitter or whatever in it. god that goes so hard

such a nice trip down memory lane. Well done.

I totally remember a lot of these metallic aesthetics from the Y2K era. I remember thinking it looked very modern (not just futuristic), yet it was a quarter of a century ago.

Great take - I’ve kind of had this on my mind for a while

It's pretty ironic that the aesthetics and designs for pretty much anything 20 years ago actually looked more sci-fi than they do now. Although the technology itself definitely is more sci-fi now, we're already in the age of AI and robots.

90s and 2000s as a young human was amazing. Feel very bad for these poor gen z kiddies who missed out on life with 0 chance of experiencing what it felt like. They are got the downgraded and deteriorated version of life instead and have no idea what they are even missing

i love the early 2000’s chrome! it’s what i grew up with, my mp3 player is chrome, my gamecube, OG ds and GBA SP are all the platinum shells as well as my ps2 super slim. i have so much nostalgia for the 90’s clear tech/chrome 2000’s tech

Gen X Soft Club!? Never knew it had a name but it’s sooo 1994-2001 feel to it. Remember seeing it so much. Nostalgic over it, slightly.

Take me back to those days again! Another thing about chrome things, everyone seemed to be getting silver coloured cars back then too! I really miss the clear technology phase. I wish there was a clear Nintendo switch! Really good video! Thanks for taking me back and also showing some stuff I hadn’t seen. That PlayStation store looked awesome!

As someone who came of age during all of this, I’ve always recognized it as “early 2000’s futuristic aesthetic”, seen mainly In electronics, print ads and GUIs. I’ve never been able to describe it in words though. Nice job!

7:55 When ever I mention Y2K someone got mad at me thinking I was talking about the Y2K Bug, when I was only using it as a abbreviation of the year two thousand.

The 2000s was trying to look new, sleek and futuristic. The idea of the new millennia probably just pushed people to create aesthetics that felt like what they thought was the future

2:46 the nostalgia from the green controller i got

This is one of the best vids I've seen on the subject yet! Make a part 2! Or perhaps make a video on each style going a bit deeper with examples.

Very well pace and eddited vid! It looks profetional! The improvement is low key mental!

Yeah, the Y2K aesthetic, I actually remember getting interviewed by Vice for a couple years ago on behalf of the Aesthetics Wiki... and I best described it and all of the splinter aesthetics that branched off from it as "the future that never was". Seeing this video, I 100% still stand by that.

The Metalheart aesthetic actually made a comeback back in like 2017 onwards with the rise Neo Y2K subcultures within music. Volant (aka Nuphory) and Virtual Self are two artists that helped bring it back along with many other Y2K inspired visuals 🙏

Man, it literally feels like yesterday.

Photoshop’s layer effects, vector curved lettering and graphics, and auto-tween animation was the AI art of its day.

Love your channel! Keep up the amazing work

2000s were peak marketing design.

Thanks for covering this’ I loved this era I have some JBL airpod things that have a purple transparent case! Reminds me of those times < 3

I wish everything looked like that again

I like to describe the y2k aesthetic as one of hope. So much of it was artist interpretations of the future brought to life in wacky and imaginative motifs and designs. But now we find ourselves in an era of corporate complacency. Nobody's fighting to stand out because many if the imagery we find today is just tried and proven to be good enough and there's not much thought going into it "Hey, we're x company and they'll buy it anyways.". What a disappointing future...

One thing no one talks about is the alien mania going on in the late 90s. You had blockbuster movies like "independence day", " men in black", "mars attacks" "galaxy quest" and many others. Shows like "x-files" where at the top in ratings. Even 90210 got into it in one episode Claire and David are looking for UFOS. Fox even did a "true" Alien autopsy that stirred up people very briefly and was revealed to be a stunt. Cartman got his famous probe. Even in video games: in crash bandicoot wrapped had you hit an alien sign to get a hidden level and Spyro 2 had a level where you go after UFOS. Then one day it all died as quickly as it began. No one talks about the madness anymore.

Glad I was born In 2000s . Those colorful cases gave me somewhat alien 👾 tech vibes .

I wish you could do a video about the 80’s and the space sounds they always used in commercials

Sad to see the series is over have been great!!

Thank you for shouting out Hot Wheels Velocity X! My favorite game from my childhood and very fitting for the time!

The arrival of the internet sparked a huge interest in graphic design and I think designers got a little too eager to cram in as many features of their new toy (Photoshop) into their designs.

This video is the start of the sociological study and archaeological documentation of my childhood. I’ve become a relic while still breathing.

I was 9-10 in 2000 I miss being a kid. And remember every single bit of it

its funny that Spongebob says everything is chrome cause its true, im using chrome right now and every device i have has chrome installed on it

We should collectively bring this era back

4:02 just had a flashback to an EB Games in a mall in DFW with my brother. He would’ve been in college at that point, I would’ve been in grade school. He would’ve been looking for something on PS2 or Xbox at the time. The matrix, LOTR… all the good stuff. I know I romanticize it because I was young, but those really were the days.

You just unlocked a core memory from my childhood in 2000! I remember this shop in San Francisco! I played Resident Evil: Survivor and Dino Crysis 2 there!! The shot at 5:00 that's exactly how I remember the setup! I always thought it was a Sony headquarters or something, but It did make feel excited for the future of Playstation

2:32 I checked out that Eyewitness Book of the future from my school library more times than I would ever be able to realistically count.

The clear craze is never over. It’s the best. It’s timeless.

no way you included hotwheels velocity x 😭thats my childhood

As a person who lived through this era (I turned 10 in 2002) I can honestly say the REASON technology looked this was the change to organic shapes. See, tech from the 80s and 90s had been very angular, machine-like and almost aesthetically brutal. As time went on through the 90s the thought process generally was, as technology got better it would meld itself more to our human ways, lifestyles and aesthetic. Which is why you say the angular shapes of things like the SEGA Genesis and Super Nintendo gone in favor of more curvy and organic looking Dreamcasts and Xboxes. The UIs and GUIs of these technologies obviously followed.

For gaming, the G-Force game(I have the PSP version) has seemingly holographic glowing buttons, "futury" digital beeping and clicking when one is selected and hacking segments that resemble the screens of randoms ghostly digits falling from the top, but was more like a stream of faded random symbols where you had to match the glowing square, cross, circle and triangle symbols when they came down.

i'm literally obsessed with that era, soooo many cool things existed

Lets go extramint uploaded

Ah the 2000s, Good Old Days. 👌

Great essay!

I love the y2k era sm but I was a kid during it 😭 now I make y2k photo edits tho

This style is definitely going to come back, it already kind of is, not on a major scale but a lot of people look back on it and realize how dope it truly was so it's aged well, this whole era was basically trying to mock futurism but with the limited tech of that time so now with an even more broad spectrum of tech this style/aesthetic could definitely come back maybe even better than before.

2000s was special

i’m glad you are talking about metalheart

Back when everything was made with a goal to hit people's hearts....

I think the crazy part of it is that most of us online were born during this era and never lived it and didnt know anything was happening because we arent as constantly conected as we are now. So this is literally looking at the past 24 years and seeing how different things were.

This is an awesome vid!