Mirror80

This week Mirror80 pays homage to the wonderful world of teen-targeted media. If you think ’80s graphic and product design had eye-catching appeal, you can bet design efforts were cranked up a few notches to grab the attention of teenagers. Imagine the set of Saved by the Bell, then imagine if it were edible. That’s right–teen products looked good enough to eat (which is a bit scary since many of them were drugstore items). Graphic designers packed advertisements with candy forms and colors. Here are a few of our favorites, taken from the November 1990 issue of Teen Magazine, starting with the ad for Malibu Musk, shown above.

While an ’80s revival hit the fashion realm years ago, it’s the world of graphic design where a 1980s design revival is currently exploding, particularly on screen. Let’s start with the screen of your favorite mobile device. This year Glow Play released Radballs, a unique, ’80s-inspired puzzler for the iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. Set against the background of a heavy synth soundtrack, Radballs comes to life with ’80s-fabulous colors like hot pink, aqua and yellow, and with motifs including diagonal lines and dotted backgrounds.

This week Mirror80 celebrates the bold world of ’80s graphic design, examining its styles through the posters, stickers, album covers, and yes, Trapper Keepers of the 1980s! In this decade of excess, designers sought to grab the audience’s attention with a variety of eye-catching images and fonts.

Join us for today’s Mid-Week Match-Up as we note the similarities between some unforgettable ’80s/early ’90s album covers. Whether it’s happy coincidence or evidence of an ’80s design trend, sometimes a parallel just can’t go unnoticed…

Oh how we love ’80s cover art! In honor of Album Cover Week, Mirror80 takes a look at three trends that put their stamp on the decade’s canvas. With examples from the cover art for both albums and hit singles of the 1980s, we give you three visual styles that continue to hold up over time. I’d frame these and hang them on my wall!..