The Best Retro Branding Design
Branding inspired by the retro styling of Mondrian, Bauhaus and the Swiss School is a big trend this year.
Here’s our pick of some of the best examples of retro branding done right. Take primary colors and modernist sans serifs for a spin to recreate the look in your own designs.
1. Sydney School of Entrepreneurship
The Sydney School of Entrepreneurship needed a brand identity that felt as fresh and avant-garde as its educational model. This thoroughly modern brand identity has a flexible format, with a custom retro logo generator that uses geometric elements to create an evolving brand, reflecting the dynamic nature of entrepreneurship.
Despite being part of a cutting-edge brand, the graphic elements that make up the identity borrow generously from mid-century styling and modernist design. It goes to show that a dash of retro influence can still feel completely new and relevant today.
Design: Multiple Owners for the Sydney School of Entrepreneurship
2. Busk Music Festival
Studio Mut‘s colorful branding for Italian music festival Busk is a masterful example of the power of combining simple shapes with a fantastic color palette. Although the geometric layouts make a nod to retro design, the colors and contemporary typeface place it into contemporary territory. A simple yet flexible brand identity, the same styling has translated well to festival branding for successive years.
Design: Studio Mut for Busk
3. Pizzeria Massa
Who doesn’t love pizza? Arnau Pi Bonany‘s brand design for Spanish restaurant chain Pizzeria Massa injects even more fun into everyone’s favorite Italian food. We love the punchy impact of the geometric retr logo and Sixties colors, which give a nostalgic Italian feel to the whole brand.
Design: Arnau Pi Bonany for Pizzeria Massa
4. Petit Fou
This corporate identity for brand Petit Fou (affectionately translates to ‘little crazy one’) by Daniela Gilsdorf takes its cues from playful postmodernism and vintage school stationery. Candy-hued shades of mint, lemon and coral provide a nostalgic backdrop to slim typography and ultra-minimal layouts.
Design: Daniela Gilsdorf for Petit Fou
5. Medialab Prado
The Sixties is definitely still swinging when you take a look at this gorgeously vintage branded stationery for Digital Art Center Medialab Prado. Madrid-based studio Tata&Friends took a distinctly retro color palette and combined it with sans serif type to create a retro tribute that works just as well for today. Try Daria Sans for a font with a similar early-computing feel.
Design: Tata&Friends for Medialab Prado
6. Actionable
Design studio Underline created this bold, Eighties-inspired brand identity for corporate education consultancy Actionable. The Swiss School aesthetic has a big part to play in making this design feel a little retro, while the bright color palette keeps things playful. This is a fantastic take on retro given a more contemporary and corporate-friendly edge.
Design: Underline for Actionable
On the hunt for more branding inspiration? You’ve come to the right place! Find perfect fonts for creative branding, or browse stationery inspiration to get your creative juices flowing. Or head straight to the Inspiration page here.