Today, we’re taking a look back at that hazy yet brilliant period of artistic fluorescence: the later 1960s. Specifically, we wanted to explore the phenomenon of Psychedelic Design – a style that nowadays get recycled often in commercial work, while it’s original history threatens to fade from collective memory. The history of psychedelic design is of course vast: it crossed countless borders and dominated the graphic arts for a good decade, between the mid 1960s and the mid 1970s.
“The psychedelic movement helped people move beyond the act of viewing art into a deeper experience of it.” Johnson says,”Art is no longer something just to be admired. It’s something to consume and to feel”
The word “psychedelic” is a combination of the Greek words psyche and delos, and means “mind manifesting” or “soul manifesting.” Indeed, this is the function of art today. Modern art is not just there to be looked at. It’s a 360-degree experience that you’re meant to feel as much as think about. Today, psychedelic style has many fans and many artists are still inspired by it.
In fact, many successful designs from today are the ones that reference throwbacks to the past. Psychedelic design proves that what goes around can come back around in the best way possible. Groovy, eh?
Color vibration is achieved by choosing colors from the exact opposite end of the color wheel, each one having equal value (dark to light) and intensity (brightness). If you do this correctly and choose the polar opposite, it might blow your mind!
Breaking long-established conventions of graphic design with their twisting, melting, and distorted forms, psychedelic art mimicked an acid trip itself. These designs were counterculture made visual. And the mind-blowing use of color may be how the psychedelic 60s changed design forever.
Whether you’re building a fresh new brand or just looking to reinvent, it’s important to take risks in order to stand out. Design-wise, great risks lead to great rewards through cheeky advertising, an iconic logo and a unique color palette, to name a few. But one of the greatest ways for a brand to win through risk-taking is to establish a vivid design style, and nothing is more eye-catching than psychedelic design.
