The whole retro thing is fun. It's interesting to see how so much design work now harkens back to trends of forty and fifty years ago.

I always see such so-called retro work as falling into one of two categories. There is the insidious retro reference which picks up subtley on the trends of the past (do younger designers even know that so many of the trendy conventions they employ are actually in their second incarnation?). These designs are mainstream and ubiquitous–probably much moreso than we realize. Then there is that category of retro which is much more overt. This is the ultra-campy retro style that seems to shout "Don't you wish you were partying in 1962, even though we're currently in the next millenium?"

My guess is that now, in 2006, this latter facet of retro design will soon find itself fading like one of its comet design elements, leaving us designers with its sturdier core pillars; flat colors, basic geometry, and the idea that "simple" is capable of accomplishing  even the most complex of our  design tasks.

The designs below are either commissioned jobs, or sketches for commissioned jobs. If you click on the slideshow button, or any thumbnail image, you'll see that I enjoy creating the distressed backgrounds almost as much a s I enjoy creating the designs themselves.