“Friendlier, softer, more human design might be having a moment…”
And this is being said by more and more techies and designers:
Solarpunk and the new technological optimism – Sidmouth Solarpunk
‘What if nature and technology could meet and create a wonderful world?’ – Sidmouth Solarpunk
How about this for softer design – Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay:
“Imagine having our technologies built in harmony with nature…” – Sidmouth Solarpunk
Tech magazine The Verge is getting excited about solarpunk – as is a leading tech company in the US:
Cyberpunk is out and solarpunk is in
Cyberpunk design has been all the rage for several years now — this very website was once awash in neon colors and hard edges, you might recall — but Figma CEO Dylan Field says he sees glimmers of optimism taking over.
“I think that we were really futurist, really cyberpunk for a while. A lot of neon lines, a lot of hard edges, a lot of poly or low-poly sort of metaphors. And it feels like we’re going more humanist. It feels like we’re going maybe more solarpunk.”
Solarpunk has been around for a few years now — long enough that the conservative American Enterprise Institute wrote an entire blog post about how it’s a dangerous liberal fantasy somehow tied to AOC! — and it usually looks like Tears of the Kingdom fan art. Think abundant energy, organic shapes, greenery embedded into architecture. Think… Emma Watson posting about hopeful futures to her Instagram in 2021: Emma Watson | #REPOST from @aimhilive 💚🌿 —— A story from AimHi Earthling, Bella Soares: “Last week, I went to the @TED @TEDCountdown cli… | Instagram
“Cyberpunk is dystopia — everything’s metal and concrete and low poly. It’s kind of depressing, but it’s also got that edge to it. Whereas solarpunk is more natural, the architecture is blending with the environment,” Field said. “I think it’s still a vision of the future, but also it’s more human and it’s got a lot of curves. It’s blended into the environment more, rather than trying to stand out as a piece of technology or a piece of architecture.”
Cyberpunk is out and solarpunk is in, according to Figma’s CEO – The Verge