New Wave vs Scanimate
ニュー・ウェーブ / スキャニメイト
New Wave comes from Counterculture and Scanimate from Broadcast Design. One is style and the other technique. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.
New Wave
Keeps punk's freedom while re-editing color and grid with urban polish.
Scanimate
An analog video synthesizer that distorted images on a CRT electrically and in real time. It is the true source of the glowing, flying, undulating logos of 1970s and 80s television, and it carried the motion industry before digital.
| New Wave | Scanimate | |
|---|---|---|
| Era | 1970s–1980s | 1969–1980s |
| Family | Counterculture | Broadcast Design |
| Kind | Style | Technique |
| Cues | Irregular grid / Dots / High chroma / Rotated type | Glowing outlines / Electronic undulation / Rainbow glow / Scanline texture |
| Best used for | Editorial heat for culture media · Adding surprise to serious content | Rebuilding the air of 1970s and 80s television as a deliberate effect · Giving a logo the unstable glow and stretch that digital tools lack |
| Type | Mix condensed, geometric and vertical setting | Heavy single letters lit from inside their own outline |
| Composition | Shift the grid; hold several angles at once | One element on black, stretched from far to near |
| Material | Yellow, red, blue, dots, thin rules | Scanlines and rainbow bleed, with color fringing left on the edges |
| Caution | Don't multiply small decorations. Choose one starring deviation. | Layering glow and scanlines on top while the undulation itself still moves with the smooth interpolation of today's tools. |