Synthwave vs Vaporwave

シンセウェーブ / ヴェイパーウェイヴ

Both sit in Digital Retro, so the question is not what they belong to but how they behave. Both are read here as style. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.

Synthwave

Synthwave — G. Casqueiro《Chase The Sun》2019年 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0Synthwave — Gégène《Back to the 80s》2022年 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0Synthwave — Rod Trussardi《Carnival Night カバーアート》2021年 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

Replays the future the 1980s imagined, in neon and horizon lines.

Vaporwave

Vaporwave — Ostarisk《Vaporwave art example》2017年 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0Vaporwave — yumikrum《Nine lives》2017年 — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 2.0Vaporwave — Kazachstanski nygus《ヴェイパーウェイヴの作例》 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

Turns memories of consumer society and early digital life into dreamlike unease.

SynthwaveVaporwave
Era1980s imagined future2010s
FamilyDigital RetroDigital Retro
KindStyleStyle
CuesNeon / Perspective grid / Sunset / Black skyPink and purple / Classical statues / Early CG / Tropics and Japanese text
Best used forInstant world-building for games and music · The euphoria of retro-futurismHandling the internet's strange homesickness · Unreality for music and art
TypeOblique sans with script accentsSerifs, pixel faces, fragments of Japanese
CompositionLow horizon, central perspective, gigantic titleFloating objects, horizon lines, collage
MaterialBlack, magenta, cyan, glowPurple and aqua, low resolution, VHS noise
CautionSun and grid alone are overfamiliar. Add story elements of your own.Don't reduce Japanese to meaningless decoration. Bring criticism or personal memory.

Put these two together

Digital Retro

IndexStyle