What is Psychedelic Design?

Psychedelic means to awaken the mind, which breaks down the Greek word “delos”- manifest/awaken and the Latin word “psyche”-mind. Psychedelic designs are the type of design that appeals to the distortion of perception, which attracts the human eye to products. Psychedelic art is the type to engage you, arouse your senses, and fade from you physically, but roaming your memory eternally. According to the 99designs.com blog, psychedelic art and design include “fantasy imagery, kaleidoscopic and spiral patterns, ultra-bright color, extremely intricate detail and groovy typography”, which psychedelic design was based on back in the late 60s.

History of Psychedelic Design

There were influences leading to the late 60s, which were stimulated by the movements and posters by the artist, which established the traits of the psychedelic. Psychedelic influenced, not just music, but styles of dress, language, and the way art, literature, and philosophy were communicated. The meaning of psychedelic, in the beginning, refers to the popular drugs that surrounded the younger generation.

What influenced the start of this?

The young generation that started the psychedelic trend was also known as the baby boomers from the end of WWII in 1945-1957. The baby boomers were the ones who changed history and as well as the ones who questioned America’s norms of materialism, conservative culture, and politics. In the 60s, there were movements for feminist and black equality, which were great factors in this evolution.

In the 60s, there were many movements for addressing the controversial issues of America, civil rights, the Vietnam war, nuclear proliferation, and the environment as well as drug use, sexual freedom, and nonconformity. The introduction of psychedelic drugs and eastern mysticism were influenced by the baby boomers' search for spiritual experience. In 1967, famous musicians that were big influencers of psychedelics were Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, the Grateful Dead, and the Monterey Pop Festival which was named the Summer of Love.

The art of psychedelic design.

Acid and hallucinogenic mushrooms triggered hallucinations, which was a signature motif for the vivid colors, repeating geometric/flowing patterns, and melting text and images. Psychedelic images add depth to art nouveau, which is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art. Artists incorporated and reimaged the flow of lines, feminine figures, detailed ornamentation, and maximalist themes that were a hallmark of 1890-1910 century art and design. Some of the Summer of Love posters were an example of the incorporated art such as Filmore and Avalon.

“Free Love” was a common message of the art of the 1960s, which incorporated romanticism art and self-search. This updated the turn of the 19th-century spiritual movement, which featured skulls, birds, voluptuous women with long flowing hair, and floral motifs.

What do we use?

Types of fonts and treatments that are used to create the aesthetic psychedelic design are typically lettered type treatments fonts such as Chee and Synthemesc, which are whomped and opaque, which gives a cleaner feel. HWT Arabesque catches art thoroughly while funky fonts capture the attention of consumers and incorporate type as an illustrative component of graphic design.

Slamming art psychedelic blends lines, rad patterns, funky typography, and a radiant, sunset-inspired palette which is an experience. Color matters and elements of surrealism display grounding psychedelic roots although it's more modern. Wavy topography moves smoothly in the background and the pattern makes an illusion of movement.

Psychedelics were only introduced as something as simple as a ‘good trip’ during issues of social justice, war protest, and some tragic consequence of never-ending parties. The trend of psychedelic design brings energy into brand values that seek major challenges such as climate change, and social conflicts such as long period of isolation or equality.

Closing

Psychedelic packaging and its history have played a long-run influence from the 60s to now. Psychedelia design is the future of capturing baby boomer audiences and even the young people of today. Although psychedelics are a major concern today because it is illegal, it has played a great role in fighting injustice across the world and how the posters have attracted millions. Sustainability packaging and the combining of psychedelia design is the next step to social and environmental change through special packaging that shines and can be reusable. Psychedelic itself is an inspirational turn into the world now and let’s use more of it.

References

https://blog.adobe.com/en/publish/2021/08/03/psych-out-design-is-funky-bold-trending-now

https://pakfactory.com/blog/packaging-design-trends/

https://99designs.com/blog/design-history-movements/tripping-history-psychedelic-design/

https://www.printmag.com/culturally-related-design/acid-aesthetic-history-of-psychedelic-design/

https://www.trendhunter.com/slideshow/psychedelic-branding-techniques

https://visualartsdepartment.wordpress.com/psychedelic-60s/