Nostalgia is a well-known state of mind that leads people to feel positive emotions when looking back on things from the past. Research suggests that human brains are hardwired to be nostalgic because it helps people cope with current situations, feel like they are in control, and connect over shared past experiences. Imagine how you feel when you eat a favorite snack from your childhood or see a piece of clothing that looks just like something you wore in college. You may still get inexplicably excited when you see a favorite character make a reappearance on a TV show or movie.
Because nostalgia is such a widely experienced phenomenon, it can be leveraged in WordPress themes to appeal to audiences’ memory and reward systems of the brain. Certain design elements and themes bring happy memories of the past to life and create a deeper sensory connection because familiarity often feels comforting and predictable and reminds people of “better times.” While nostalgia can glamorize situations that weren’t so simple or appealing as they were happening, there’s no denying that it has a powerful pull on how people interact with the world and internet content, even if that pull is commonly subconscious. Thus, by using elements of retro design and nostalgic themes, companies can make simple changes to have a profound effect and tap into the WordPress retro design trend.
How Retro Can You Go? Defining Retro Design and Emerging Trends
Retro design is all about taking design elements from the past and bringing them to modern websites. Retaining modern quality, websites can give the impression of designs people remember from the past while using modern quality standards. These elements can come in a range of styles because what is nostalgic will transform based on your target audience. However, certain trends are prominent currently based on user interest. These retro design elements often include touches from the 1980s through the 2010s. People crave nostalgic touches, so the retro-style boom continues to be useful for many companies looking to expand their audience and create more overall engagement. Whether you want just a touch of retro or to go all out on the theme, how retro you go is up to you!
Benefits of Retro Design for Audience Engagement
When you start using retro design, you have an opportunity to transform how you interact with the audience and the level of engagement they will have with your website. Retro design creates several opportunities by creating trust, differentiation, and demographic appeal.
Pop Open the Playdough: Establishing Familiarity & Trust
When you think about opening a tub of playdough, one of the first things that probably comes to mind is the smell. You may not even know how to describe the smell, but it’s unmistakable when you smell it. That’s the sort of instant connection that nostalgia can create to get the audience interested because they can go, “Oh, yeah, I know that!” Retro design creates familiarity right off the bat, so the audience is drawn in with relatively low effort.
The audience becomes more excited to give a website more of their attention because it seems more personal. Not only do customers feel more emotionally connected to a website that uses nostalgia, but they are more likely to remain loyal to that brand because it evokes feelings of familiarity and trust by utilizing past positive associations. Therefore, you create and deepen customer trust faster.
Nostalgic elements are an ideal way of taking a generic website and making it more inviting to audiences looking for products or services that are closely aligned with their personal values, desires, and emotional needs.
Think Different: Using Nostalgia for Differentiation
There’s a sea of modern, minimalist designs. When people are browsing the web, websites can quickly blur together, becoming overall unmemorable and making it hard to know which option is better when they all seem the same. Business is competitive, which means that you can’t just be like every other brand in your industry. You have to show your audience that you are with them, and you get who they are and what makes them tick.
Do it Your Way: Appealing to Target Demographics
Whatever demographic you want to appeal to, that demographic has nostalgic memories and collective cultural touchstones that you can use to reach their core wants and needs. Not only can you reach your current audience using nostalgia, but you can also reach new audiences and new generations by adding touches that feel personalized to that target demographic. By researching the nostalgic experiences of your desired audience, you can customize your website to ensure you’re connecting with who you want to connect with.
Open Your Toybox: Key Retro Design Trends in WordPress Themes
Most retro and nostalgic themes speak to youthful exuberance and create a sense of an easier, simpler time. These themes are often colorful and bright and have illustrations that further reiterate the sense of nostalgia you are trying to create. Typography like bold fonts, classic serif and sans-serif combinations is a great starting point for retro trends. Color palettes such as bright contrasts, pastels, or muted tones are all examples of routes you can take. Even imagery and layout choices like vintage illustrations, grainy textures, or boxed layouts can add to your retro look and really get those nostalgic feelings churning.
Examples of Successful Retro WordPress Themes
Retro WordPress themes capture the charm and nostalgia of past eras, combining vintage design elements with modern functionality. Perfect for a variety of websites, these themes evoke a sense of nostalgia through thoughtful choices in typography, color palettes, and layouts. Here are five successful retro WordPress themes that showcase the versatility and appeal of vintage design:
VintWood: intWood is a vintage retro WordPress theme that offers a variety of classic design elements. It features customizable backgrounds, retro typography, and multiple layout options. The theme is ideal for blogs, portfolios, and creative websites looking for a vintage aesthetic.
VintClub: VintClub is a vintage-inspired theme perfect for pubs and whisky bars. It features a classic design with rich color schemes, retro typography, and customizable layouts. The theme is ideal for creating a nostalgic atmosphere for any bar or restaurant website.
Retro Portfolio : Retro Portfolio is a vibrant and colorful theme designed for creatives. Its vintage design is perfect for showcasing portfolios with a nostalgic touch. The theme includes custom widgets, multiple layout options, and is fully responsive.
Hipster: Hipster is a retro responsive WordPress theme designed with a hip, vintage aesthetic. It features customizable backgrounds, retro typography, and a variety of layout options, making it ideal for personal blogs, portfolios, and creative websites.
Cabin: Cabin is a beautiful, vintage-inspired WordPress theme. It features a classic design with elegant typography and customizable layouts. The theme is perfect for bloggers, creatives, and small businesses looking for a nostalgic touch.
Do or Do Not: Adding that Taste of Nostalgia
People naturally tend towards nostalgia, which means that companies who want to enrich their engagement can implement nostalgic elements to push themselves closer to their goals. WordPress enables websites to capture that nostalgic feel without sacrificing functionality or user experience. The goal when using retro styling should be to seamlessly incorporate these touches to promote, engage, and enrich audience connection. This process can be challenging because it is so reliant on small details and nuances in the design. Accordingly, Ndevr offers our expertise to help improve the decision-making process and streamline the implementation of nostalgia-oriented solutions. Contact us, and we will be glad to become a WordPress VIP gold partner that supports you in your website’s transformation.
