Should retro technology be left in the past?

We’re surrounded by endless technology every day of our lives, from the phones we use, to the tv we watch to the contactless payments we make, the world is an ever changing vortex of technology. But there is one thing that we hear regularly amongst all the tech speak, from the likes of parents and older generations “well that was fashionable when I was young, these youngsters think it’s a new trend, we started it.” As creatives we’re very aware that it’s an endless challenge to come up with something new and our inbuilt research and inspiration filter always takes influence from the past to help this process along. We learn from the successes and the failures to make a more well rounded, relatable and creative solutions. Trends constantly resurface throughout every part of our lives, as its our heritage, constantly we’re seeing things come back into fashion again, such as the Nokia 3310 relaunch we recently saw (click here to have a sneak peek at the Nokia 3310?).

Gaming in particular have seen a big comeback on the retro front which sees games such as Pokémon and Mario entering as nostalgic contenders in the ever crowded gaming arena, with one edge, it plays on our precious childhood memories, therefore making an emotional connection with users, presenting the retro rerun as a trend we can’t ignore.

Even in design we’re seeing nostalgic forms of communication making a come back. Such as receiving a piece of post now, is quite rare and we appreciate a well crafted piece of direct mail opposed to an email. It may cost a little more, but can make a bigger impact than digital, as well as playing on our need to reminisce.

Technology meaning

Tech-no-logy – “The application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry.”

This new nostalgic trend however can be taken as contradictory to the scientific of us, in the respect that technology means future, development based on scientific knowledge of the time. To improve and update constantly, to make our lives easier. So why since we’re in the ‘millennial’ tech savvy and yearning generation are brands bringing back old tech?

Our top 2 nostalgic comebacks

As designers and developers we live our lives in technology, constantly driven by updates and new software, having to be on top of industry standard programmes, technology and trends, we’re dominated by it, therefore maybe a little biased for this topic. So as you can understand, this was quite a tough cookie for our team this week and the discussion got quite complex at times. We’ve picked our top 2 favourites from what the team came up with when we discussed whether retro technology should be brought back or not.

1. The LP Vinyl

Music and film, what our lives would be like without it. It’s become so easy over the years to listen to our favourite tunes and watch our favourite flicks across multiple devices, from anywhere at anytime. But have they become too available?

The LP vinyl, making a comeback, back in production again, but did it ever go away? Not really it has always been in the background and DJs have used these nostalgic gems for years as well as the hardcore collectors that love to hoard the well crafted artworks.

Pros:

a)  Commitment – The beauty of LPs and even CD albums is that you play the album how they were meant to be listened to, from first song to the last. The likes of Spotify allows users to flick between songs constantly, so we could argue that LPs and owning an actual album gives you a better experience of an artist’s vision, creating listener loyalty and commitment.

b)  We own it – We actually physically own something opposed to buying it online, similar to the film market, owning it on paper but not in our hands. There was something about adding a vinyl to your collection, a pride of what you have and a yearning to broaden your hoard, opposed to paying full price for the album where it’s stored online.

Cons:

a)  The device not the music – With so many complex sound devices out there such as wireless headphones and speakers, surely the quality of music doesn’t depend on programmes like Spotify or iTunes but more on the device itself, so sound quality is the user’s responsibility surely?

b)  Time – With regard to album commitment, do we have time to listen to a whole album these days? Has our patience changed maybe with our hectic lifestyles that we can’t commit and get bored easily with music? Maybe..

c)  Clutter – It’s cluttering up our homes. Humans are, by nature, collectors, we like to hoard and keep things that we think we may use later, from ‘bags for life,’ to newspaper clippings, we constantly stock pile things we need or are important to us. Do LPs add to this clutter?

d)  Lifestyle – It’s also cheaper than buying the actual LP artwork itself as you’re not paying for the printing or packaging. Plus we have become a nation of renters, from phone contracts to car finance to mortgages, our lifestyle today is driven by manageable debts. Is this online renting and storage, from subscriptions to such sites as Spotify and iTunes a way of fitting in with the current consumer buying nature?

Comeback accepted?
It already has been, the market is there for these beauts so why not make them available. They’re not shoe horning it into the music market, removing the likes of Spotify and iTunes, just offering another option.

2. Classic motors

This is a constantly changing industry and depending on the brand you go with can depend on the type of technology and features you get. The Japanese for example are favourites of advances in technology, so such brands as Suzuki, Nissan or Mitsubishi will have a higher focus on the tech of their cars than say a heritage brand like Porsche, Land Rover or Rolls Royce. This is not to say that these other brands don’t update their cars constantly, but their brand values are vastly different to the likes of the Japanese brands who are constantly discontinuing ranges to replace it with bigger and better modern tech models. But have our motors got too much technology?

Pros:

a)  Easy to fix – Back in the day, a mechanic’s raw talent would be immaculate at pulling apart a car to find out the problem and putting it back together again, not relying on computers to find it for them like they are today. Experience and fail safe methods would diagnose the problem within hours and if you have interest, could generally learn yourself on how to solve recurrent problems, learning the kinks of your car yourself.

b)  Practical knowledge – It used to give us all the hands on knowledge and checklist of what a problem could be with our cars. From simple things like knowing how to change the oil and washer fluid, to looking at the engine and seeing what the issue from previous problems, making each problem quicker to resolve as we’re building up knowledge. Also gives drivers common sense such as knowing how to read a map. Not relying on technology or signal such as Sat Navs, to work it out for us.

c)  Save money – The expense is less. Electric replacements can be expensive in new cars, such as automatic mirrors, the cost of replacing one of those in comparison to an older car’s wing mirror is huge. Saving you money in the long run and the fact that there is more chance of finding parts for an older car and quickly than new cars that may have to be shipped in specially, adding to cost and time.

Cons:

a)  Quicker to diagnose – Due to most cars having a lot of computer based functions as electric windows, central locking, sat nav and internal diagnostics that notify us on our dashboards, such issues as electrical faults on new cars are easier to diagnose via computers, making the process quicker, therefore saving money. This is not quite the case with older cars.

b)  Ownership is short term – There isn’t really an argument for this one, as practical knowledge is clearly lacking with drivers today on basic things like changing oil, tyres and knowing what the kinks of your car are. However, in our defence, the generation we live in and the renting lifestyle we have become accustomed to, the long term issues with cars generally don’t appeal to us, as with such schemes as PCP car finance, you replace your car within 3 years before it needs an MOT, so really there shouldn’t be any problems that older cars have.

Yes we never really own a car, only rent and yes we may be seen as not to nurture, take pride and love our cars as previous generations, but technology is technology and we are in a generation that seeks out new advances, taking inspiration from the past but not letting it dictate the innovation. However, the map reading and general motor survival skills are a valid point and almost should be added to the driving test as an additional back up skill.

c)  Renting – Again yes, when there are faults with new cars they are more expensive to diagnose and find parts for due to the technology. However, these faults rarely happen with new cars in respect of the PCP finance 3 year replacement scheme, so you could argue it both ways.

Comeback accepted?
There already is a market, classic cars and of course other generations that want to still buy older motors. The used car trade is huge and a great way for youngsters to get on to the driving ladder due to cost and for their first car experience. The survival skills such as map reading and car maintenance however is something that new manufacturers or maybe driving testing need to incorporate so that we don’t lose that skill with previous generations.

So…should retro technology be left in the past?

The answer we feel is split into two sides:

1. Should retro technology be brought back?
No, we have come on so far that why would we step back and confuse the generation we’re in? For example….Nokia 3310 have just brought their new/old phone back out. From a technology POV it’s not great, only having 2.5G that isn’t supported in some countries in the world, doesn’t support social media or any of the SMART features a typical phone today has, stripping it back to the basics of what a phone used to be, to text and call. From a technology angle, it’s a step back and against our current generational beliefs and could also lose consumers who don’t know any different from the technology they use now.

2. Should retro technology design be brought back?
Now this is a completely different answer altogether. Nostalgia and heritage, we love nothing more as consumers to look back and reminisce of our childhood, revisiting the memories a device such as the Nokia 3310 or LP vinyl brings back. Is this the reason Nokia brought back the 3310? Maybe, tap into consumer emotion, it’s subconscious, raw and already planted in our minds, therefore this ‘awww moment’ we all get thinking back to such a product, which then escalates a whole trail of other linked memories which create hours of conversation is a massive asset to any brand. Therefore retro design could be a great way of connecting on a deeper, psychological and subconscious level with our users, which is genius if you think about it. As if we can connect on a personal level, we become memorable as a brand.