Style combination · Contrasts

Sovietwave × Synthwave

Choose synthwave for American chrome, neon and palm-tree sunsets; choose sovietwave for muted print colours, Cyrillic and Space Age housing blocks.

From the research on Sovietwave

Mix them and make something Sovietwave Synthwave

A sample layout drawn from the recipe: shapes from Synthwave, their arrangement from Synthwave, the finish from Sovietwave. Not a real work, and not an image of either style.

What each style brings

Each part of the design comes from the style with the stronger say in it, and each style gives at least two.

Sovietwave Synthwave / Outrun

Type from Sovietwave: Grotesque & neo-grotesque
All caps
Colour from Synthwave: Fluorescent & neon
Dark ground

Sovietwave avoids fluorescent & neon: this is where the two pull against each other, which is the point of the contrast.
Form from Synthwave: Cosmic & celestial
Geometric primitives
Composition from Synthwave: Central symmetry
Illusion of depth

Sovietwave avoids central symmetry: this is where the two pull against each other, which is the point of the contrast.
Surface from Sovietwave: Grain & noise
Glitch

The type

Open fonts standing in for each style’s own type, which is often hand-drawn or commercial.

Display · Sovietwave

Daydream

VT323, standing in for VHS and CRT on-screen lettering and teletext-like pixel type

Text · Sovietwave

A post-Soviet internet aesthetic pairing synthwave's music and VHS glow with Space Age Soviet imagery and Cyrillic captions: nostalgia for the past future (Natalija Majsova), a lost technological optimism. Visually it diverges from synthwave, with muted print colours and little neon. It is not endorsement of the Soviet state; critics call it a romanticised myth (Shevchenko) or one that ignores harsh realities (Molchat Doma), and Ukrainian artists may reject the label. Use state symbols with care.

VT323; Sovietwave used Plain Soviet-era sans lettering, such as the period Zhurnalnaya rublenaya (Polygraphmash, 1947), which the look draws on; no source ties it to specific sovietwave works and Hand-drawn Soviet poster and film-title lettering in Cyrillic

The colours

The ground and leading colours come from Synthwave, with a counter-accent from Sovietwave. The ink reads on the ground at 4.5:1 or more.

Sovietwave Synthwave / Outrun

#0d0221 ground · 36%
#ffd319 ink · 14%
#05d9e8 accent · 18%
#43d5e0 accent · 14%
#ff9f1c accent · 10%
#d9a441 accent · 8%

As CSS

:root {
  --ground: #0d0221;
  --ink: #ffd319;
  --accent-1: #05d9e8;
  --accent-2: #43d5e0;
  --accent-3: #ff9f1c;
  --accent-4: #d9a441;
  --font-display: "VT323", monospace;
  --font-text: "VT323", monospace;
}

Use it with care

Synthwave / Outrun: Since about 2015 far-right 'fashwave' has appropriated synthwave, setting fascist symbols, classical statues and slogans on neon grids and swapping the classic neon sun for the Nazi Black Sun; keep the sun a plain banded disc, avoid sunwheel, eagle and bust-plus-slogan layouts, and check where borrowed fan art and music come from.