About

The Retrowave Text Generator is a web application that allows users to create graphic images with custom texts in bright neon colors reminiscent of '80s science-fiction film posters and production logos, a style of visual art that has been also referred to as neon-noir. In October 2016, the image generator gained widespread attention with the growing popularity of retrowave aesthetics on the internet, in a similar vein to the Stranger Things-themed title sequence generator Make It Stranger.

Origin

On July 16th, 2016, generator site PhotoFunia announced on its Instagram^[1] that it had introduced a new text effect generator^[2] it dubbed Retro Wave.

Spread

In the coming months, images using the generator appeared on Flickr,^[3] but it did not gain widespread popularity until October 5th, 2016, when images using the generator began spreading very quickly through Twitter, to the point where it was a Twitter moment the following day.^[4] Most users used the generator to post popular memes. Popular examples include J. Cole Went Platinum With No Features, ^[5] Actually, It's About Ethics in Gaming Journalism, ^[6] Smooth, ^[7] and many more. The spread was covered by The Daily Dot,^[8] The Mary Sue,^[9] The Next Web,^[10] and more.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References