Back to Docs
SYNTHWAVE
All Styles

Est. 2000s — Rooted in 1984

SYNTH

WAVE

Ride into the sunset. Drive through the neon grid.

80s Synthesizer Music Aesthetic

Music Production

Synthwave Station

Side A

Synthwave Mix

Vol. 1 — 1984

Now Playing

Nightcall

Kavinsky

Retrowave — 120 BPM

01:314:17
Vol
72

Spectrum Analyzer

Signal Idle — Press Play

Track Queue

Component System

Neon Buttons

Multidimensional Neon

Simultaneous inset cyan + outer magenta glow — two neon tubes from opposite directions.

Overvoltage Press

Active state collapses all neon to pure white. Click and hold to witness the power surge.

Arcade Pulse

CRT screen energizes on hover. Neon border pulses like a coin-op cabinet waking up.

Size Variants

Component System

Retro Future Cards

RETRO FUTURE

Step into the neon dimension. The grid expands as you approach the horizon.

Engage →

SUNSET DRIVE

Chase the endless horizon. Orange bleeds into pink bleeds into purple.

Chase →

NIGHT CRUISE

Cruise the endless night road to the rhythm of a darksynth pulse.

Cruise →
Component System

Input Fields

Color System

Neon Palette

Magenta

#ff00ff

Cyan

#00ffff

Medium Slate Blue

#7b68ee

Hot Pink

#ff6ec7

Deep Pink

#ff1493

Void

#0d0221

Deep Space

#150050

Dusk Purple

#2d1b4e

Sunset Gradient

Neon Spectrum

Interactive Components

Controls

Navigation Tabs

Welcome to Synthwave

Experience the nostalgic future through neon-lit interfaces, retro grids, and analog warmth.

System Toggles

Neon Mode
Grid Lines
Scanlines
Synthwave is an electronic music microgenre that emerged in the mid-2000s, rooted in 1980s film scores, video game soundtracks, and analog synthesizer music. Artists like Kavinsky, Perturbator, and Carpenter Brut define its sound.
Outrun borrows its visual language from the 1986 Sega arcade game. Neon perspective grids, rear-view chrome cars, and sunset horizons evoke the fantasy of endless driving through an 80s futurist dreamscape.
Every element must glow. Dark void backgrounds (#0d0221) serve as the canvas for magenta and cyan light. The design emulates a CRT monitor — scanlines, bloom, and multidimensional neon are not decorative: they are structural.
Design System

Rules of the Grid

DO
Neon Law
  • ✓Use neon pink, cyan, purple palette
  • ✓Layer inset + outer shadow for Multidimensional Neon
  • ✓Apply perspective grid backgrounds
  • ✓Add sunset gradient: orange → pink → purple
  • ✓Use uppercase tracking-wider for retro text
  • ✓Activate Overvoltage Press on active state
  • ✓Apply Virtual Grid Shift on group hover
  • ✓Use Arcade Pulse on neon border elements
DONT
Grid Violations
  • ✗No bright white backgrounds
  • ✗No modern minimalist design
  • ✗No omitting neon glow effects
  • ✗No formal serif or sans-serif fonts alone
  • ✗No single-direction neon (always inset + outer)
  • ✗No hover that changes only one shadow value
  • ✗No colored active state (Overvoltage collapses to white)
  • ✗No grid activation outside group-hover context
Type System

Chrome Type

KAVINSKY

Display — H1 Neon Chrome

Midnight City

Heading — H3 Cyan Glow

Body text rides the grid. Every letter is tuned to the frequency of the open road. Tracking wide, serif never.

Body — 14px tracking-wide

Monospace / Code

BPM: 136 | KEY: A_MIN | WAVE: SAW

Caption

Recorded on Korg MS-20 — 1984

Label / Tag
SynthwaveOutrun
Retro Hardware

Synthesizer Panel

78

Oscillator

45

Filter

62

Reverb

33

Delay

VU Meter — Output Level

Retro Media

VHS Archive

VHS — BETA

Night Drive Vol. 1

Year

1984

Runtime

60 MIN

VHS — BETA

Outrun Sessions

Year

1986

Runtime

90 MIN

VHS — BETA

Neon Dreams

Year

1988

Runtime

45 MIN

SYNTHWAVE

Est. 2000s — Rooted in 1984

Philosophy

Synthwave is about the feeling of driving alone at night on an empty highway in 1984, with the synthesizer playing in the background.

Key Artists

  • Kavinsky
  • Perturbator
  • Carpenter Brut
  • FM-84
  • Gunship

StyleKit

Part of the StyleKit Design System — a curated collection of visual aesthetics.

Browse All Styles

StyleKit — Synthwave Design System

DocsGallery

Ride into the sunset