The “Clear Craze” was everywhere in the 1990s, and that included translucent technology like video game controllers, iMacs, all the way to Tamagotchis. But, how did this design come to dominate a decade?

Cheddar Explains

The 90s Was Obsessed With Transparent Tech, Here's Why

Whether it was video game consoles or Pepsi, it seemed like everything turned clear in the 90s. Even gravy okay, we draw the line at gravy food flops aside. Y two K. Culture is roaring back. And that even includes a renewed interest in nostalgic tech like this iconic phone but it's 25 years old. It's iconic. But how did this look of translucent tech developed in the first place? There's a few theories ranging from zero opacity preferences and prisons to longtime marketing ideas of purity and clarity yikes, but the trend was undoubtedly everywhere by the mid nineties and the end, especially as we were on the cusp of the new millennium and you think of Y two K. Everything had to be clear or translucent and bright colors. And it wasn't just a singular thing. It seems like it all happened at once where there were clear phones and clear answering machines. Clear video game councils. But let's jump back to the first clear examples of see through technology in the 19 thirties. The new york world's fair, its theme, the world of tomorrow. At the 1939 World's Fair, a number of wonders were introduced to the public like GM futurama exhibit and a robot that smoked cigarettes. It also included the advent of acrylics like lucite and plexiglas. The now defunct electronics company R. C. A. Debuted its revolutionary television set, the T. R. K. 12 phantom teller receiver was encased in clear lucite to demonstrate. There was no trickery to their technology and demonstrating its complexity allowed visitors to see why the machines would run some 1 200 to $1000 which is about $24,000 today. R. C. A. Wasn't the only one making use of transparent design. General Motors debuted the Pontiac ghost car with an all plexiglass body allowing visitors to admire the innovation firsthand. But when the U. S. Joined World War two, commercial use of acrylics was largely put on hold and instead allocated towards aircraft construction. After the war, clear tech casing slowly re emerged but it didn't really start to revive until the 19 eighties. In the form of telephones. Around 1989 Connor released its clear light up phone that became ubiquitous with the era selling 2 to 3 million that year. In avalanche of copycat phones followed. The internal neon pallet also signified a shift beyond just showing that the phone worked. The mechanics were something to be celebrated and indicated a shift to a younger market. By the late 90s and early 2000's Nintendo and apple were in on the clear craze. Even though clear tech faded from popularity, there's no doubt it's on the path back. Xbox has semi transparent controllers there even see through earbuds, translucent cases. The trend cycle is coming back around nineties nostalgia is sort of kicking in and if you kind of look at history over the past 100 years. Look through the decades, There tends to be this 30-year sliding scale when it comes to people being nostalgic about things. Think about the 80s back to the future in 1985, everyone was obsessed with the 50s, which was 30 years prior. This has got to be a dream. This idea of the future is always tied to nostalgia. Clear Tech has been a longtime design choice in sci fi. When we think of a more perfect future, we'd be surprised to see how much of that vision comes from the past, who we were and who we want to be. In this case, we want to see that clearly and have some fun, too.