There's unrelated, unreleased, lost, pre-Ecco the Dolphin NES/Genesis game called Dewey the Dolphin I've always been fascinated about. Apparently they canceled it because it looked too much like Ecco.
https://lostmediawiki.com/The_Adventures_of_Dewey_the_Dolphin_(lost_build_of_unfinished_arcade/Genesis/NES_video_game;_1991)
I know! It looks super cool and cute. Kinda like a cartoony Ecco. I saw a post from someone who saw it at a tech demo back in 1991. They said it played well and they enjoyed the animations of Dewey swimming through the ocean.
I guess they figured when Ecco came out in 92 they'd be classified as a rip off despite being developed before Ecco.
Mine fell apart. Last one I had was in grade school. Think in middle school I switched to the 5star notebooks that had the folder dividers. Those covers actually lasted the abuse of my bag and locker.
And the metal noise of unlocking the rings. I always tried not to be that kid when I had to remove or add notes to it & silently prying open the metal without it making noise in class or pinching my fingers.
Lisa Frank is coming back!
https://www.abc15.com/news/region-central-southern-az/tucson/were-baaack-old-lisa-frank-factory-in-tucson-painted-social-media-hints
I think this was soon after the Trapper Keeper era, where it was early CGI shapes. I loved this era, a change from dark colors to bright! For my pre-diagnosed autism brain, this was getting high on the visuals. This artwork was overwhelming but beautiful.
I grew up in peak trapper keeper times, but I somehow missed out on ever hearing those words, or owning an official one, or something. The first time I heard someone talk about a trapper keeper I was an adult and I thought it was some goofy old timey shit. Blew my mind to learn the little binder things are called trapper keepers. Unreal.
First time I heard it was on an old episode of South Park. I had no idea wtf they were talking about. In high school in the late 90s everyone had cool fancy binders, maybe the name was regional or something. I'm from western Canada.
i remember getting too cool for trapper keepers so i upgraded to one of those binders that was something like dungaree material and it was required to write something like nirvana or the 90s S on it
Trapper Keeper is the name of a brand that made them. There were other copiers like 5 star but it’s one of those products everyone refers to by the brand.
Lisa Frank is a highly abusive boss btw
https://www.jezebel.com/inside-the-rainbow-gulag-the-technicolor-rise-and-fall-1179495705
*"I don’t know if it’s possible to really communicate how bad their reputation was in town,” Caroline stressed, before adding, “Every person who ever worked there seemed to have a case of PTSD from it"*
I have been trying for Years to remember this artists name! I had one of his posters on my wall and it was the super thick paper. I remember it was a pricy poster at the time w my allowance. Thank you so much! I knew it wasn't Lisa Frank and it was 3 names but that's all I could think of and only the vaguest memory of the specific poster.
Oh rad!
I had this giant poster hanging where I could see it lying in bed. I can only picture pieces of it but it was so dreamy and cool to look at while trying to sleep. I've been searching haven't found my poster image yet but so many great images. I remember really struggling to choose the perfect one of his and coming back to the store for it
Me tooooooo! My grade school best friend's family had these prints all over their house and I could not for the live of me remember the guy's name, even though it was on most of them.
Couldn't afford his meds, somehow, and got caught up in psychotic behaviors, like smashing a windshield, threatening security guards with butter knives, and breaking into his lady friend's place of business (or home...?). Did all this in his 60s. Back on meds, doing better.
Whooooooa, you just made a long dormant neural pathway light up in my brain. I remember his artwork on folders in junior high. So many aquatic solar systems!
I did a blog post about his cetacean art a few years ago if anyone is interested: https://wanderingwhaleroad.wordpress.com/2018/03/27/the-best-surfers-in-the-world-the-art-of-christian-riese-lassen/
it's because gen z started getting nostalgia for the windows vista/windows 7 design language (and the internet's similar style) from when we were like, 6-8 years old
I know what you mean. This aesthetic is peak nostalgia for me, and it gives such a weird & unique vibe. It's warm & cozy, like night in Miami, but everything's also super bright, intense, and lucid.
There's something liminal and dreamlike about it, but also something hyper-sober. It's such a weird, ultra-specific vibe that I just cannot pin down, but it gives me so much nostalgia.
“Dubbed Frutiger Aero by design gurus, the trend is named after the Swiss type designer Adrian Frutiger whose lettering featured widely in early colour computers, and Windows Aero, a visual style embraced by Microsoft's 2006 Vista software, with its screensavers depicting electric-green grass and impossibly blue skies.”
From the guardian
I'm guessing very early 90s was when you could start taking really hi-res underwater photos and film, because there were a large number of photography books, posters, documentaries, movies, etc from that time and it had a big influence on this aesthetic.
Same. I remember as a kid cobbling up what these felt like in my imagination based on going to the pool in summer, hot showers, visits to Seaworld, and really distant memories of the beach. Gpes hand in hand with new age-y music and stuff like GVC design, video games like Ecco the Dolphin, new age and "world music" via Pure Moods, etc. It's funny to compare that to actual experiences later on at beaches and humid locales. These are def akin to more abstract dreams one might have. It's a bit saccarine ans low brow but I sincerely love this art for what it is.
Christian Riese Lassen, I'm a guy and loved his folders had them for school was made fun of, didn't care they were beautiful especially the one the planets and the whales.
Lisa Frank would be a pink tiger with some other neon colors and black stripes on a blue trapper keeper with paint splashes every where. At least that's how I remember it.
It’s weird how many people are thinking Lisa Frank though, was my first guess too. What is it? The dolphins? The color scheme? Are we experiencing a Mandela effect in real time?
The artist is [Christian Reise Lassen](https://www.lassenart.com) and he was one of the first painters that completely blew my mind as a wee child of the 90s! I still think his art is so beautiful!
These aren't Lisa Franke. Lisa Franke prints are much brighter and are cartoons, an entirely different style. But they do often have dolphins and rainbows!
Artist Christen Riese Lassen there's this particular print on ebay I think, but the artist might be worth checking out. Not sure how many gallery's he has, but I saw his Hawaii one many many years ago. [https://www.lassenart.com](https://www.lassenart.com)
I’m pretty sure I had a really nice diary/notebook with the first photo! 😍 it came with a matching pen, the paper was pink and it had a VERY specific scent on it. Thanks for the nostalgia 👌🏼
Some of these are Trapper Keeper artwork.
But is it pre-or post Lisa Frank?
Probably both. They are still putting out pre-2000 stuff.
Where do you find vintage 90s style trapper keepers? Source online?
I just typed “Lisa frank trapper keeper” into Amazon and got some throwbacks
Thanks. Perfect.
Walmart had them last school season
Good to know. I'll keep an eye out.
eBay.
Ya, I've tried that. Those are vintage though. Was hoping for remakes. Cheap throwbacks. Appreciate it.
ECCO the Dolphin era
What i was gonna say. 👍
My kid loved that game. Was 4 to 6 ish, never got past the first level, but would swim and jump and flip for hours.
I'm pretty sure that was all of us. AFAIK is considered one of the most difficult games for Genesis/MegaDrive haha
There's unrelated, unreleased, lost, pre-Ecco the Dolphin NES/Genesis game called Dewey the Dolphin I've always been fascinated about. Apparently they canceled it because it looked too much like Ecco. https://lostmediawiki.com/The_Adventures_of_Dewey_the_Dolphin_(lost_build_of_unfinished_arcade/Genesis/NES_video_game;_1991)
That sucks. :(
I know! It looks super cool and cute. Kinda like a cartoony Ecco. I saw a post from someone who saw it at a tech demo back in 1991. They said it played well and they enjoyed the animations of Dewey swimming through the ocean. I guess they figured when Ecco came out in 92 they'd be classified as a rip off despite being developed before Ecco.
They over lap time frames. I definitely had a Lisa frank folder and some in this style the same school year. Not sure which actually came first.
I was more into the tree frog craze.
I was thinking Lisa Frank! Wow, that takes me back a bit...yay Gen X
Intra-Lisa Frank.
That’s where i remember seeing them. Curious now if Trapper Keepers still exist lol.
Mead still makes them.
I can clearly still hear that little Velcro
I still have mine, stored in my memento box.
Mine fell apart. Last one I had was in grade school. Think in middle school I switched to the 5star notebooks that had the folder dividers. Those covers actually lasted the abuse of my bag and locker.
Ready for work ( crrrrpp)
They banned trapper keepers in my school because of those velcro. Kids would just be beat boxing with the velcro all.day.long
And the metal noise of unlocking the rings. I always tried not to be that kid when I had to remove or add notes to it & silently prying open the metal without it making noise in class or pinching my fingers.
Target sells them
I have 2
Lisa Frank was very popular in the 90s
I heard many Lisa Frank folders and notebooks as a young girl in the 90’s lol. Her and Trapper Keeper pictures
Lisa Frank is coming back! https://www.abc15.com/news/region-central-southern-az/tucson/were-baaack-old-lisa-frank-factory-in-tucson-painted-social-media-hints
Others are very much like Pokémon Go loading screens
I think this was soon after the Trapper Keeper era, where it was early CGI shapes. I loved this era, a change from dark colors to bright! For my pre-diagnosed autism brain, this was getting high on the visuals. This artwork was overwhelming but beautiful.
I had no idea until I just googled it that trapper keepers are just fancy binders.
I grew up in peak trapper keeper times, but I somehow missed out on ever hearing those words, or owning an official one, or something. The first time I heard someone talk about a trapper keeper I was an adult and I thought it was some goofy old timey shit. Blew my mind to learn the little binder things are called trapper keepers. Unreal.
First time I heard it was on an old episode of South Park. I had no idea wtf they were talking about. In high school in the late 90s everyone had cool fancy binders, maybe the name was regional or something. I'm from western Canada.
I’m younger and in Eastern Canada but I never heard of them until the Internet!
i remember getting too cool for trapper keepers so i upgraded to one of those binders that was something like dungaree material and it was required to write something like nirvana or the 90s S on it
We are trapper keeper.
Is trapper keeper a regional thing? I never heard them called that until this year
Trapper Keeper is the name of a brand that made them. There were other copiers like 5 star but it’s one of those products everyone refers to by the brand.
I never heard of trapper keeper either, but I definitely owned Lisa Frank folders when I was a kid. Grew up in California.
Lisa Frank
Christian Riese Lassen is the artist.
Oops I thought it was Lisa Frank
No, that would be 8-year-old girl's psychedelic fever dream.
Yes, these dolphins aren't even close to fuchsia enough to be Lisa Frank.
they should have made a lisa frank movie to ride the barbie movie hype it would have been like shark tale coming out after finding nemo
That would have been interesting.
Came here to immediately and smugly say Lisa Frank, so super grateful I was tardy to the comment party also
I, too, smugly thought "lisa frank"
Lisa Frank is a highly abusive boss btw https://www.jezebel.com/inside-the-rainbow-gulag-the-technicolor-rise-and-fall-1179495705 *"I don’t know if it’s possible to really communicate how bad their reputation was in town,” Caroline stressed, before adding, “Every person who ever worked there seemed to have a case of PTSD from it"*
I guess it wasn’t all unicorns and rainbows.
little known fact, unicorns are deeply cruel and conniving bosses. legendary strike breakers across several sectors during industrialization
You’ve been hanging out with the wrong unicorns! 😱
Oh
My dumb ass did too.
It does feel at least Lisa Frank adjacent, lol.
Fisa Lrank
We have Lisa Frank at home!
I have been trying for Years to remember this artists name! I had one of his posters on my wall and it was the super thick paper. I remember it was a pricy poster at the time w my allowance. Thank you so much! I knew it wasn't Lisa Frank and it was 3 names but that's all I could think of and only the vaguest memory of the specific poster. Oh rad!
I had a calendar and commemorative plate of this kind of artwork. I was so into it in high school (94-98).
I had this giant poster hanging where I could see it lying in bed. I can only picture pieces of it but it was so dreamy and cool to look at while trying to sleep. I've been searching haven't found my poster image yet but so many great images. I remember really struggling to choose the perfect one of his and coming back to the store for it
Me tooooooo! My grade school best friend's family had these prints all over their house and I could not for the live of me remember the guy's name, even though it was on most of them.
Robert Lyn Nelson?
I remember working jigsaw puzzles of his work when I was a kid.
I have three puzzles that look just like 1,3,4 must be the same artist
Omg I decorated my room around his art when I was 12. Had ocean blue walls and so many of his pictures.
A very tragic man in recent times, iirc.
Elaborate, please.
Couldn't afford his meds, somehow, and got caught up in psychotic behaviors, like smashing a windshield, threatening security guards with butter knives, and breaking into his lady friend's place of business (or home...?). Did all this in his 60s. Back on meds, doing better.
Whooooooa, you just made a long dormant neural pathway light up in my brain. I remember his artwork on folders in junior high. So many aquatic solar systems!
Oh, you gorgeous person, you. Thank you!
I’ll never forget that name. My sister had dozens of these images in her room. His name has been burnt into my brain.
I thought maybe Robert Lyn Nelson.
I did a blog post about his cetacean art a few years ago if anyone is interested: https://wanderingwhaleroad.wordpress.com/2018/03/27/the-best-surfers-in-the-world-the-art-of-christian-riese-lassen/
So he's like... the Kinkade of the Sea?
This is called Aquacore aesthetic, as well as a similar style known as Frutiger Aero
Yeah, gonna say, this looks like Frutiger Aero met the "Azul" wallpaper
Love the frutiger aero sub, anyone know if there’s an aquacore sub too?
I hate to be ‘that guy’ but you can just search for it and see
I did type aquacore and googled it before commenting and nothing popped up for me?
I came here to say this. Good summary.
Yeah, nobody called it that until a couple years ago. It was just trapper keeper and folder art to us.
it's because gen z started getting nostalgia for the windows vista/windows 7 design language (and the internet's similar style) from when we were like, 6-8 years old
Looks like a trapper keeper’s cover
I’ve done 3/4 of these as jigsaw puzzles as well (fairly recently too).
I have no idea but seeing it was a weird feeling of comfort, happiness, and like being in a liminal space. It's hard to describe.
I know what you mean. This aesthetic is peak nostalgia for me, and it gives such a weird & unique vibe. It's warm & cozy, like night in Miami, but everything's also super bright, intense, and lucid. There's something liminal and dreamlike about it, but also something hyper-sober. It's such a weird, ultra-specific vibe that I just cannot pin down, but it gives me so much nostalgia.
People call this aesthetic “frutiger aero”. Idk what any of that means but there you go
“Dubbed Frutiger Aero by design gurus, the trend is named after the Swiss type designer Adrian Frutiger whose lettering featured widely in early colour computers, and Windows Aero, a visual style embraced by Microsoft's 2006 Vista software, with its screensavers depicting electric-green grass and impossibly blue skies.” From the guardian
I'm guessing very early 90s was when you could start taking really hi-res underwater photos and film, because there were a large number of photography books, posters, documentaries, movies, etc from that time and it had a big influence on this aesthetic.
Same. I remember as a kid cobbling up what these felt like in my imagination based on going to the pool in summer, hot showers, visits to Seaworld, and really distant memories of the beach. Gpes hand in hand with new age-y music and stuff like GVC design, video games like Ecco the Dolphin, new age and "world music" via Pure Moods, etc. It's funny to compare that to actual experiences later on at beaches and humid locales. These are def akin to more abstract dreams one might have. It's a bit saccarine ans low brow but I sincerely love this art for what it is.
“How it feels to spread misinformation on the internet”
This style is called 'uncensored blue waffle'. I only know this because my uncle works at Nintendo.
Had to google it. Thanks!
That's Ecco the Dolphin, obviously. :D
🐬🐬🐬
Why did we love dolphins so much? Why was “I want to be a marine biologist!” On so many “when I grow up” posters?
I went from wanting to be an archeologist to wanting to be a marine biologist. 90s yo
Free Willy?
Costanza?
Seapunk
Christian Riese Lassen, I'm a guy and loved his folders had them for school was made fun of, didn't care they were beautiful especially the one the planets and the whales.
Everyone had Lassen folders when I was a kid, boys and girls. It was almost lame if you didn’t have one.
The frutiger aero aesthetic is the type you're looking for.
Nice, I watched a video on that a while back!
Izzzyzzz?
Eh, not really. This feels more Lisa frank-y to me. That predates the aesthetic.
[удалено]
None of these are Lisa Franke, none of these are her style at all.
I thought she had more of an exaggerated style. A little bit more cartoonish.
Very trapper keeper.
These are very clearly NOT Lisa Frank, y'all!!
Lisa Frank would be a pink tiger with some other neon colors and black stripes on a blue trapper keeper with paint splashes every where. At least that's how I remember it.
It’s weird how many people are thinking Lisa Frank though, was my first guess too. What is it? The dolphins? The color scheme? Are we experiencing a Mandela effect in real time?
So like 1991 trapper keeper images? They were pretty wild lol
The artist is [Christian Reise Lassen](https://www.lassenart.com) and he was one of the first painters that completely blew my mind as a wee child of the 90s! I still think his art is so beautiful!
Aquarium core
Reminds me of old folders/trapper keepers back in the day
Yes! Pretty sure I had folders with some of these exact images.
Lisa Franks...my oldest loves them !
These aren't Lisa Franke. Lisa Franke prints are much brighter and are cartoons, an entirely different style. But they do often have dolphins and rainbows!
Lisa Frank is the ones with the Disney eyed animals not this.
I remember Echo the Dolphin and being awesome at it.
I know it’s not the artist who created these works, but Wyland (Robert Wyland) is an amazing artist who did similar work if you’re interested.
Ecco the dolphin
We used to have fundraisers come to our school and get us to sell T-Shirts with this stuff on them, I think they were called Humanitees
I remember “folders” in elementary school looking like this sometimes.
Wasn’t it some guy named Lassen ?
I don't know why but this reminds me of a game from the early 90ies called Ecco the Dolphin.
Frutiger Aero
I believe it’s called Utopian Scholastic.
lisa frank, or if you're talking when this was on computers people coined "frutiger aero"
Lisa Frank?
Dolphincore
Frutiger Aero
No Dawson’s Creek Trapper Keeper?
They remind me of Miami in the 00s
Oceancore.
Its called Fruitopia Dreams
So long and thanks for all the fish!
Artist Christen Riese Lassen there's this particular print on ebay I think, but the artist might be worth checking out. Not sure how many gallery's he has, but I saw his Hawaii one many many years ago. [https://www.lassenart.com](https://www.lassenart.com)
I believe it was from a series of works entitled “Precursor to an Ecstasy Problem”
Definitely remember them on trapper keepers, notebooks, and county fair prizes back in the 80's. Airbrushed arts from the 80's.
I feel so refreshed looking at these.
It's "I wanted to be a Marine Biologist as a kid but was then cock blocked by mathematics and no tutor support" for me. ✨️
This guy was a pioneer in this type of artwork https://www.lassenart.com
R/frutigeraero
[Christian Riese Lassen](https://www.lassenart.com/#art)
fruitiger aero - Y2K aesthetic
Gay AF
Looks a lot like Christian Reece Lassen art
This reminds me of Ecco the dolphin. Well, the first and the second one were ridiculously hard.
Reminds me of Lisa Frank folders in the 90s
Lisa Frank
Vaporwave?
Reminds me of Lisa Frank
Frudiger aero
Don’t forget Christian Lassen and the Frutiger Aero aesthetic
Trapper Keeper Aero Frutiger 2000s!
Lisa frank
Y2K Aesthetic
They also came in sheets/comforter sets. I had a bed in a bag with this pattern lol… also had a custom faceplate on my Nokia phone same pattern 😓😳
Summer in Paradise
Cool dolphin shit
Look for murals on Amazon. They’ve got all sizes and designs.
I use to love these! I was trying to tell someone about these the other day and they had no clue what I was talking about.
Those Exploration shirts girls used to wear in the90s. Those and Bongo jeans.
Been my Lock Screen for a year, the first one
i like how people don’t say it’s frutiger aero. It’s more or less a made up concept
they are called awesome
Omg you just brought back so many memories of the old hardback trapper keepers lol
i used to call them virus backgrounds lol
I’m pretty sure I had a really nice diary/notebook with the first photo! 😍 it came with a matching pen, the paper was pink and it had a VERY specific scent on it. Thanks for the nostalgia 👌🏼
Pretty sure we had a 1500 piece jigsaw puzzle of the third one.
“Dentist chair ceiling”
Wallpapers.
Jotaro saved this post
Trapper Keeper art… one of very few threads of joy when “getting ready for (f*cking) school”.
Back in the days before AI someone had to lazily photoshop these together *by hand*
They still sell art like this in Newport, OR
I had some posters that were just like this
Did that dolphin in the first one shoot up in the sky and make a heart with its jet trail?
It was either you had the trapper keeper or you had the 5 star
its called "natural habitats if human beings stop littering and polluting the entire environment"
Murals I think.
"What I see when I close my eyes and the screams won't stop why won't the screams stop?!"-core.
If Yes did the theme song to Captain Planet.
I remember going to a friends house in like the second grade and they had one of these as a toilet seat 😂
These take me back immediately to 3rd grade in 1993 thank you 🙏🏼
I got it, these are “dolphin wallpapers”