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Have you noticed an influx of retro designs as of late? The world of graphic design, art, and crafts feels the effects of trends just as much as fashion or home decor. In fact, these areas often influence one another! Knowing what’s “in” and on-trend can have a tremendous influence on a variety of different aspects for creatives. Graphic designers who keep up with viral trends can produce art that people search for. Creatives like crafters and makers want to provide products for their handmade businesses that customers are searching for. It’s a bit of a revolving door, actually!
Figuring out what the latest fads are can be tricky. The newest craze in the US may be completely different from the UK. Custom t-shirt designs are popular in the US, but not with our fellow creatives across the big pond. What does this mean for you? Keep your audience in mind when designing, creating, or crafting! We’re going to take a look at ten trending retro designs, which include some groovy options that you’re going to love. Be sure to read all the way through; I’ve got a bonus for you Plus Members!
What’s more retro than distressed sunsets like the retro PNGs in this awesome bundle? If you’re a sublimation crafter, backgrounds and similar designs can be the perfect addition to your portfolio! Add your own lettering or text to create a finished graphic and sublimate to your heart’s content. Not into sublimation? How about creating other projects like social media images or print and cut projects!
Image Credit: Orange Brush Studio
Take a step back in time and channel your inner flower child with these retro SVGs. They’re like, totally groovy, man! I love the bright colors the graphic designer has used in their image. Pick a flower or two, add them to your design or art for a powerful punch, and get that groovy aesthetic.
Image Credit: JenCraft Designs
Are you old enough to remember using a camera with film? Pretty old school, huh? This retro mandala design would be fun for papercrafts like card making or used in a shadow box! If the idea of weeding all that and lining up the layers makes you cringe, how about using only the top layer and putting it on a t-shirt or tote bag?
Image Credit: CutsunSVG
This set of retro PNG stickers gives you all the good vibes and uses stellar retro colors! You may have noticed that digital stickers that you can easily print and cut at home with your Cricut or Silhouette have taken the crafting world by storm! Stickers are a fun way to jazz up anything from water bottles to laptop covers, and they’re a great small item for handmade businesses that can offer a large profit margin. Sounds perfect!
Image Credit: Linden Valley Designs
Positive and inspirational quotes and retro SVGs seem to go hand in hand, and rightly so! The cut files in this bundle are filled with groovy quotes that are totally out of sight-detailed enough to be unique but not so complicated that you can’t cut or weed your material. Add some real flower power to your design portfolio with this bundle, and create t-shirt designs, mugs, decals, and so much more!
Image Credit: SLS Lines
Peace, love, and rainbows, my creative friends! This set of boho SVG rainbow designs is so pretty and would make the perfect element to add to your retro or boho text or art. You can use these gorgeous rainbow cut files as is or re-color them to suit your needs since the files are vector format! Isn’t graphic design groovy in that way! Rainbows are flexible in their use too. They work just as well in the nursery as they do on a t-shirt!
Image Credit: Cloudstreet lab
Sublimation artists, this one is for you! This groovy bundle combines two trendy styles into one fabulous set of sublimation images-gnomes and retro designs. Both of these trends are incredibly popular, and the combination of both is totally out of sight! With PNG file formats, you can use sublimation, direct to garment, waterslide material, and more. Don’t let the type of file deter your creativity!
Image Credit: Whimsical Inklings
What’s more boho than a dream catcher? At least in the design world, anyway! This fabulous cut file has enough detail to be gorgeous and interesting but should be easy to cut with your Cricut or Silhouette. I love the addition of the crystals as a subtle nod to the boho vibe! Using holographic or a metallic HTV and using this as a t-shirt design would be just stunning! What do you think, crafters and makers? 
Image Credit: Digital Rainbow Shop
Do you have a green thumb, creatives? If not, these houseplant stickers with a fantastic boho vibe might just be the best choice for you! Thanks to winter weather, my collection of houseplants is suffering. Come on, sunshine and warmer weather! Filling your home or space with greenery, especially plants, is part of adding boho elements. If you don’t have time or the knack for it, a digital version like these stickers could be your answer! Join the revolution of sticker sellers and add these beauties to your collection.
Image Credit: ArtFM
All you boho lovin’ mamas out there will rave over this fantastic retro bundle of boho SVGs! The quotes and graphics in this bundle are a fabulous combination of retro lettering with a boho aesthetic. Bundles like this are a fantastic way to add a variety of similar designs to your portfolio and let you mix and match. Whether you’re using HTV and adding these graphics to baby bodysuits or making poster art, you’ll get fabulous results!
Image Credit: Cayula Design
If you’re a Plus Member looking for fun retro clipart or images, then you’ll find this set to be outta sight! In this set, we’ve got that fantastic combination of gnomes and groovy retro style again. With elements and characters, all with that tie-dye appeal, you can create a huge variety of crafts or art! Create a sublimation design, use print and cut, or add these PNG to some papercrafts. Whatever you do, it’s certain to be groovy! 
Image Credit: Plus Designs
Phew, what a trip that was! The bundles and designs in this list are just a tiny portion of the hip and groovy retro or boho designs you can find. With this trend gaining traction, even more, are bound to pop up! I want to leave you with a word that has an ancient origin but is entirely relevant to today and this current trend: Meraki. Meraki isn’t easily translated but essentially means “doing something with soul, creativity or love.” As creative souls, we all put a little of ourselves into our art or designs. I hope you enjoyed seeing the Meraki element in all of these designs and add a little to your own creative projects!
As always, I hope that you find inspiration for your creativity with our trending retro designs and create something fabulous! We'd love to see anything you create, so please do share your projects in our Facebook Group, The Design Bundles Customer Community.
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