As a child of the 1980s I have a great appreciation of media and artefacts created during the so-called decade of greed. This coupled with my love for research led me to my first blog in 2018, The Neon Laser Basement.
The website and logo needed to reflect the period so I set out to find the visual hallmarks of the era. Star Wars was fresh on the minds of many and the US spending roughly $80 billion on space exploration between 1980 and 1989. GMC Vandura vans were everywhere with epic sci-fi scenes painted on their doors. Not to mention the fantastic sci-fi novel covers that popped on every bookstore shelf. My logo would need something ‘spacey’.
The next element needed to be bright and gaudy, like the MTV and Miami Vice logos of the time. The teal and magenta used in the Miama Vice logo worked well together, but I wanted to ramp it up a bit, so I opted for almost pure cyan and magenta as colours for the logo.
Miami Vice logo copyright Universal Pictures
The animated shows I watched as a child also had incredibly long names like, Masters of the Universe, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, to name but a few. I wanted my blog to have a long name like that as a nod to those shows. Any marketer worth their salt though would tell you a shorter and catchy name is always better. In most cases this is true, but you have to also consider your audience and your niche. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles remains the biggest selling toy line of all time. The overly long name did not hurt the brand at all.
We also have to consider that the 80s was also a time of copying everything that was popular to suck out the last cents out of every wallet. Hair metal groups like RATT, Warrant, Bon Jovi, Twisted Sister, and Motley Crue were all cut from the same mold. Even Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were copied. Do you remember Biker Mice from Mars, Street Sharks, Battle Toads, or Adolescent Radioactive Hamsters? I needed something that could be shamelessly copied from the 80s without running into legal issues. A quick search of 80s logos gave me exactly what I wanted: A glowing triangle and perspective grid. These two elements are used ad nauseam to this day, so I wanted it. With the visual elements pasted on my mood board, I just needed a name.
Generic glam rock guitarist created with wepic.com
The name The Neon Laser Basement was born from a combination of everything children in the US loved: living in a dingy basement, the neon lights of arcade games and roller-rinks, …and lasers. The name makes little sense, but it sounds cool. You just have to read it and it conjures up various images of your dream basement.
The Neon Laser Basement logo and name trademark and copyright S. Cloete.
The name of the site then focused the theme of the blog for me, namely, discussions and research about all the awesome stuff kids and teens from the 1980s had, or would’ve loved to have in their basements. The site has been dormant now for a few years, due to PhD studies, lecturing, and work, but I’ve never forgotten about the site. In fact, I’m in the process of reviving the site and I’ve refined the focus a bit and developed a business plan for it. I even have four new entries waiting to be edited and uploaded. If you like toys, movies, music, comics, and games from the 80s, please visit the site and subscribe.