# Retrofuturism — brief

> Visual language: a relationship between times. When the term came into use, and who used it first, is not recorded.
> Research: **Partly sourced**. 24 sources attached.
> Record: 58 claims — 33 documented, 22 our reading, 3 web translation · 24 sources on the record, 24 attached to a claim · 0 historical and 0 sourced contemporary evidence images on the page.
> Page: https://aesthetary.com/a/retrofuturism.html · Record: https://aesthetary.com/data/retrofuturism.json

Three separate fields on every rule: kind of claim (*Documented*: a source states it, with *Source attached* or *Source not yet verified*; *Our reading*: Aesthetary's conclusion from the material; *Web translation*: Aesthetary's application to the screen), signal strength (Necessary, Strong, Common, Optional, Unreliable, or Untiered: the research supports the rule but sets no tier; "our ranking" where Aesthetary set the tier), and the posture of the area it belongs to.

## What it is
- Scope: Source eras on this record: 1930s–1980s (synthesis). Viewed from 2026.; Organised by source era (a scope axis, not a language area; D0-10b) Covers the future as seen from the past. The term also names the reverse trend, the past as seen from the future ('futuristic retro'), which this record excludes; placing steampunk and dieselpunk there is Aesthetary's reading.
- The future imagined through the technological and cultural assumptions of the past. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [definition]
- “Whose future is this?” If no historical viewpoint can be identified, Retrofuturism is not established. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [diagnostic]
- The defining tension is temporal, not stylistic. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [collision]
- No universal palette, typeface or object vocabulary; the stable characteristic is the past–future relationship. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [no-universal]

## No palette. No typeface.

The record establishes no canonical palette and no canonical typeface: `palette: null`, `typeface: null`. That is the finding, not a gap to fill. Choose colour and type per story, from the story, using the variables below. Choose the source era first; palette, type, form, material and motion follow from it. Do not default to a single "retrofuturist" palette, chrome, or a sci-fi display face.

Per-story variables: `source_era`, `future_premise`, `target_year`, `contemporary_medium`.

## Signal strength
### Untiered (20)
- The future imagined through the technological and cultural assumptions of the past. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [definition]
- “Whose future is this?” If no historical viewpoint can be identified, Retrofuturism is not established. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [diagnostic]
- The defining tension is temporal, not stylistic. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [collision]
- No universal palette, typeface or object vocabulary; the stable characteristic is the past–future relationship. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [no-universal]
- Choose the source era before palette, font or motif. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [era-first]
- The 1930s viewpoint: streamlining, machines, transport, industrial optimism. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [themes-1930s]
- The 1950s–60s viewpoint: atomic culture, space exploration, consumer technology. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [themes-1950s-60s]
- The 1970s viewpoint: industrial systems, analog electronics, institutional futurism. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [themes-1970s]
- The 1980s viewpoint: CRT interfaces, physical controls, corporate computing. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [themes-1980s]
- Typography must belong plausibly to the source era or its imagined extension. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [type]
- Colour derives from source, technology, materials, process, associations and the future imagined. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [colour]
- Teach extrapolation instead of imitation: period form → extrapolation → future form. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [form]
- Materials belong to particular branches and periods; no universal chrome rule. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [chrome]
- Derive layout from the era’s organising logic, then translate it responsively. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [layout]
- No canonical interface components; contemporary translations from a selected branch. — *Web translation* · signal: Untiered · [ui]
- Components derive from one selected historical branch; no canonical set exists. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [components-derive]
- Every shape, state and value shown. The streamlined pill, the kidney card, the striped header and the keycap are ours. — *Web translation* · signal: Untiered · [components-values]
- Motion derives from imagined technology; the source era determines it. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [motion]
- The eight-part vocabulary; motion derived from imagined technology; no universal set. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [motion-vocabulary]
- Which motions each era owns, and every timing value. — *Web translation* · signal: Untiered · [motion-assignments]

## The record, by area

| Area | Posture | Qualification | Story variables |
|---|---|---|---|
| Era | Core, and specified (proposed) | Choose the source era before palette, font or motif. Proposed posture. | — |
| Typography | Core · Not specified by the source (proposed) | No Retrofuturist typeface. Type must belong plausibly to the source era or its imagined extension. Proposed posture. | — |
| Color | Core · Not specified by the source (proposed) | No universal palette. Colour derives from the source era and the future imagined. Proposed posture. | — |
| Form | Core · Specified (proposed) | Period form, extrapolated; not imitated. Proposed posture. | — |
| Material | Optional, but ruled (proposed) | No universal chrome rule. Which materials belong to which period is not recorded. Proposed posture. | — |
| Imagery | Supporting · Specified (proposed) | Historical reality, period imagination, then the impossible future. Proposed posture. | — |
| Layout | Core · Not specified by the source (proposed) | Borrow the era's organising logic, then translate it responsively. Proposed posture. | — |
| Components | Translation only (proposed) | No canonical interface components. Proposed posture. | — |
| Motion | Supporting · Specified (proposed) | No universal motion vocabulary; the source era decides. Proposed posture. | — |

Not researched yet is not permission and not prohibition.
A posture marked *(proposed)* came with the page and is not yet a ruling.

## Era — Core, and specified (proposed)
- Choose the source era before palette, font or motif. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [era-first]
- The 1930s viewpoint: streamlining, machines, transport, industrial optimism. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [themes-1930s]
- The 1950s–60s viewpoint: atomic culture, space exploration, consumer technology. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [themes-1950s-60s]
- The 1970s viewpoint: industrial systems, analog electronics, institutional futurism. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [themes-1970s]
- The 1980s viewpoint: CRT interfaces, physical controls, corporate computing. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [themes-1980s]

## Typography — Core · Not specified by the source (proposed)
- Typography must belong plausibly to the source era or its imagined extension. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [type]

## Color — Core · Not specified by the source (proposed)
- Colour derives from source, technology, materials, process, associations and the future imagined. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [colour]

## Form — Core · Specified (proposed)
- Teach extrapolation instead of imitation: period form → extrapolation → future form. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [form]

## Material — Optional, but ruled (proposed)
- Materials belong to particular branches and periods; no universal chrome rule. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [chrome]

## Imagery — Supporting · Specified (proposed)
No rule recorded.

## Layout — Core · Not specified by the source (proposed)
- Derive layout from the era’s organising logic, then translate it responsively. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [layout]

## Components — Translation only (proposed)
- No canonical interface components; contemporary translations from a selected branch. — *Web translation* · signal: Untiered · [ui]
- Components derive from one selected historical branch; no canonical set exists. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [components-derive]
- Every shape, state and value shown. The streamlined pill, the kidney card, the striped header and the keycap are ours. — *Web translation* · signal: Untiered · [components-values]

## Motion — Supporting · Specified (proposed)
- Motion derives from imagined technology; the source era determines it. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [motion]
- The eight-part vocabulary; motion derived from imagined technology; no universal set. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [motion-vocabulary]
- Which motions each era owns, and every timing value. — *Web translation* · signal: Untiered · [motion-assignments]

## Accessibility
No accessibility claim is recorded for this Aesthetic.

## Boundaries
- A relationship between times, not a collection of props. — *Our reading* · signal: Untiered · [relation]

## Family — unconfirmed
A parent concept with historically bounded manifestations. (*Our reading*). No relationship below is on the record; the ontology has not confirmed any of them.
- Atomic Futurism — relationship unconfirmed; no Aesthetary page
- Space Age — relationship unconfirmed; no Aesthetary page
- Googie — relationship unconfirmed; has its own Aesthetary page (https://aesthetary.com/a/googie.html), its link to this one not researched yet
- Raygun Gothic — relationship unconfirmed; no Aesthetary page
- Cassette Futurism — relationship unconfirmed; has its own Aesthetary page (https://aesthetary.com/a/cassette-futurism.html), its link to this one not researched yet

## History

## Grade your own work

Checks restated from this record. Each states who can decide it. Scores do not add up: a failure against a Necessary signal and a departure from a tendency are not the same result.

### Recognition — does this read as the intended Aesthetic?

- **[visual_human · recognition signature]** Strip every logo, word and borrowed image out of your work, then show it to someone who knows the collection. Do they land on this Aesthetic? The signature to hold is: The future imagined through the technological and cultural assumptions of the past. “Whose future is this?” If no historical viewpoint can be identified, Retrofuturism is not established. The defining tension is temporal, not stylistic. No universal palette, typeface or object vocabulary; the stable characteristic is the past–future relationship.
  - _If it fails:_ The work may be competent and still read as a different Aesthetic, or as none. Nothing below matters until this passes.

### Implementation — were those rules translated appropriately into this medium?

- **[visual_human · Untiered · Our reading]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Choose the source era before palette, font or motif.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · Untiered · Our reading]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. The 1930s viewpoint: streamlining, machines, transport, industrial optimism.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · Untiered · Our reading]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. The 1950s–60s viewpoint: atomic culture, space exploration, consumer technology.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · Untiered · Our reading]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. The 1970s viewpoint: industrial systems, analog electronics, institutional futurism.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · Untiered · Our reading]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. The 1980s viewpoint: CRT interfaces, physical controls, corporate computing.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · Untiered · Our reading]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Typography must belong plausibly to the source era or its imagined extension.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · Untiered · Our reading]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Colour derives from source, technology, materials, process, associations and the future imagined.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · Untiered · Our reading]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Teach extrapolation instead of imitation: period form → extrapolation → future form.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · Untiered · Our reading]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Materials belong to particular branches and periods; no universal chrome rule.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · Untiered · Our reading]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Derive layout from the era’s organising logic, then translate it responsively.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · Untiered · Our reading]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Components derive from one selected historical branch; no canonical set exists.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · Untiered · Our reading]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. Motion derives from imagined technology; the source era determines it.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.
- **[visual_human · Untiered · Our reading]** Your work may depart from this — but knowingly, not by accident. The eight-part vocabulary; motion derived from imagined technology; no universal set.
  - _If it fails:_ A defensible departure, and you should be able to say why you made it.

## Found in research

- Futurama was an immense model of America circa 1960. — *Documented · Source attached* · Imagery (I Have Seen the Future: Norman Bel Geddes Designs America)
- Period futures carry their own era's assumptions: Futurama's technology was boundless, but its social order was that of 1940. — *Documented · Source attached* · Imagery (“I have seen the future:” Norman Bel Geddes and the General Motors Futurama)
- 1950s–60s: The Jetsons (1962) packaged Space Age promises, drawn in the Googie idiom of southern California. — *Documented · Source attached* · Imagery (50 Years of the Jetsons: Why The Show Still Matters)
- 1970s space-colony illustrations depicted O'Neill's proposed habitable cylinders, including a double-cylinder colony and a colony under construction. — *Documented · Source attached* · Imagery (Space Colony Art from the 1970s)
- 1980s: Blade Runner (1982) imagined a neon-drenched, rain-slicked future city. — *Documented · Source attached* · Imagery (Cyberpunk: Envisioning Possible Futures Through Cinema)
- Historical futures ranged in mood from buoyant optimism to dark despair; retrofuturism is not uniformly optimistic. — *Documented · Source attached* · Imagery (Yesterday's Tomorrows: Past Visions of the American Future; Retrofuturism)
- One recent retrofuturist work is described as matching the way a late-1970s viewer imagined the future. — *Documented · Source attached* · Imagery (Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: retro-futurist)
- Recurring depicted subjects include space colonies, flying cars, robot servants and interstellar travel. — *Documented · Source attached* · Imagery (Retrofuturism)
- Period futures were made by several techniques: a scale model built by hundreds of artists and craftspeople, commissioned illustration, and gouache on board. — *Documented · Source attached* · Technique (“I have seen the future:” Norman Bel Geddes and the General Motors Futurama; Space Colony Art from the 1970s; The Man Who Dreamed Up the World of Blade Runner)
- Wikipedia says retrofuturism does not provide a unified thematic purpose or experience; the absence of an umbrella motif set is Aesthetary's inference. — *Documented · Source attached* · Motif (Retrofuturism)
- Branch-scoped: Raygun Gothic draws on Art Deco, Googie, Streamline Moderne and Space Age styles. The Googie idiom is sloping roofs, glass, steel and some stone. — *Documented · Source attached* · Motif (Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: Raygun Gothic; Mid-21st Century Modern: That Jetsons Architecture)
- Imagined devices appear as props (e.g., the Blade Runner Vid-Phon booth) but no source describes an interface vocabulary. — *Documented · Source attached* · Interface (Cyberpunk: Envisioning Possible Futures Through Cinema)
- General Motors' To New Horizons (1940), a pre-WWII film of futuristic utopian thinking, looks ahead to the 'wonder world of 1960' through an immense miniature diorama by Norman Bel Geddes, with 100 mph freeways and city traffic systems. — *Documented · Source attached* · Imagery (To New Horizons (Handy (Jam) Organization for General Motors, 1940))
- A 1956 GM Motorama film shows futuristic dream cars, Frigidaire's 'Kitchen of the Future' (a machine reading recipes off computer cards, a glass-walled refrigerator, a hemispherical glass oven) and an electronic highway of tomorrow. — *Documented · Source attached* · Imagery (Design for Dreaming (MPO Productions, 1956))
- The 1956 film ties domestic romance to technological progress. — *Documented · Source attached* · Imagery (Design for Dreaming (MPO Productions, 1956))
- A NASA summer study (1975) centres on a wheel-like space habitat where 10,000 people work, raise families and live normal lives, and finds that space colonization appears technically feasible. — *Documented · Source attached* · Imagery (Space Settlements: A Design Study (NASA SP-413), Chapter 1)
- Apple's 1987 Knowledge Navigator concept video imagined a hypothetical product with which you converse as with a friend, inspired by Alan Kay's earlier Dynabook vision. — *Documented · Source attached* · Imagery (Apple's Knowledge Navigator (1987); Digibarn: Knowledge Navigator Apple Concept (1987))
- The production designer of The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) describes starting from real 1960s references and adding 'a layer of retro futurism', including fins; the look drew on 2001: A Space Odyssey, Saarinen and Niemeyer. — *Documented · Source attached* ('Fantastic Four': How '2001: A Space Odyssey' Inspired the Film's Retro-Futuristic Design)
- The same designer calls Saarinen's and Niemeyer's work 'undeniably futurist and optimistic'. — *Documented · Source attached* ('Fantastic Four': How '2001: A Space Odyssey' Inspired the Film's Retro-Futuristic Design)
- Native medium: architecture, broadcast, film, print. — *Documented · Source attached* (I Have Seen the Future: Norman Bel Geddes Designs America; 50 Years of the Jetsons: Why The Show Still Matters; Cyberpunk: Envisioning Possible Futures Through Cinema; Space Colony Art from the 1970s; Retrofuturism)
- vs Raygun Gothic: A named branch: a retrofuturistic aesthetic and architectural style associated with mid-20th-century design, usually described as drawing on Art Deco, Googie, Streamline Moderne and Space Age. — *Documented · Source attached* (Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: Raygun Gothic)
- vs googie: A midcentury architectural style (sloping roofs, glass, steel, some stone) that the Jetsons' designers drew on heavily. It is a source language, not the retrospective relation itself. — *Documented · Source attached* (50 Years of the Jetsons: Why The Show Still Matters; Mid-21st Century Modern: That Jetsons Architecture)
- vs Cyberpunk: A science-fiction subgenre set in the future, named after Bruce Bethke's 1980 story, which a museum exhibition treats as a subgenre in its own right. Wikipedia lists cyberpunk as a genre of retrofuturism. The relation is contested. — *Documented · Source attached* (Alternate World Building: Retrofuturism and Retrophilia in Steampunk and Dieselpunk Narratives; Cyberpunk: Envisioning Possible Futures Through Cinema; Retrofuturism)
- vs Steampunk / dieselpunk: Wikipedia names a second retrofuturist trend, 'futuristic retro', the inverse of the past's view of the future; placing steampunk and dieselpunk there is Aesthetary's reading. The term 'dieselpunk' is reported to have been coined in 2001 by Lewis Pollak. — *Documented · Source attached* (Alternate World Building: Retrofuturism and Retrophilia in Steampunk and Dieselpunk Narratives; Retrofuturism)
- General Motors' To New Horizons (1940), a pre-WWII film: a Norman Bel Geddes miniature diorama of the 'wonder world of 1960', with 100 mph freeways and city traffic systems. — *Documented · Source attached* (To New Horizons (Handy (Jam) Organization for General Motors, 1940))
- GM Motorama film (1956): futuristic dream cars, Frigidaire's 'Kitchen of the Future' with a recipe-card machine, and an electronic highway of tomorrow, with the couple's love linked to technological progress. — *Documented · Source attached* (Design for Dreaming (MPO Productions, 1956))
- A NASA space-settlement study (1975 summer study): a wheel-like habitat where 10,000 people work, raise families and live normal lives. — *Documented · Source attached* (Space Settlements: A Design Study (NASA SP-413), Chapter 1)
- Apple's Knowledge Navigator concept video (1987): a hypothetical product with a conversational computer agent, after Alan Kay's Dynabook. It evidences corporate computing futures; it does not evidence CRT or analog-electronics themes. — *Documented · Source attached* (Apple's Knowledge Navigator (1987); Digibarn: Knowledge Navigator Apple Concept (1987))
- The PSRF brief history says the advertising for one cassette contained the first use of the word 'retrofuturism'; the PhonoStatic cassette series began in 1984, and the zine was renamed Retrofuturism in 1987. How the word reached its design-history sense is not documented here. — *Documented · Source attached* (A brief history of PhotoStatic (PSRF Retrograde Archive); PSRF Retrograde Archive: index; Retrofuturism 13 (July 1990))
- Partly. The production designer of The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025) describes real 1960s references plus 'a layer of retro futurism'. One work does not settle every counterexample. — *Documented · Source attached* ('Fantastic Four': How '2001: A Space Odyssey' Inspired the Film's Retro-Futuristic Design)
- Not Googie: Googie is documented as a futurist style of its own period (popular in the 1950s and '60s), so it is a source-era language this record looks back to, not a descendant of it. Treating it as a 1950s-60s source rather than a branch is Aesthetary's reading of these dates. — *Documented · Source attached* (Googie: Architecture of the Space Age; Johnie's Coffee Shop)
- Not Cyberpunk: The SF Encyclopedia dates Cyberpunk as a school of SF that developed in the 1980s, which makes it a period future-vision (a possible 1980s source) rather than a later look back. The boundary drawn from that date is Aesthetary's reading; no source compares the two directly. — *Documented · Source attached* (Cyberpunk)
- Not 'futuristic retro': the term covers two overlapping trends, the future as seen from the past and the past as seen from the future. This record is the first; the second, the inverse, is outside it. — *Documented · Source attached* (Retrofuturism)

## Sources
- Retrofuturism — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrofuturism — supports kcc:imagery-6, kcc:imagery-8, kcc:motif-1, kcc:medium, kcc:boundary-3, kcc:boundary-4, idr:boundary-futuristic-retro
- Space Colony Art from the 1970s — https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/space-colony-art-from-the-1970s/ — supports kcc:imagery-4, kcc:technique-1, kcc:medium
- Cyberpunk: Envisioning Possible Futures Through Cinema — https://www.academymuseum.org/en/exhibitions/cyberpunk — supports kcc:imagery-5, kcc:interface-1, kcc:medium, kcc:boundary-3
- The Man Who Dreamed Up the World of Blade Runner — https://hyperallergic.com/syd-mead/ — supports kcc:technique-1
- Alternate World Building: Retrofuturism and Retrophilia in Steampunk and Dieselpunk Narratives — https://doi.org/10.5334/as.23 — supports kcc:boundary-3, kcc:boundary-4
- Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: retro-futurist — https://sfdictionary.com/view/3052/retro-futurist — supports kcc:imagery-7
- Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction: Raygun Gothic — https://sfdictionary.com/view/3043/raygun-gothic — supports kcc:motif-2, kcc:boundary-1
- I Have Seen the Future: Norman Bel Geddes Designs America — https://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/2012/i-have-seen-the-future/ — supports kcc:imagery-1, kcc:medium
- “I have seen the future:” Norman Bel Geddes and the General Motors Futurama — https://blog.mcny.org/2013/11/26/i-have-seen-the-future-norman-bel-geddes-and-the-general-motors-futurama/ — supports kcc:imagery-2, kcc:technique-1
- 50 Years of the Jetsons: Why The Show Still Matters — https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/50-years-of-the-jetsons-why-the-show-still-matters-43459669/ — supports kcc:imagery-3, kcc:medium, kcc:boundary-2
- Mid-21st Century Modern: That Jetsons Architecture — https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/mid-21st-century-modern-that-jetsons-architecture-2494820/ — supports kcc:motif-2, kcc:boundary-2
- Yesterday's Tomorrows: Past Visions of the American Future — https://museumonmainstreet.org/content/yesterdays-tomorrows — supports kcc:imagery-6
- A brief history of PhotoStatic (PSRF Retrograde Archive) — https://psrf.detritus.net/texts/brief_history.html — supports kcc:answers-wanted-6
- Googie: Architecture of the Space Age — https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/googie-architecture-of-the-space-age-122837470/ — supports kcc:w2-boundary-1
- Johnie's Coffee Shop — https://www.laconservancy.org/learn/historic-places/johnies-coffee-shop/ — supports kcc:w2-boundary-1
- Cyberpunk — https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/cyberpunk — supports kcc:w2-boundary-2
- PSRF Retrograde Archive: index — https://psrf.detritus.net/ — supports kcc:answers-wanted-6
- Retrofuturism 13 (July 1990) — https://psrf.detritus.net/pdf/r13.pdf — supports kcc:answers-wanted-6
- To New Horizons (Handy (Jam) Organization for General Motors, 1940) — https://archive.org/details/ToNewHor1940 — supports kcc:w2-imagery-1, kcc:answers-wanted-1
- Design for Dreaming (MPO Productions, 1956) — https://archive.org/details/Designfo1956 — supports kcc:w2-imagery-2, kcc:w2-imagery-3, kcc:answers-wanted-2
- Space Settlements: A Design Study (NASA SP-413), Chapter 1 — https://space.nss.org/settlement/nasa/75SummerStudy/Chapt.1.html — supports kcc:w2-imagery-4, kcc:answers-wanted-3
- Apple's Knowledge Navigator (1987) — https://paleofuture.com/blog/2007/4/3/apples-knowledge-navigator-1987.html — supports kcc:w2-imagery-5, kcc:answers-wanted-4
- Digibarn: Knowledge Navigator Apple Concept (1987) — https://archive.org/details/DigibarnKnowledgeNavigatorAppleConcept1987 — supports kcc:w2-imagery-5, kcc:answers-wanted-4
- 'Fantastic Four': How '2001: A Space Odyssey' Inspired the Film's Retro-Futuristic Design — https://variety.com/2025/artisans/news/fantastic-four-2001-a-space-odyssey-inspired-retro-futuristic-design-1236470445/ — supports kcc:w2-context-1, kcc:w2-context-2, kcc:answers-wanted-7

## Research debt
- Historical evidence images in claim evidence slots: 0.
- Sourced contemporary evidence images: 0.
- Documents establishing each candidate branch’s relationship Would settle it: the family in 01.3; whether Googie or Cassette Futurism descend from this record
- Accounts distinguishing Retrofuturism from Synthwave, Cyberpunk and Y2K Would settle it: the neighbour boundaries (01.6)
- wanted-8: distinctions from Synthwave and Y2K Would settle it: No scholarly or museum source that could be opened compares them. The synthwave literature found (Routledge 'Making Synthwave') is paywalled, and Wikipedia's synthwave claim is marked citation needed.
- wanted-5: Atomic Futurism, Space Age and cassette-futurism as branches Would settle it: Raygun Gothic and Googie are evidenced (see boundaries). 'Cassette futurism' and 'Atomic Futurism' were found only on fan wikis.
- themes-1970s and themes-1980s wording Would settle it: The artefacts found (NASA colonies; Blade Runner) do not evidence 'analog electronics', 'CRT interfaces' or 'corporate computing'. Those themes stay unsourced.