Surf the web like it’s 1999 with these old-school cursors | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)
Figma’s 2024 April Fun Day celebrated the history of digital design through four temporary cursor styles: 8-bit, Y2K, Skeuomorphic, and Aero. The initiative treats cursors as more than interface tools—they are avatars that express personality and enable collaboration through chat, emotes, and high fives. Users could activate the nostalgic cursors in any Figma or FigJam file by selecting the cursor icon. ## Cursors as collaborative avatars - In multiplayer Figma and FigJam files, cursors show where collaborators are working. - They also support social interaction through: - Cursor chat - Emotes - High fives - Figma describes cursors as a way for people to see and relate to one another through screens. ## 8-bit: Pixel nostalgia - The 8-bit style draws on early web design, text-based terminals, arcade games, and operating systems before modern graphical interfaces. - Its influences include: - Pac-Man and Space Invaders - DOS computers - Windows 2000 - Classic Mac and early GUI design - The cursors use deliberately low resolution and pronounced pixel grids. - Familiar icons such as pointing hands and pencils were redesigned with a friendly, elementary appearance. - Designers associated the style with tactile interfaces, expressive icons, and memories of discovering graphical operating systems. - The aesthetic was developed by “dialing back” resolution to make the pixels and blocky forms visually prominent. ## Four digital eras revisited - Figma’s temporary cursor collection was inspired by: - **8-bit:** Early computers, arcade games, and pixel graphics - **Y2K:** The turn-of-the-millennium internet and pop culture - **Skeuomorphic:** Real-world textures and tactile interface elements - **Aero:** Glossy, translucent visual design associated with Windows Vista - The project combines product interaction with nostalgia for earlier eras of computing and the web. The collection was intended as a playful, limited-time way to personalize collaboration in Figma and FigJam while revisiting the visual languages of earlier digital design.