Here's Why Older Generations Are So Confused By This Tattoo Gen Zers Are Getting (2024)

A tattoo shop called Markd Tattoo has been going massively viral for asking its artists to share what they think is the most popular tattoo for each generation. And the most intriguing answer so far has been about Gen Z. With nearly 24 million views, this viral video shows several tattoo artists agreeing this one specific tattoo is most popular: CYBERSIGILISM! (...AND TRAMP STAMPS!) Gen Z'ers came straight to the comments to agree it was their tattoo of choice: In fact, cybersigilism as a tramp stamp is something a lot of Gen Z'ers want: And many already have: It is seen as timeless art: However, there is one issue...the older generations don't seem to know what the heck cybersigilism is: 🤔: 🫠: According to the internet, it is an ancient symbol made with thin lines and sharp edges in black ink only. But, we wanted to get the answer from the source, so BuzzFeed got in touch with Raymond (Ray) Vo who owns Markd Tattoo with his wife Cam Nguyen. Ray has been tattooing for 15 years. So, without further ado, here is a prime example of what a cybersigilism tattoo looks like: Ray explained, "Cybersigilism is often described as the current take on Y2K 'tribal' tattoos. When we refer to tribal, we don't mean Polynesian or tribal tattoos with cultural significance. We're referring to tattoos that were popular in the '90s and early '00s — think George Clooney [in] From Dusk Till Dawn." That being said, Ray further explained that the main reason cybersigilism looks different from tribal tattoos from the '90s/'00s is that they aren't thick and bold. "Cybersigilism is a more fine line, and the shapes are thinner and sharper; both are created from organic shapes though. It's a popular style amongst influencers and celebrities, including Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, and Phoebe Bridgers," he added. "People just don't know the name of the style but would recognize cybersigilism if they saw images of it," said Ray. Essentially, in a nutshell, it is an "updated" version of a tribal tattoo. "We generally find that a lot of clientele don't know the names of different styles (for example, they will ask for realism when the tattoo is more illustrative based), and that's okay, as tattooing is very visual based." Ray said that, out of their 14 tattoo artists in-house, they will typically only see one person per artist per day since a lot of their work is on a larger scale. "However, some of our artists who do a lot of the smaller tattoos can tattoo anywhere between two to five people a day." Since his shop has been open for the past five years, Ray said they've seen adults of all ages. And, within this time frame, they have also gotten to see what tattoos are popular for many millennials and Gen X'ers. He said millennials have the broadest range in terms of what type of tattoo they get: "When it comes to millennials, we commonly see black and gray realism and oriental theme sleeves, as well as butterflies and roses. Fine line micro-realism full sleeves are also very popular among millennials," said Ray. On the other hand, Ray said if they see a Gen X'er come in, it is often based around their family, like names of kids or grandkids. "But, when Gen X was getting tattooed back in the day, they were tribal tattoos." And, since we casually grazed over it earlier, let's talk about the return of the tramp stamp. "Tattoo trends can be very cyclical, just like fashion trends. We've seen a rise in inquiries asking for that placement since late last year, as well as in the industry. We're seeing a lot of artists posting tramp stamps that they have done," said Ray. So, tramp stamps are back, baby. To wrap things up, if you didn't know what cybersigilism was before, now you know. You can check out more of Markd Tattoo's work on Instagram — and be sure to follow them for more tattoo content on TikTok, too! References