Why ASCII Art Is Making a Comeback in 2025

Everything is cyclical. Vinyl records came back. Film cameras came back. Mom jeans came back (unfortunately).

Now, it’s ASCII art’s turn.

The Rebellion Against “Perfect” AI

We are drowning in high-fidelity, AI-generated images. Midjourney can create a photorealistic astronaut riding a horse in Mars in 5 seconds. It’s impressive, but it’s also… overwhelming. It lacks soul.

ASCII art is the opposite. It’s gritty. It’s imperfect. It requires imagination.

When you look at an ASCII portrait, your brain has to do the work to fill in the gaps. That active participation makes it engaging in a way that a slick 4K image isn’t.

The Terminal Renaissance

CLI (Command Line Interface) tools are booming. Developers are tired of heavy, slow Electron apps. We want speed. We want text.

Modern CLI tools like pnpm, vite, and astro put effort into their terminal output. They use colors, emojis, and yes, ASCII art. A beautiful terminal dashboard is the ultimate flex in 2025.

Conclusion

Low fidelity is the new high fidelity. In a world of fake perfection, be raw text.