Throw away your color wheel. Graphic styles in the 1980s ignored the conventions of traditional color theory. Color theory since the Renaissance has sought balance through the use of neutral grounds, complimentary and triadic color schemes. For instance, Renaissance artists used neutral colors, such as raw umber, as a base for their oil paintings -- to unify the colors in their composition. Artists in the 80s often used a white ground to emphasize clashing colors. Graphic trends mimicked the fine arts by employing intense, often conflicting colors. For instance, the CD covers of the "Thompson Twins," "Madness" and "The Rolling Stones" all used neon-like, seemingly random color washes.
Flatten figures and text in your graphic work. Design in the 1980s trended toward flat, one-dimensional shapes without realistic depth or shading. Consider the poster and CD cover designs often used by "Duran, Duran" or "Tom Grant," as they often used little to no shading. As color balance was discarded, graphic work in the 1980s tended to employ dominant colors in compositions, including blacks.
Outline your lettering, or omit lines altogether. Bold, broad fonts were common in the 1980s, but this effect was achieved through conflicting means. Sometimes, letters were given thick outlines, such as the chiseled, pastel logo of "Miami Vice," or the recessed outlines used for "He-Man" comics. This effect was achieved by placing solid colored text on dark backgrounds, such as the bubbly or blocky titles of Atari games, or the blood-red "Rambo" font on a pitch black background.
Apply gradients to backgrounds and lettering. The "Transformers" logo and ads for Visa credit cards demonstrate this trend. Sliced lettered achieved a similar gradient, as seen in the original AT&T logo. The original Apple computer logo was a bridge between these two styles.