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This paper looks at the succession of countercultural music scenes in the region of former Yugoslavia and their visual expressions. They deserve attention not only as important cultural formations largely unknown outside of Yugoslavia, but also because of critical questions raised by their current revival. The paper will discuss the work of influential designers Dragan S. Stefanović and Mirko Ilić,and Sarajevan collectives New Primitvs and Trio, tracing a visual subcultural heritage that evolved from one scene onto another from the 1980s to the present. ‘Cool’ is the identity framework that governed all generations of Yugoslav countercultural scenes. Positioned as an alternative to the mainstream, it served as a platform to innovate. In reaching its maturity during the 1990s Yugoslav war, it became the ideal vehicle to express a cosmopolitan vision rooted in the multi-ethnic culture of Sarajevo, an antidote to the ethnic conflict that plagued the region. It is this cosmopolitan vision that is questionable today, despite the scenes’ revival. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]