I grew up skating 7.5s exclusively in the early 00s, started skating again this year and sized up to 7.75 as the deck choice in 7.5s was pretty non existent.
After a couple of months of getting my legs back I was finding everything just flipping too fast or too much... I figured I would give an 8.25" a go... flip tricks weren't any harder, they just flipped a little slower and were a lot easier to catch...and there's a lot more margin for error with catching tricks, which at 35 years old and a bit fragile, I appreciate.
I'm a 5'8" tall guy, light at 147lbs ish, but i do have disproportionately big size US11/11.5 feet, and having the extra room on the board compared to a 7.75 is a god send.
All that said, skinny boards do feel like home to me, and throwing fast tight flips on them is fun. I'm currently seeing if I can get the best of all worlds, and setting up an 8" on venture lows.
If anyone is after a deck recommend, the Magenta 7.75 decks skate really, really nice.. Mellow to medium concave, not too steep, and a 14" WB, I've had my best sessions this year on that deck.
I absolutely think with more of us nostalgic 30-somethings coming back to skating, there needs to be a bit more choice in the sub 8" deck range... aside from Magenta, I haven't really come across a brand which supports these sizes adequately from logo decks up to pro.
Oh, and start making small wheels a thing again too!