Design Trends 2024

Hey there friends! We know we’re a little late to the party, but we couldn’t miss out on unveiling the biggest graphic design trends for 2024! From nature-inspired palettes to minimalist styles, and even a bit of nostalgia, we’ll guide you through the creative innovations shaping visual communication this year.

Natural materials

First up, we’ve got natural materials taking centre stage. Eco-friendly elements like earth tones, hand-drawn illustrations, and organic fonts are connecting brands with consumers who care about sustainability. Accessibility is also key, with more focus on inclusive design.

Bold minimalism

Bold minimalism continues its reign in 2024. The “less is more” approach strips away clutter for elegance and visual clarity. With restrained colour and typography focus, minimalism enables precise messaging. Its versatility across mediums like websites and branding makes it a go-to.

Pixels

Get ready for a dose of pixel power this year too. These digital building blocks add a retro gaming vibe, blending nostalgia with modern aesthetics. Scaled-up pixels make a bold statement. By fusing this old-school pixel style with current tech capabilities, designers are concocting something totally novel.

Fluorized

Vivid fluorescence rules in 2024, with electric hues taking centre stage. Neon yellows, greens, oranges - you name it. Vibrant colours let designs make a splash. Brands are using this trend to captivate audiences with compelling visual stories.

AI Assistance

Now to our robot friends. AI assistance gained major traction last year, generating graphics and expediting workflows. In 2024, AI’s creative potential grows. Tools like Midjourney, DALL-E, and Adobe Firefly enable rapid concept iterations and design explorations. AI animates visuals in cool new ways too. Nutella, for example, utilised AI to create a campaign with 7 million unique package designs, showcasing the power of AI in generating creative solutions.

Hand-drawn Illustration

Hand-drawn illustration adds personality as another 2024 trend. Whimsical doodles and flowing drawings bring an endearing, handcrafted vibe. Paired with script fonts, this look adds warmth. Illustrations also allow bespoke visual storytelling versus generic stock imagery.

Retro

And we can’t forget retro charm! Rich colour palettes, grainy photography, and cartoon characters deliver vintage cheer. This nostalgic style reminds us of simpler times. Vintage minimalism, stripping away the extras for timeless simplicity, is particularly hot right now.

Wrapping up: 2024’s best design trends

There you have it - our tour through 2024’s biggest graphic design trends! Feel free to riff on these creative styles as you craft visually engaging stories. With fierce competition, adaptability is key - so embrace the unconventional in this AI age. We hope these trends spark ideas as you stay ahead of the curve. Let us know if you have any other questions!

Posted on 8th Feb 2024 17:15:44 by surrect.media

Tags: Trends, News.

Design Trends 2023

While design comes from creative minds, trends are also borne out of the context of their era. Much of the optimism from 2022 remains for the coming year, but it has been somewhat dampened by the increasing inflation and the worsening climate crisis, amongst other things.

Graphic designers and creatives alike respond to these circumstances in different ways. Some lean toward excitement and curiosity for what’s ahead as technology inspires them to explore the unknown, such as virtual reality graphic design mentioned above and AI-generated art. While others react to restrictions and anti-establishment emotion with defiance, through styles ranging from an escapist yearning to revolutionary innovation, all the way to reusing styles from a simpler era.

Anti-Design and Brutalism

The brutalist trend breaks the rules and captures attention through the use of unconventional elements such as bold fonts and non-traditional imagery.

This trend allows for the exploration of bold and unusual design solutions, pushing the boundaries of traditional design. It encourages the use of unconventional colour schemes and layout in the creation of websites and pages.

Collaborative Projects

In order to attract the attention of potential customers, especially for hype products, manufacturers must find ways to stand out. This can be especially challenging as companies compete for their target audience. Many firms collaborate with influencers to create visually appealing marketing campaigns, but these can lack the unique and unexpected elements that truly capture attention.

Balenciaga Fashion House’s Unusual Effect - a collaboration with Fortnite

One trend that has been emerging is fashion brands forming unusual partnerships with other companies, creating a “wow” factor through the unexpected union of two different industries.

Photography Heavy Design

The use of high-quality photographs in design, known as photography heavy design, has gained popularity in recent years and is expected to continue to be popular in 2023. This style utilises photographs to create a visually striking and memorable design.

High-resolution photos grab the attention of viewers and effectively convey a message. It is important to use high-quality, genuine, and relevant photos in order to create a powerful and unique design.

By incorporating photography heavy design into their branding, businesses can create a memorable and impactful visual identity that resonates with their audience.”

The Return of the Sans Serif

There has been a shift in recent years from the use of serif typefaces to sans serif fonts in design. Sans serif typefaces, which are favoured by graphic designers, minimalists, and those concerned with web accessibility, are experiencing a resurgence in popularity. The saturation of serif logos has led designers to seek out new and innovative options, such as geometric sans serif or Swiss-style grotesque typefaces.

Sans serifs not only curate a clean, minimalist style for branding, packaging and other print designs, but they also improve legibility and accessibility on apps and websites. As more brands tune into the need for digital output to be fully accessible, we can expect sans serifs to take on a more dominant role online. Look to classic sans serif fonts in the Swiss school tradition such as Neue Haas Grotesk and Univers, or take a quirkier sans for a spin such as Ginto or Everett.

Colourful Nostalgic Illustrations

The vintage revival trend, inspired by the 1990s, is a clear example of how the pandemic has influenced design. The desire for a sense of nostalgia and familiarity during the COVID-19 crisis has led brands such as MTV, Google, and Later to embrace a retro aesthetic. This trend showcases the significant impact the pandemic has had on the design industry.

So add some nostalgia to your future designs by looking to the past for inspiration. Because who doesn’t love a good opportunity to reminisce?

Surrealist Maximalism

Surreal and maximalist aesthetics, characterised by larger than life, psychedelic imagery and elements that challenge reality, have gained popularity as we strive for a sense of freedom post-pandemic. Brands such as Coca Cola and Adobe have embraced this trend, using visual storytelling to create impactful designs that break away from minimalism and realism.

Maximalism, which rejects the traditional design principle of “less is more,” involves the use of bold colour combinations, layered images, prominent typography, and repeating motifs to grab attention. The incorporation of variable fonts, which can be expanded or condensed, also adds to the maximalist aesthetic. This design style maximises the use of space and encourages designers to push the boundaries and defy common rules of graphic design.

AI Evolution

Have you played around with OpenAI’s DALL-E 2 yet? Since its public release, the AI powered image generator has impacted the design world in a huge way, influencing imaginative works and memes alike.

Despite concerns over copyright and the displacement of human creativity, it’s clear this trend isn’t going anywhere. And with notable brands like Microsoft and Notion releasing their own design tools featuring built-in DALL-E integrations, you can bet we’ll only see more AI art in the new year. (Especially considering OpenAI’s GPT-4, the next machine learning iteration set to launch soon!)

AI is evolving rapidly as the technology matures and companies discover innovative ways to incorporate AI into intelligent products and services. No organisation will be immune to AI’s transformative impact, and executives should begin now to ensure they are preparing their companies for the AI-enabled future.

Final Thought…

As we move into 2023 and beyond, the post-pandemic world will present new challenges and opportunities that will encourage a more experimental and eclectic approach to design and media. Brands and consumers alike will embrace a more diverse and open-minded approach to design as we navigate this changing landscape.

Posted on 5th Jan 2023 14:37:02 by surrect.media

Tags: Trends, News.

Design Trends 2022

As a new year starts we look at the world of ‘predicted’ trends and digest what we think is going to make a large splash in 2022, a year where the future stands side by side with the past. It’s a time when AI-generated content, NFTs and the metaverse gain momentum to elevate user experience. And then on the other hand, Y2K aesthetics and 70s psychedelic art help content creators spark nostalgia and better connect with their audience.

 

The Metaverse

What is the Metaverse? a collective virtual shared space. Today, boundaries between real and virtual worlds are blurred.

The metaverse is a perfect fusion of physical, augmented, and virtual reality. The Metaverse is a public virtual world that may be accessed via the internet. It creates a “virtual world” experience by simulating human emotions and gestures.

The metaverse encompasses the entire social and economic structure that exists in both the actual and virtual worlds. Avatars, content, and goods may all travel around freely. It’s a living, breathing experience that never pauses or finishes like a game.

In 2022, digital spaces will acquire an even more realistic look with the help of AR and VR technology. Designers will opt for well-thought-out 3D elements and motion graphics that bring a brand new level of interactivity. To make audiences feel even more present, creators will amplify their projects with ambient music and immersive sound effects.

 

Psychedelic Art

We often look back in history for artistic inspiration. This year, playful and bold motifs of the 70s will resonate with content creators worldwide. The desire to escape monotonous reality, captivate audiences, and the accessibility of graphic software will foster experiments with psychedelic art in the digital realm.

Abstract psychedelia, Holographic and grainy backgrounds, complex abstractions, a rich mix of bright or highly contrasting colors, and different interpretations of psychedelic line art will appear in graphic design. Using a large number of design elements in one composition will provide designers with room for experimentation, and boost the commercial potential of projects.

The trends we’re already starting to see have the potential to inspire people in finding alternative ways to get away and escape, especially with all that is going on in the world. These trends will prompt people to think more creatively about how they can explore and have new experiences within the limitations of where they are.

 

AI-Generated (Art, Music, Data)

Today, “smart” increasingly means powered by artificial intelligence (AI) – generally machine learning algorithms – and capable of helping us in increasingly innovative ways. Smart cars use facial recognition algorithms to detect whether we are paying attention to the road and alert us if we’re getting tired. Smartphones use AI algorithms to do everything from maintain call quality to help us take better pictures, and of course, they are packed with apps that use AI to help us do just about anything.

AI has permeated the tools we use to carry out everyday work – from the ubiquitous voice assistants to language translation and tools that allow us to extract structured data from pictures, whiteboard scribblings, and hand-written notes. It also powers much of the robotic process automation that has enabled workloads to be lightened in admin, logistics, accounting, and HR departments. Whatever your industry or job function, you’re likely to find there’s an AI-powered solution designed to make your life easier.

AI will significantly impact content production as well. Brands and creators will get a chance to provide hyper-personalized experiences to their audiences, as AI-generated content will be more cost and time-effective. Music tracks on websites, AI voiceover talent for vlogs, NFT art or social content will be tailored to fit a user’s taste or mood.

 

Y2K Aesthetics

If you’ve felt nostalgic for the past two years, you’re not alone. A lack of new experiences and positive emotions can make an audience reminiscent of how things were back in the day. Millennials and Gen Z—the largest and most solvent generations today—are attracted to Y2K aesthetics that evoke happiness and serenity, similar to the kind they experienced in childhood or teenage years.

This universal nostalgia encourages content creators to use pastel color palettes that include pink, yellow, green, and blue. Design and photography projects will acquire retrofuturistic vibes with shiny features or film-like post-production, and find their way from blogger social media accounts to brand campaigns and ads.

Many people are tired of minimalist design! Lots of artists during the pandemic experimented with the technology of the late 90s or early 2000s, whether by reexamining the birth of MP3 players, digicams, or with retrocomputing.

This specific period, around the late nineties and early naughties, is characterized by crude interfaces, low poly CGI, bubblegum pinks, blues and iridescent colors reminiscent of the backs of CDs. In many ways, it approaches cyberpunk, but it is much more bright and innocently nostalgic instead of dark, neon and sleek.

 

NFTs (Non-fungible tokens)

Crypto art has attracted a lot of attention over the last few years, and with some buyers spending millions on memes and artwork, the NFT trend is set to continue.

Non-fungible tokens are unique digital files published directly onto a blockchain, meaning that only one person can claim the rights to each one. NFTs are attractive to both collectors and designers – who can buy and sell work without having to worry about it being replicated without permission. For example, Bored Ape Yacht Club created a billion-dollar ecosystem of cartoon apes a string of NFTs, which have been purchased by celebrities and collectors around the world.

“NFTs are probably the best way to monetize digital art at the moment, you make money on the sale of your NFT, and the fascinating part is you also get a percentage on the secondary sale of the artwork. This is a great way to sell your personal projects or create something new and thrive as an artist.”

While not everyone is a fan of NFTs – predominantly due to their environmental footprint and copyright concerns – we expect this space to grow in 2022 with an increased number of creators and buyers looking to get in on the NFT games.

 

Final Thought…

The trends of 2022 are drawing inspiration from both the future and the past. Metaverse, AI and NFTs, science fiction, Y2K and Psychedelic art. It’s hard to imagine some of these disparate personalities mingling at a party, but this year they effectively will be. And it’s exactly these unpredictable mashups that you won’t want to miss out on in the coming year.

Optimistic forward thinking design will be the main overarching trend in the aftermath (hopefully) of the pandemic.

Posted on 4th Jan 2022 15:57:27 by surrect.media

Tags: Trends, News.