The term “graphic design” usually doesn’t evoke a sense of brand identity when passed out in everyday life. Truthfully, graphic design benefits websites and social media pages in many ways, more than just making pages look visually appealing.
With good graphics, brands can educate customers about themselves through color, imagery and typography. Graphic design is constantly evolving with fast-changing design styles, meaning you need to continuously align your skills with the latest trends in graphic design so that you gain a competitive edge.
As a leading dubai web design agency, we understand the need to be on top of trends 24/7, especially in the age of technology where everything is fast-moving and evolving. Graphic Design is no exception. It isn’t as simple as designing an image that “looks good”. You need to be aware of trends so that you’re in the loop with the right type of content that people want to engage with.
Here are the graphic design trends that you need to keep an eye on for 2020/2021.
3D Design
While trends will come and go, 3D design seems to be trending upward. Of course, many brands will still make use of great 2D designs, but 3D design is establishing itself as a tenacious graphic design trend for years to come.
With the latest advancements in technology, designers are able to create stunning 3D designs that can showcase a whole new world that immerses viewers into depths like never before. Take 3D typography, for example. It works with any type of font and it has become so much easier to render any font in 3D in recent times.
3D design has also made its way into AR and VR technologies!
Muted Color Palettes
While brands may still want color on their pages so that they don’t look too dull or boring, many are stepping away from bright and vivid colors. Muted colors, those that have been desaturated with white, black, or a complementary color, are favorable amongst brands as of late. Viewers as well prefer to not be hit in the face with bright colors as soon as they open a social media profile or web page.
Minimalism
Playing into using muted color palettes, minimalism in graphic design is also a trend to pay attention to. While the definition of minimalistic was to simply use a combination of white and black, times have changed.
Users love minimalism that blends designs with components that actually complement each other. Brands such as Nike and Apple do this well – they creatively use neutral and muted color palettes to effectively market their brand message without being too bright.
Augmented Reality
The combination of graphic design and augmented reality is truly fascinating. AR gives designers the opportunity to transform the way in which they tell stories and allow audiences to engage with them.
While the trend has not picked up the fame we would have expected, we do believe it will take off with force. It allows users to engage with brands in ways they couldn’t before. It’s more inviting and exciting and will grab users’ attention quickly.
Authentic Photos
We understand that stock photos may be the only solution for many brands, overly edited stock photos are unappealing, especially in this age.
Users are looking for photos that are genuine, authentic and true to who you are. If you keep using the same stock photos that every other brand uses, you won’t stand out and users may be put off. Start using genuine photos and neutral stock photos (if you aren’t already) so that you appear more authentic to your followers.
Artistic Typography
To create more innovative designs, many graphic designers have now started to play around with bold, artistic fonts.
The trend of using flowers or geometric shapes in written content is kicking off. It adds a unique flair to designs and shows your followers that you aren’t scared to be creative. Designers are also making use of thicker, heavier fonts. You can mostly find these on logos, posters and product package designs.
Realism and Flat Designs
With realism, it’s important that you add real-life objects in order to make designs look and feel authentic and relatable. While flat designs may not be as real as realism, they’re simple and easy to execute. Nowadays, designers look for ways to combine flat visuals with real-life objects to grab attention.
The combination of styles, dimensions and techniques creates stunning imagery that’s perfect for web and editorial designs, as well as product package designs. Combining the two styles lets you think outside the box and helps you tap into the creativity that you would not have accessed before.
GIFs
As we all know, video is more engaging, especially on social media. In recent years, GIFs have been growing in popularity across all social media platforms, as users love to engage with shorter video content. Animations have also gained popularity in web page design and email marketing.
Brands tend to use GIFs when responding to customers on social media to show that there’s a real human behind the screen. It’s engaging and humorous and shows your followers that you aren’t a robot.
Type-only
Of course, not all graphic designers will take minimal roads when designing. Many designers are now adopting a type-only approach to explore decorative typography while playing with scale. There’s a massive rise in designs that lead with typography rather than illustrations or photography.
Many brands will let typography take the center stage so that they can showcase their full brand identities well and with ease. This way, they don’t have to depend on stock photos to showcase who they are and what they do.
No Negative Space
Some designers will make use of maximalist designs to make their visuals more appealing and eye-catching, leaving no negative space. As a result, the visuals are more energetic and fun.
