Graphic design is a vital pillar in any marketing strategy. When done correctly and well, good graphics mirror graphic trends and can help you draw more viewers and consumers who are particularly receptive to visual content.
Marketing trends and tricks are always evolving with the time. This is no different with graphic design trends. Top quality graphic design incorporates trends and understands what audiences want to see and support.
To help you boost your marketing strategy, we have put together some graphic design trends that you can practice.
What influences trends?
Over the last 2 years, society as a whole has had to deal with the pandemic, social justice movements such as the MeToo and BLM movements as well as terribly divisive political events.
The corporate world has taken notice of this and have changed the way businesses and marketers communicate with their audience. These changes include being more inclusive with graphics and image choice, using vibrant colours to combat monotonous content online and the return of the branded meme.
What other trends have dominated graphic design this year and will do the same again?
1: Diversity
Perhaps the most important graphic design trend is diversity and inclusivity. Graphics should reflect not only the brand/company’s workforce, but should also reflect your audience. Consumers value diversity and want brands to share the same values.
How can a brand show they share the same values? By including said communities and depictions in their content and graphics. Issues around race have been a constant in human history.
Now, due to the proliferation of social media, it is a constant conversation. To not take a stand at all may be worse thing you can do. Companies such as Slack, Shopify and Instagram have begun using coloured characters in graphic design as well as featuring Sikh and Muslim models in their campaigns.
This trend in graphic design allows brands to be more representative and reach a wider audience that they had previously been excluding in their imagery. Furthermore, it will make your brand attractive to a more diverse workforce.
2: Data Visualisation
Due to the pandemic, the last year has seen an increase in data visualisation graphics for the healthcare industry. This is, of course, very understandable in a time when governments and organisations are looking to educate the population.
The trend here is simplifying data visualisation, and a lot of marketers have taken to it. As the year winds to a close, it is clear that simple but fun data visualisation is here to stay. Consumers find them easy to digest and data visualisation is an amazing way of getting a lot of info across easily.
The last two years have been challenging for everyone emotionally. By distilling news and content in a fun and vibrant way, brands make themselves far more appealing.
3: In your face backgrounds and icons
The last few years saw graphic designs becoming muted and smooth. Recently, and certainly moving forwards, bold and in-you-face backgrounds are back. There is a lot of visual content online and bold backgrounds can help you stand out when users are quick-scrolling through networks.
This trend allows graphics to pop on social feeds and immediately makes users want to click through. The same practice can be applied to icons as well. Icons get a story and a message across universally.
Clever use of social icons against a bold background will let your graphic pop. Icon usage in graphics also means your content can reach an audience that may not understand your native language.
4: Classic Fonts
Classic font types are making a return. For years classic/Serif fonts have looked outdated and have fallen out of favour. Recently, they have been seen in a more elegant light. Brands have turned to Serif fonts to look more stylish, nostalgic and, most importantly, stand out from the rest. Studies show that Serif fonts are dependable and calming, which is always attractive to users. Using classic/Serif fonts creates trust and reassurance between a brand and consumers.
5: Memes
whether you love or hate memes, everyone has an opinion on them. There is literally a meme for everything but they do have short lifespans. The best graphic artists will see memes and brainstorm ideas to incorporate them into branded content. This can include adding captions, creating a meme gallery story or even just interacting with memes online. Memes are simple but still manage to tell a story. If brands interact with the right memes, they can tell their story without even having to overly plan a strategy.
Follow Us