Graphic design is meant to evolve and grow. As the worlds of art, technology, and media continue to change, designers must stay on top of new graphic design trends to understand the kind of visual language that speaks to their audience. To help you stay in the loop, here is a list of the graphic design trends that are shaking up the industry.
Experimental Fonts: Designers have slowly begun to break away from traditional fonts and are creating expressive lettering that pushes the boundaries of legibility or simplicity. Brands are opting for typography that shows their personality, with unique shapes and bold colors.
Motion Design: While static images can communicate impactful messages, animations and motion graphics can tell a more interactive story. GIFs, short videos, and animated infographics are valuable tools in the design and marketing world. Motion design helps brands connect with viewers more quickly and efficiently by providing highly engaging visual content.
Maximalism: Minimalism—the design style featuring simple lines, basic shapes, and a limited color palette—emerged in the 1950s and has been re-popularized over the last decade. However, more recently, graphic designers have favored this style’s opposite form—maximalism. This change is likely due to the shift in viewers’ desire for more visual stimulation over the last few years. Maximalist design is characterized by playful typography and bold color palettes. In 2022, don’t be afraid to refresh your brand image by trying out different vibrant color palettes, patterns, and fonts.
1990s Nostalgia: From sitcom reboots to fashion trends, the 1990s have been making a clear comeback. This has inevitably seeped into the world of graphic design. Some 2022 graphic design trends are rooted in nostalgia. Brands are opting for abstract glitch patterns, brightly colored types, and retro logos on their ads, website designs, and social media platforms. This will be an especially great trend to experiment with for brands that are targeting millennials, as many hold fond memories of their childhood in the ’90s.
Serif Fonts: A “serif” is a small line at the end of a stroke in a letter or symbol. Some examples of popular serif fonts are Times New Roman, Courier, and Garamond. Serif fonts have been around for many years and are mostly popular because of their easy readability. This classic font style has been making a comeback in the world of design and typography and is expected to be used by many brands in 2022.
Bold Backgrounds: Color alone has a significant impact on the emotional connection audiences have with certain brands. Bold palettes tend to send a punchier, more memorable message.
Graphic design trends in 2022 are focusing on making images pop by contrasting bold colors with lighter text. Designers worldwide are opting for bright backgrounds over the muted colors that have been used over the last few years. This graphic design trend is especially useful on social media platforms, as brands only have a few seconds to capture their audience’s attention.
Play around with the designs; see what you come up with and how it works with and for your brand. But most of all, have fun.
