Branding is incredibly visual, which is why graphic design is a constantly in-demand service for businesses of all sizes. While some graphics like your logo may be evergreen (or at least maintain an impact for a few years), you’ll likely find that imagery used on your website, social media pages, and print ads needs to evolve with current trends. To begin planning your visual marketing aesthetic for 2022, consider the following trends for graphic design that are expected to make a splash in the coming year. Group6 Interactive can help you embrace these trends with memorable designs that align with your overall marketing goals.
Geometric Shapes
You’re likely to see more geometric shapes showing up in graphic designs throughout 2022, in part due to the increasing trend of visually representing data. While abstract shapes have dominated previous years, expect to see clean lines and defined shapes throughout modern graphics.
Creative Doodles
Artistic doodles and sketches are making a comeback in branding materials, offering a fun and playful human element to packaging, stationary, signage, and other physical marketing materials. Expect to see more hand drawn illustrations in packaging design and other branding materials, bringing a touch of creative expression that resonates particularly well with younger audiences.
Serif Fonts
Serif fonts offer a touch of embellishment in every character to bring a nostalgic feel to written components of graphic designs. Not to be confused with their simplistic sans-serif counterparts, serif fonts like Greca, Modern Ligature Serif, and Galins are popping up everywhere from landing pages to logos to business cards. These embellished fonts are especially effective when you want to portray a sense of elegance or high-end aesthetics in your designs.
This year may also welcome even more ornate lettering with experimental typefaces that push written elements into the abstract.
Pandemic Inspiration
With the persisting presence of the pandemic, there has been an ongoing theme in graphic design of elements hinting at social restrictions, mask wearing, and other current lifestyle changes imposed by COVID-19. Don’t expect this inspiration to dissolve quickly in 2022, at least not during the first several months of the year.
Vintage Themes
Vintage is almost always in style—it’s just always focusing on a different bygone area. In 2022, expect to see a few throwbacks in graphic design. First, there’s a growing art deco revival, which embraces the comeback of the geometric shapes we mentioned earlier. Art deco also emphasizes layered designs, symmetrical layouts, and an air of understated luxury. At the same time, graphic designers are embracing ’90s and Y2K nostalgia, which includes holographic textures, neon colors, vaporwave aesthetics, and technological inspiration. Don’t be surprised to see these two vintage eras merge with overlapping designs that bring together the best of both worlds.
3D Graphics
With increasing popularity of software like Blender and Procreate, graphic designers are finding new ways to incorporate 3D illustrations into new designs. However, this trend is seeing an unexpected twist by incorporating 3D objects into 2D landscapes—this creates unique opportunities to draw the eye and create images that unfold more and more the longer you look at them. This sort of disjointed design follows an even larger design trend of surrealism, which often combines objects in unexpected ways to create a sense of vagueness or discomfort. In an era defined by the uncertainty of a global pandemic, it’s no surprise that graphic design has experienced a shift toward the surreal.
Cultural Inclusion
It’s not just the pandemic that’s changed outlooks and had an impact on visual trends. Social movements inspire the design world, and there is currently a significant push toward inclusion of more diverse cultures, body types, and belief systems. With a growing awareness that representation matters when it comes to shifting social prejudices, brands are becoming increasingly attentive to details that highlight inclusion. Expect to see a continued emphasis on social awareness in graphic design throughout and beyond 2022.
Muted and Neutral Color Palettes
Conventional wisdom would indicate that bright colors are a reliable way to catch attention, but 2022 will have more designers creating intrigue with muted and even neutral color palettes. Many large brands have already embraced the toning down of their color schemes, including Apple and LinkedIn. This trend coincides with Ukiyo-e woodblock inspired designs that feature bold outlines, flat colors, and limited perspective. Muted colors are also associated with vibes of health and wellness, which are trending themes, again due to the pandemic.
Don’t settle for graphic designs that don’t capture your brand message. While current trends can help guide your aesthetic, it’s ultimately most important to create imagery that aligns with your brand values and speaks to your target audience. Group6 Interactive can help you create designs for your business cards, signage, packaging, digital marketing, and physical marketing needs. Connect with us today to make your business stand out with unforgettable designs.
