Don’t judge a book by its cover.
Sure, this can apply to people and personal relationships that you take part in. But, this is far from the truth when it comes to advertising and marketing your business. A simple design change on an ad, website or social post is what can level up your brand compared to your competitors.
Here are six trends that our graphic designers believe will be the most popular for 2022:
OFF THE GRID
Grids are a cornerstone of design, whether architecture, graphic, or web design. A grid system helps organize information into digestible sections for those who interact with it. In the case of web design, grids are effective for designers but can become monotonous and lead to less engaging layouts.
Enter: breaking the grid.
This is certainly not a new trend in 2022. Yet, it is becoming more popular and accessible thanks to designers, developers, and tools (see Webflow, EditorX). The off-grid design allows you to stand out with unique, highly visual layouts from the crowd.
There are many ways to break the grid in web design, from typography and parallax scrolling to animations and layered imagery. Of course, the key to breaking the grid is first knowing how to follow it.
3D ILLUSTRATIONS
Another trend that is no newcomer in 2022, but should be seen more frequently, is 3D illustrations. Whether it’s a fun character or minimal recreations of a software dashboard, these illustrations are a great way to add visual interest to your website, blog, or social feed.
This illustration style may allow you to forgo some of the finer details of your composition while still communicating the main point or function to your users in a highly visual fashion. As intimidating as 3D might sound, industry-standard software makes this process not too tricky, relying on lighting and simple shapes to generate beautiful graphics.
The most popular 3D tools used are Blender, Cinema 4D, and Adobe Dimension.
BRANDED MEMES
The average person spends nearly two hours on social media. The language people use to communicate on social media is through memes. You know what a meme is and have seen them all. Marketers have noticed this and are now using it as a successful marketing strategy. Memes are a highly visual tool to create social media buzz.
First, you must know your audience.
Memes can have a tongue-in-cheek essence to them. Make sure your content makes sense for your target audience and translates into meme form.
Creating a meme:
Pick a problem
Know your audience’s pain points and use that problem to help you gain their attention.
Aggravate the Problem
Memes are reactionary to everyday problems. The meme format will make fun of this problem somehow, causing your audience to react. But you want them to respond, so keep the meme light-hearted positively.
Target the above to your audience
Your problem should resonate with your audience, and you’ll be able to analyze what has traction. In turn, you’ll know what solutions to offer your audience.
Keep Up With Trends
You don’t want to go overboard with your meme content. This can make it seem like you’re trying too hard. But when you do post, make sure that it’s relevant and on-trend. If you create a meme based on a popular trend at just the right time, you may have the potential to go viral!
Why use memes for marketing?
They are relatable, refreshing, and easy to consume for those of us constantly scrolling through content all day. Plus, they don’t take too much time to create!
Bold and Expressive Typography as Hero Sections
The hero section of a website’s homepage is prime real estate in the design world. As the first thing a user sees when they land on a site, it’s essential for this area to make a lasting impression before navigating throughout the rest of the website. This section is usually home to relevant brand imagery, but in 2022 it’s pairing up with another big trend, excessive and dramatic typography, to make an impact.
Loud and bold fonts take up space as homepage heroes create a huge visual impact from the jump, right as the user lands on the site. A bold and straightforward first impression can relay a sense of who the brand is and what their style is like while also leaving the viewer intrigued enough to keep scrolling. Typography-based heroes place importance on the content of the site and the type, letting design shine through instead of just imagery. By transforming words into graphic elements rather than just copy, your design can make a statement uniquely and strikingly.
This trend has a range too. Attention-grabbing and versatile, this type of hero can be paired with numerous styles to feel fresh and exciting.
Retro/Nostalgia
The saying “Everything old is new again” has never felt more true than it does in today’s world.
The retro revival continues to be bigger than ever, as evidenced by its influence on popular media, beauty, fashion, and, of course, design. And there’s a reason these blasts from the past are still a hot trend going into 2022: nostalgia sells.
When it comes to design, incorporating vintage and nostalgic elements brings a sense of comfort and relatability, whether it be through retro web layouts, old-school typography, timeless patterns, and illustrations, or reminiscent color palettes. Features like these evoke eras of the past and help connect audiences with the design due to its familiarity. Implementing these elements into a brand or web design can link people to something recognizable, creating a more immersive experience.
One example of this is how, as we progress through the 2020s, callbacks to the 1920s have become increasingly popular. The use of art deco motifs in design recalls a sense of elegance and sophistication showcased with geometric patterns and gilded color schemes. Bringing classic elements like these into modern-day web designs can aid in establishing brand identity without having to spell it out for the audience.
Scrollytelling & Parallax Scrolling
VSG website examples:
What is scrollytelling?
Scrollytelling is visual storytelling for the web. When you want to communicate information to an audience on the web, a great option is Scrollytelling. The concept: new content appears or changes through transitions as users scroll down or up the web page.
The scrollytelling technique is often used for data visualization. However, it can be a powerful tool to use in marketing your business by bringing your brand stories and long-form content to life. This method is incredibly successful when you’re selling a product or service. Apple is on the front lines with stunning scrollytelling pages for each product.
https://www.apple.com/airpods-pro/
What is Parallax Scrolling?
A scrolling technique is used in web design where background images throughout a web page move slower than the foreground images, creating an illusion of depth on a two-dimensional site.
Although parallax scrolling is considered a “nice to have” aesthetic and not a core component of your website, it can enhance the user experience of your web page, making it more engaging and prolonging the amount of time a user stays on your website. The function always comes before form, and form should only enhance function.
Once you’ve established a foundation for your website to be a sales tool first, you can begin finding interactive ways to help facilitate the customer journey.
Staying up to date with graphic design trends is crucial for any business trying to market itself to customers. You can take these trends and make them your own in order to fit your brand.
But, the most important takeaway from this blog is customers and clients can tell when a business doesn’t take its marketing seriously. Don’t let that happen to your business!
