Huge Graphic Design Trends For 2021
2020 was weird, to say the least. It thrust us all into a world we hadn’t seen before. The marketing industry included.
Having those magic ‘aha’ moments over Zoom just didn’t feel the same. But it did offer creatives one thing: time. It forced a period of reflection upon us and allowed us to realise what we wanted to carry forward, and leave behind, when the world started to spin again.
Those realisations were pivotal when predicting the trends of 2021, with the design industry rapidly transforming into one fuelled by empathy and unity. Creatives have started to take inspiration from the new world around us, which has produced six graphic design trends we expect to be huge in 2021.
Nature Inspired
Think organic shapes, earthy tones, and delightful textures. The rise of nature-inspired branding is upon us, and it doesn’t look to be slowing down anytime soon.
“Following a year of social distancing and isolation, I expect to see design embrace a more humanistic and organic tone.”
- Shanti Sparrow, Lecturer at Shillington School of Graphic Design New York
The design industry has long been influential in driving awareness of global issues, and corporate mission statements are increasingly starting to reflect this. For creatives promoting sustainable solutions, organic aesthetics are an effective way to advocate the changing environment we live in.
3D Design
This won’t come as a surprise to many. 3D design has always been impressive, but with the latest tech advances it’s getting very, very cool.
Be it imagery or typography, hyper-realistic design allows creatives to blur the digital and physical lines, resulting in some super-cool visuals. Expect 3D design, interspersed with 2D elements, to become hugely popular in creating fully interactive and impactful UI experiences.
Optimism
2021 is a year that will be heavily influenced by the last. Excess time has allowed creatives to look inwards and turn to optimistic and empathetic design. This has been heavily adopted on social platforms already, with many designers, illustrators and motion graphic artists creating with the sole purpose of spreading unity in these testing times.
Out-of-home agency JACK took it one step further, using bold typography to spread their ‘Community is Kindness’ campaign across London – a great example of design taking centre stage to spread a human-centric message.
Chaotic Systems
Systems are there to be broken. While there are few things more satisfying than a design gridded and balanced to perfection, sometimes it’s useful to break free from the shackles and toss alignment in the bin.
Influential creative Zipeng Zhu, aka Mr Dazzle, claims 2021 will see the rise of “ugly type… like purposefully ugly,” in a bid to reject the pre-pandemic’s unrealistic perfectionism. Think elongated, stretched, torn, overlaid and distorted. It’s time to break the rules.
Retro Vibes
A warm trio of colours in a striped pattern, matched with a suitably cheery typeface – you’ve probably seen this creative style a lot on Instagram lately. Why? Because there’s nothing quite like a warm hug with nostalgia.
Brands are seeking to build instant familiarity with consumers, and in doing so are looking to the past to become relevant today. The Museum of Ice Cream’s rebrand last year was one of my personal favourites; which fully encapsulated the mesmerising power of the past.
Retro typography and patterns are definitely trends we expect to see more of, as society continues to seek comfort through vivid, bursting colour palettes.
Instagram and Animated Elements
How do we stop somebody’s thumb from the endless scroll? It’s one of the most asked questions in our industry, and the answer is ever-changing.
But one thing’s for sure, the effect that’s created from combining 2D graphic elements with animation is enough to make even the most ad-fatigued person double-take. The trend of creating 3D-esque illusions via underlaid animation is one that we expect to take social media by storm.
Not only does adding motion to your social design add gravitas, but it’s also a hit with that picky Instagram algorithm. So, if animated elements grab the attention of your consumer and the application, what are you waiting for?
