With the dawn of a new decade comes new possibilities. The same holds true in the world of graphic designing where glimmers of an exciting decade are already up for display. Despite being creators and innovators, graphic designers do not exist in isolation; their designs are constantly influenced by patterns in advertising and marketing, technology, and socio, cultural, and economic trends. The graphic designing industry may experience yet another evolution with the defining trends of 2020.
1. Monochromatic, Muted Colour Palette
2017 marked the year of the duo-tone craze. Ever since then, the focus has shifted towards a play of monochromes to create standout effects. Turns out, this simplified version of creating graphics is a hit and will continue to be relevant even in 2020 and beyond. Additionally, graphic designers are ditching eye-popping color palettes for more subtle, muted colors that go easy on the eyes. The LinkedIn Marketing team has set the best example of the smart use of muted color palettes in designing captivating graphics for campaigns and branding.
2. Typography with a Personalised Touch
Finally, 2020 is the year that brands go all out with their type-only approaches – while photography takes a back-seat, designers have the task of making their typography minimalist yet eye-catchy. As such, dynamic tendencies are taking place in the world of typography as well – kinetic typos that move are heavily being used to arrest the reader’s attention and to drive interest. Typographic forms that are simple, yet totally customized with illustrative letters are stealing the show in 2020 – they perfectly complement the current super-minimalist overall design and instill the word or phrase with personality, emotions, and energy.
3. Metallic Shimmer
There’s a reason why metals like gold and silver are associated with royalty. Something about these colors exudes luxury, grandeur, and class. And 2020 is the year that one can see more of these metallic colors, especially in branding identity and product design. Of all metallic colors, gold is undoubtedly going to remain the most prominent. This trend calls for a minimalist and straightforward overall layout with the eye-popping shimmer and shine of metallic effects being the focal point.
4. Immersive Experiences
Focus on experience has always been a critical aspect of graphic designing, and from the looks of it, 2020 is going to be the year of renaissance for this approach. In 2020, the graphic design industry is likely to be dominated by the use of technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) wherein precedence is given to creating highly engaging and immersive experiences that invite the user or customer to become a part of the story making. These technologies facilitate the creation of such realistic 3D prototypes that graphic designers can altogether leave behind their previous cumbersome and time-consuming prototyping processes. The master’s degree in graphic design can open opportunities to get experience and become a professional designer.
5. Craze for Dystopia
The world’s current obsession with dystopian and apocalyptic movies such as ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ and ‘1984’ has naturally spilled over into the sphere of graphic design as well. The depiction of dystopia is finding a voice in the form of dark and highly contrasting color schemes, glitch art techniques, mechanized typography, and graphic imagery with particular focus on the exclusion of humans. This, when combined with 3D realism and depth, indeed gives off a mystical and futuristic dystopian vibe.
For graphic designers, 2020 is an exciting year – a year when disparate elements come together: the past and the future, the real and the artificial, the organic and the geometric. However, only time will tell whether the momentum of 2020 will sustain itself over the coming decade.
