Mid-Autumn brings clear skies and chilly mornings, and as we march on through April let’s take a moment to reflect, breathe and keep our heads high for what the rest of the year holds.
There have been polarising changes throughout the world, causing all of us to adapt quickly to rapidly changing situations. And the design community has felt this pressure and stayed ahead of the game by paying attention to the needs of our audiences.
We’ve seen design trends come and go, but what seems to be synonymous throughout all industries right now is a push toward greater transparency and authenticity. Because the world is listening to what consumers have to say. And at Made, we’re continuing to listen to our audiences every step of the way.
Our team of creatives have put their thinking caps on to predict what the most popular design trends will be this year. And we’d love to know what you think because who knows what is in store for us all!
Minimalism
Minimalism has always had an important place in professional graphic design.
Nowadays, it reflects the current emphasis placed on honesty and transparency of business in today’s climate. We believe that this trend will continue throughout the 2020s, where design will move toward a much simpler, straight-forward aesthetic, stripping away unnecessary embellishment.
Expect to see flat designs, primary colours, simple typography and cleaner visual elements.
Minimalism is an indispensable part of our design repertoire at Made because we believe that it is a sophisticated and intelligent way to deliver a desired message. Check out our recent project Simplify Finance to see how a clean-cut, functional approach can resonate as a visual framework.
Authenticity
You’ve probably noticed but recently there has been a huge shift in how brands are communicating to audiences: they want to create a more genuine connection. It’s a backlash to the image-focused, overly-filtered culture that we live in. And we’re here for it! The design industry has caught on and you can expect a greater focus on creating authentic, diverse and believable brand stories.
From a design perspective, this trend will likely be recreated by using more pronounced serifs with heavier fonts, saturated colour palettes and a preference for meaningful content over superficial designs.
At Made, we’ve always believed in creating the most honest brand impressions because we believe there is far more power in celebrating with our audiences rather than promoting the same, old, outdated visual stories.
Nature and Organic
Nature has become a fascinating source of inspiration for fuelling creativity. Botanical patterns and nature-inspired designs engage and appeal to many clients. Often a gentle sight for our tired eyes, designs provide us with simplicity and ease.
Alongside botanical designs, it’s expected that muted and earthy colour palettes, organic shapes and natural textures will dominate trends this year.
And these features are not only linked to products and brands that are natural and environmentally friendly: here at Made we’ve made great use of this trend in some of our own projects.
We created a visual identity for a physical healthcare centre called Novoa. The design elements include a rich, earthy colour palette of muted browns and different textures to emulate materials such as copper and sandstone.
The nature trend is deeply rooted in our connection to the world around us and uses the most tactile, natural features to evoke the feeling of being immersed in calm and tranquillity.
Type-only Approach
This year we’re seeing designers use a type-only approach to define key elements in branding. In some cases, we expect designers to explore more innovative and experimental routes when using this approach, playing with size and artistic photography.
Bold and simple typography will be thematic throughout the trend, and it is extremely effective in helping brands communicate to audiences through strong, simple statements.
Our Creative team believes that type-only approaches are disruptive and cut through background noise, encouraging people to see brands in a different light. Check out our work on Kingston & Partners and Simplify Finance to see exactly what we’re talking about.
Geometric Shapes
This trend is one of our favourites. It’s a simple showcase of a designer’s creative abilities. While not necessarily new, it’s a classic and is here to stay. The creation of shapes and space have long been used in many artistic processes because they create flawless forms.
3D geometric shapes and blocks can be used to enhance designs, whether these be circles, squares and triangles. These shapes act as puzzle pieces, allowing both the whole and parts of the design to stand out to audiences. As you might imagine, they provide endless possibilities in the eye of a designer.
Our own designers at Made say that geometric shapes add structure and consistency to a visual framework. That’s why when we created the new logo for Jeckra, one of Sydney’s impressive, modern day-care facilities, we knew that geometric shapes would provide the order and structure to work intrinsically with the brand’s tone of voice.
Mixed Media
The mixed media trend combines various types of mediums including 3D graphics and an overlapping of different compositions. Designers are also choosing to rebel against the universal flat design aesthetic and experiment with unusual creative elements.
We’ve seen designers experiment with volume, texture and even analog materials. A mixture of varied elements seems to be present everywhere throughout this trend, with layers of abstract shapes, typography and images presenting a complex, yet interesting approach to branding.
It’s important that our creative ideas strive to be innovative and original, and we’ve used elements of mixed media in our own designs to create depth in company branding. Identity is not one dimensional; it is an evolving and changing concept.
Optical Illusions
A trend that is set to bring a fun and unique mood to the design scene is optical illusions, hypnotic patterns and mind-blowing graphics which are the quintessence of escapism.
Illusions deceive you into seeing something that does not correlate to the physical reality. The manipulation of simple elements creates the effect of attracting attention and creating confusion, ultimately a sense of pure intrigue.
The design features of this trend might include elongated waves formed by simple lines, overlapping images with multiple layers and elements of psychedelia.
Unashamedly unique and fun, we hope this trend is here to stay. It is a great way for brands to spark joy and draw out the interests of audiences. We call it hypnotizing, with style!
