A new year is upon us–how is it the end of January already–and each new year brings new graphic design trends. As AIGA–the professional association for design–points out in a recent article, sometimes the trends roll in slowly, and we may not even realize they are trends until the next year. That said, here are a few trends we are noticing.
- Neutral Color Palettes. We are seeing a shift to more neutral colors in both web design and print work. Websites are embracing the white space with white/neutral backgrounds. Gold, grey, and navy, along with neutral colors seem to be moving to the forefront. As a designer who likes a clean, uncluttered look where typography and imagery stand out, this is a shift I appreciate.
- Humanistic Typeface. Handwritten font options have become more prevalent in design.
- Letter Pressing and Gold Foil. Letter pressing and gold foil are beautiful printing methods that have previously been reserved for select projects. Due to increased accessibility, these print styles are on the rise.
- Infographics. We are all familiar with infographics, which take statistical based information, and presents them in easily digestible ways through graphics. Infographics aren’t going away, but I wonder, what will the 2016 pie chart look like?
- Animal Kingdom. There is usually an animal that crops up in design for invitations, cards, calendars, etc. It was birds years ago. Then there were fuzzy creatures such as foxes, otters and squirrels. Now we see whales, and unicorns are everywhere! Have you seen the Squatty Potty unicorn? 2016’s animal-of-choice remains to be seen, but I’m excited for Marmot’s Superbowl ad.
At CLP Design Studio, we work with our clients to highlight their brand, incorporating what’s trendy within reason. We look forward to seeing how these and other trends emerge throughout 2016!