And just like that, we’re nearing the end of October! Just one more quarter and we’re in a new year!
At the beginning of every year, we see articles about the upcoming trends in design. This year we saw trends such as geometric shapes, flat icons and illustrations, and classic serif fonts. But what does next year have in store for those of us in the design field and how can we jump on these trends early?
1. Inspiration from nature
It’s no surprise that being locked up inside for a year has changed the way we see the world. 57% of people are willing to change their buying habits in a way that will reduce the impact on the environment. Public consciousness towards environmental issues is higher than ever.
With this appreciation for nature, it’s likely that people will be more drawn to natural patterns, textures, motifs and colours. Motifs that have already hit popularity levels in design are: plants, wood textures, animal patterns, and flowers. These resonate with people’s needs for sustainability and the rising popularity of house plants (of which searches have increased around 50% in the last couple of years).
2. Motion and video
From over a year of predominantly being stuck static inside, it’s no surprise that people are wanting a little bit more motion going forward. Static designs will obviously still be around, but let’s start kicking it up and moving towards movement!
Movement is so much more engaging in the digital realm, with the ability to stop you in your scrolling tracks. More and more companies are finding that they get increased engagement from videos as opposed to the traditional static creatives. They can tell stories and communicate ideas and offers to viewers quickly and easily.
3. Text-heavy videos
This trend is quite surprising to me, as I would usually scroll past text-heavy content, but I don’t make up the trends, so here’s the next one.. text-heavy videos.
Closely related to the previously mentioned motion trend, here is an addition. You’ve got all your video content in the design pot (with your nature-inspired backgrounds), just add a litre of text! Obviously keeping it in your brand’s fonts, colours and tone of voice – could be the thing you need to get brand recognition working for you. You can include content such as announcements, case studies or testimonials, product explainers, etc.
2022, let’s see if you can change my mind about heavy reading!
4. Health awareness
Rona has raised our awareness of health, wellness and self-care, and with that, an increase in content on these topics. Being stuck at home has led people to go online for medical needs more than ever before, so medical-based websites and graphics have needed a bit of self-care too!
Contemporary medical branding is the way forward for this field, with design being a big factor in user experience on websites. No one wants to click through 17 stages to find the right medicine for them.
(If this sounds like your website, give us a shout, we’ve got you!)
5. Monochrome
In 2017, we saw a two-colour trend, but that’s so 4¾ years ago. Now we just want ONE! For all the minimalist designers out there, this trend is for you. No more struggling to find colours that work together, we’re going monochrome.
I’ve seen Instagram accounts that use monochrome tones throughout and it just hits different. Monochromatic palettes have the ability to create unity, balance and harmony that designers and consumers tend to gravitate to.
Some other possible trends that we may see come our way are the continued use of geometric shapes (we don’t think that will be falling away anytime soon), the revival of traditional media types and retro design. As well as the use of calmer, tranquil colour palettes, interesting data visualisations and more animated objects.
It will be interesting to see how many of these trends come true next year. Will you be implementing any of them in your designs? Drop us a line with your thoughts!
