Last year was a period of evolution for all business industries. With consumer behaviour making a radical shift, the graphic designing industry is embarking on exploring the emerging trends and new styles to empower digital brand experiences.

The new developments in graphic designing are focused more on brand aesthetics, earning customer attention and unlocking exponential outcomes. The world of marketing is transforming at a fast pace and has forced brands to adopt conversational marketing strategies to connect with customers. As a result, it makes creative design agencies develop a socially conscious design and emphasise the needs of customers in the form of aesthetics.

Though the industry is witnessing fluctuating movements, there are a few dominant trends that are going to stay.

EASY DATA VISUALISATION

Data drives digitalisation – the brands looking to acquire and retain a huge customer base capitalise on customer data points to make a thriving business.

To make it easy for customers to consume branded content, creative designing agencies are harnessing the act of easy data visualisation.

The present need of using different forms of data in a visually appealing yet concise manner has increased the demand for graphic designers who can blend the art of storytelling with technical analysis.

This trend is predicted to stay for long as human brains are more wired to the visual representation of data than textual content.

MUTED COLOUR PALETTES

Picking an ideal colour scheme for a brand is the most essential yet challenging task for a creative design agency. It plays a crucial role in bringing ideas to life.

The ongoing wave of muted colour and duotone in brand designing is going to captivate the minds of customers. The muted colour tones are known as one of the easiest ways to give designs a fresh look. On the other hand, duotone replaces the role of using a black and white combination.

Though the trend of vibrant and dark colours is not going to disappear completely, there will be an increased focus on muted colour palettes. Creative designers will leverage the art of using these colour tones to give a natural and organic vibe to the brand.

GEOMETRIC SHAPES

Geometric shapes always bring a sharp and modern look to the design.

They are known to be one of the most strategic elements that make it easy for brands to draw the eyes of consumers to exactly where it wants them. Since geometric designs can easily go with any colour scheme, whether monotone, duotone or a muted colour palette, it makes the overall design eye-catching and impactful.

The trend of using clean lines and shapes is steadily becoming dominant and futuristic with graphic designers widely seen using flowing and abstract shapes.

FLAT ICONS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

A lot of creative design agencies are using flat icons and illustrations as a standard choice of design elements. Flat designs, in simple terms known as two-dimensional designs, help the brand to communicate information in a minimalistic and simple manner.

Many proficient graphic designers hired by digitally active brands consider flat icons and illustrations as a powerful tool of communication.

These elements are predicted to attract the attention of brands that look for simple designs to communicate complex meanings creatively and in fewer words.

BLUR AND GRAIN

One of the most popular trends of 2020 was the innovative use of gradients.

This year, creative designers have started putting emphasis on popping out text on a background.

That’s where blur and grain come into the picture. This trend has picked up in the market due to the widespread use of social media by brands. The effect of blur and grains create unique shadows and visual textures. It keeps the design fresh and makes the target audience spend more time on the brand’s promotional channels.

This is going to be a futuristic trend in graphic designing as it allows the creative designer to play with different elements and get eyeballs.

The graphic designing industry is witnessing unprecedented growth. Technology is moving forward and brands are more open to experimenting with their platforms by diversely aligning with customers’ needs and desires. Inclination towards using minimalist design blended with the aforementioned trends are going to lead the industry and drive customer engagement.

The writer is founder and chief executive officer, PitchWorx, Haryana