As we settle into 2022, some people are focused on drinking green juice and renewing our gym membership while others are drinking a glass of wine and renewing their Netflix subscription – to that the team at JFG says, “to each their own.”
However, with a new year comes a surplus of new trends and our job at JFG is to identify the expected marketing trends for the upcoming year.
What consumers expect to see in social media graphics, landing pages, logo updates, email newsletters, and website redesigns changes year to year – which makes keeping up with graphic design trends a priority for agencies and the clients they serve.
Never Forget Nostalgia
One of 2022’s most anticipated graphic design trends is “nostalgia” which largely took off as a result of social media platforms which we’ll get into shortly.
As Social Media Today put it, “everything old and retro is new again!” Designs are going back to the basics in a lot of ways as they shift heavily to simplicity. A design that provokes nostalgia offers the consumer a sense of peace because the image feels like “something they’ve seen before” – imitating the concept of spotting a familiar face in a crowded room.
Creating nostalgia themed designs gives you an opportunity to create something timeless that has also changed – appealing to generations as both something old and something new. We often think that designs need to be loud and bold to capture a consumer’s attention but the concept of “nostalgia” prompts the consumer to feel, and people often act on emotion.
As mentioned earlier, one place the concept of nostalgia in design first took off was through filters that are placed over photos or videos on social media apps such as Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok. Oddly enough, the filters often result in low-quality images and if you have watched Christmas morning in ‘97 unfold through the lens of a camcorder, you know exactly what I mean,
In graphic design elements, nostalgia might appear as grainy textures, moody color schemes, and simple shapes. You might spot the very basic, but very famous, first-generation emojis or pixelated art forms. Although technology now allows us to create images that far surpass the quality of those from decades ago, we all daydream of “simpler times” and nostalgia-themed designs offer that to us at a glance.
Get Moving on 3D and Animation
Digital Information World talked about how both 3D and animated designs are going strong because they offer endless options to create for designers. Using these techniques, a design can always be made brand new making both of these strong and steady options in the new year
Although a 3D design itself is often seen digitally, it appears to be physical because the dimension makes you feel like it’s really in front of you – capturing your attention and blurring the lines between what is real and what is not.
Animation can also create a sense of reality that can bring a design to life. A still image of a bright, shiny balloon and an animated image of a balloon that gracefully rises out of view will both capture your attention, but one might do it sooner. Animation brings life into the design because it creates motion – giving that design a heartbeat.
Because 3D and animated designs offer such a surplus of possibility, many designs that take this approach are still being perfected – options can leave room for error which is not a bad thing in the world of design. Both of these approaches allow designers to create virtually anything their creative minds can muster up making this trend a front runner for 2022.
Consider Candy Colored Doodled Concepts
If you think back to the board game “Candy Land,” originally released in 1949, you’ll quickly be able to visualize what a candy-colored design concept would look like. The concept of candy-colored designs are challenging what consumers expect to see in digital imagery and giving them a sugar rush they can’t resist.
This type of design, in some ways, also plays off of that “nostalgia” concept that we talked about earlier – a big, bubble letter font filled in with candy colors reminds us of childhood. These designs tend to be whimsical, and perhaps even whacky, but they bring us back to something familiar, and in the right setting, the design works.
A lot of candy-colored designs also reflect the concept of “doodling,” and appear to be hand drawn, which is another front-running trend. A doodled design humanizes the concept itself because a human had to create it with their hands. Doodle designs are standing up to sharp and modern digital designs and pair quite well together. Someone has to create a doodle which makes it personal and from a branding perspective, you solidify a design that is completely your own.
If you want your company’s digital presence to better reflect one of the current trends above, contact J. Fitzgerald Group today.
