Add These Graphic Design Trends to Your Marketing in 2021
Add These Graphic Design Trends to Your Marketing in 2021
2021 is a year of recovery, transition, and forward momentum. The graphic design trends we’re seeing are following suit with their fresh and modern stylings that seemingly pull inspiration from previous eras.
Mod & retro
Historical eras—and the design trends that come with them—are cyclical. Whether we’re talking about clothing, housing or advertising design, old trends tend to reappear over again. This year, the graphic design trends we’re seeing in 2021 reflect the mod designs of the 60s and 70s.
Mod and retro color palettes started emerging late in 2020 and are continuing to pick up momentum into 2021. Golds, teals, oranges and browns, and more muted neutral palettes with pops of jewel tones, are once again go-tos alongside dimensional text elements.
This pop of dimension on the screen draws you into a more comprehensive, single storytelling visual, rather than smaller visual elements throughout a design. If rad vintage colors aren’t your style, try incorporating more muted versions of these eclectic tones as secondary components of your brand identity; the contrast can actually provide balance to your work.
Natural organic shapes
Alongside the mod and retro vibes we’re seeing in graphic design this year, there is an increase in the use of natural shapes and elements. Organic versions of rigid geometric shapes help create a flow within your design and serve as transitions between textual and visual elements.
Leaf and greenery elements are also used to provide a more literal organic feel to designs, connecting products to their tangible real world applications.
Characters
Another trend we saw starting to emerge in 2020 that will likely continue into 2021 is the use of additional characters to supplement design. Brands are looking for additional representations for their content or to make their brand more relatable to their customers.
Brands like AirbBnB know their product would be nothing without their users, so they’ve created characters to show you exactly how you would experience using their service. Whether it’s humans, otherworldly beings or animals, creating a set of simple characters for your brand can immensely improve your user experience.
Monochrome/duochrome
If you’re not into the retro look and feel, try experimenting with monochrome and duochrome design. This use of a limited color palette allows for other brand elements and visuals to serve as the context for your design. Pair two or three tones of your primary brand color to create dimension.
These limited color palettes also serve as a great base for bold white or black punchy headlines. Multiadaptor successfully deployed this graphic design trend in their rebrand of Google’s Campus, a network of co-working and event spaces. They created several iterations of promotional materials that, due to their minimalist design, were able to work in several different palettes.
Looking for input from our design team on how we can help you build a visual brand identity that resonates? Contact us to get started!