Like all other elements in brand marketing, graphic design continues to evolve and innovate. From technological advancements to changing consumer preferences, designers must constantly adapt to create content that resonates with their audience.
So, if you’re tasked with creating brand content that connects and engages your customers, keeping up with the latest graphic design trends is smart.
What is coming back in graphic design in 2023?
This year, graphic design is returning to more traditional and classic elements. This includes serif fonts, references to traditional media, pastels and bright colors, organic shapes, and patterns. In addition, illustration, animation, and motion are becoming increasingly popular—the latest trends to keep up with as your approach branding.
Top Graphic Design Trends for Branding
Hand-Drawn Illustrations.
Using custom illustrations in visuals can help boost authenticity in brand marketing, creating authentic connections with your customers. Hand-drawn art conveys originality and provides the personal, unique approach that today’s consumers desire. According to the Adobe Trust Report, 72% of consumers say poor personalization decreases brand trust.
Source: Exploding topics. Starbucks used hand-drawn illustrations for this social media campaign in Summer 2022.
Colorful Minimalism.
Prominent brands have used minimalism to convey a feeling of simplicity and sophistication. This type of graphic design usually relies on simplicity, order, and clean lines.
Source: Exploding Topics.
Maximalism.
Where minimalism strives for clean and simple, maximalism ignores boundaries and delights in excess. This year, expect to see bold and daring patterns, colors, and textures being used in designs—a more creative and expressive design concept.
Data Visualization.
With just eight seconds to grab someone’s attention, you’ve got to communicate your brand’s message quickly. Data visualization is critical to communicating authority and accountability without drowning consumers in pages of data. So, using data visualization can help you create a story and engage your audience fast.
HubSpot’s visual displays data regarding website traffic. Source: Exploding Topics.
Candy-Colored Pastels.
The recent trend of using candy-colored pastels sends audiences a youthful, optimistic vibe. Psychologically, these colors can bring about feelings of laughter, freshness, and growth. Pink is one candy-colored pastel that Shutterfly predicts designers will use more frequently in the future.
Kylie Cosmetics uses pastels to convey the femininity of their products to consumers. Source: Exploding Topics
Natural Patterns and Textures.
Nature-inspired visuals will likely continue year-round as they resonate with consumers’ growing interest in plants and concern for sustainability. Images of plants, flowers, wood texture, blue skies, bugs, and animal patterns like leopard, zebra, and cow prints are all popular nature motifs.
Diversity and Inclusion.
The Black Lives Matter movement brought focus to the lack of representation in the way people are depicted throughout the media, including illustration and graphic design. As a result, the world of graphic design will likely see a much larger emphasis on showing people of different ethnicities, genders, sexualities, ages, and abilities. Inclusivity also applies to the function of graphic design when designs are created with accessibility in mind.
3D Design.
The 3D trend continues this year mainly due to new technologies and software that make rendering intricate 3D textures and animations more accessible than ever. Use 3D design and animation to add a new dimension to design work to help your brand stand out.
Geometric Shapes.
More graphic designs are taking inspiration in part from the school of design—clean shapes, geometric compositions, and bright primary color palettes. Another reason geometric shapes are trending is that they are the first we learn as children and are associated with approachability.
Bold Colors and Typography.
Vibrant colors can create an emotional response and grab attention. In addition to bold colors, typography is becoming more prominent in designs. Fittingly, Pantone’s Color of the Year,
Viva Magenta 18-1750 falls in line: It is a shade rooted in nature descending from the red family and expressive of strength. The company says, “Viva Magenta is brave and fearless, and a pulsating color whose exuberance promotes a joyous and optimistic celebration.”
Reference to Traditional Media.
Traditional mediums like paper and watercolor are emerging as a graphic design trend. This trend is related to the increase in natural shapes and textures, as both rely on imperfection that evokes a personable warmth. In addition, the images that look like they have been made with human hands produce a connection that people desire more than ever—64% of consumers want brands to make a connection. Similarly, DIY-style art is on-trend with collages, torn paper, twine accents, wood grain, painterly brushstrokes, and references to fine art.
Vibrant Nostalgia.
We’re seeing a trend towards a colorful vintage aesthetic that references the 70s and 80s, with touches of psychedelic and retro-futurism. These bright designs feature bold gradients, gritty textures, cool psychedelic swirls, funky 70s fonts, and groovy images.
Source: Envato
Motion Design.
Motion design is the art of using animation to bring designs to life. Expect to see more motion design in 2023, as it adds a new level of interactivity and engagement to your brand designs: It can help create an emotional connection between the user and the design, making your brand more memorable.
Keeping our finger on the pulse of the industry, these are some of the graphic design trends on our radar. So, if you need help refreshing your brand marketing to keep up with what’s resonating with consumers, reach out to start the conversation. We’re here to help.
