The most frequently used design styles of the year go on to become the top design trends. Design Style Trends of 2022 had some new innovations and even brought back some classics. How many of these design trends can you master for your next project?
Curvy, Smooth and Squishy 3D:
The lives we led during the pandemic meant that we were locked in a single room with no human connection. Zoom meetings with loved ones replaced handshakes and hugs. This is when single-dimensioned lives made us compensate with 3D design choices. Not just any kind of 3D but evocative shapes that made us feel that these objects are probably soft to touch, smooth to feel and copiously curvy. The popularity of 3D design is possibly quite indicative of the contrasting lives we led during the lockdown.
Candy Shop Palettes:
Just like the neon craze of 2012, the candy-coloured palettes came to captivate us all with bursts of bright colours. Whether candy colours were just for a single colour pop in an otherwise neutral palette or the whole design was immersed in candy colours, Graphic Designers loved it all the way. Packaging Design and Web Design saw a great revival from neutral palettes to vibrant candy colours.
90’s Nostalgia:
Flat images, thick outlines, grid backgrounds, 90’s iconography and not to forget the loud glitchy colours. Glitch or chromatic aberration is used cleverly to make the illustrations look like the designs are probably from a 90’s video game ad poster. The last of the gaming arcades but certainly not the last of 90’s nostalgia. Presumably, 90’s nostalgia may become even more popular in-app designs as user interface (UI) designers seem to love the aesthetic.
Twisted Fonts:
Ok ok ok… with the popularity of ornamental glyph options in fonts, it is very likely that all the K’s would have a different spin on their tails. Logo designing went through a bit of an overhaul with alternate font glyphs. Curvy tails and flourished ears gave the anatomy of the typeface a fresh new feel. Most of these fabulous fonts resembled classic typography with a modern twist. I prefer calling them Heteroglyphs! Elegant fonts, especially in label artwork and logo design are probably going to stay popular for a while longer to be in the list of latest typography design trends.
No Nonsense UI:
Flat buttons, sans serif classics, primary colours, monoline icons and a simple layout. This basic style left no room for error. If you are absolutely new to graphic design and would like to learn how to form well-planned layouts, starting with this basic style is a clever choice. Turning complicated data into simple designs that the audience understands easily is the main purpose of Graphic Design. A simple, no-nonsense user interface manages just that. It is more like the blue jeans and plain white T-shirt in your closet that will never go out of style because it is comfortable, serves the purpose well and is simply evergreen. This is one of the minimal design style trends of 2022
AI Impasto:
Most designers are quite against AI-generated designs. Typing the names of objects in a search bar and generating a pretty painting is probably the equivalent of driving your car to win a marathon. Even though the car is definitely going to win the 5K, it is unfair to those who actually endured running the 5K. However, the one thing about AI art that is undeniable is that is desperately trying to be a human artist. AI artwork had the look of thick impasto oil strokes on the tiniest of areas with pixel perfection. It won’t be long before fine artists bring back impasto strokes and give AI a run for its money.
Riso Chromatic Aberration:
Risograph is an old printing method where one colour was printed at a time. When it was the turn for printing the second colour, the paper might have displaced a little causing colours to slightly overlap. This overlay of colours would look like outlines, light or shadows that were a mixture of the two main colours. For example, a poster made of red and blue would have purple inconsistencies. Blue and yellow would have green and so on. All a graphic designer would have to do is pick a minimum of two colours and the third would be a mixture of the two and used mostly to make artificial printing mistakes. Who says design flaws are not beautiful? Using the overlay option in photoshop is a great way to achieve this effect.
Distressed, Noisy Halftone:
After the rise of comic book films, it was only a matter of time before Halftone would make a comeback. At first, readymade filters in photo editing apps had halftone, distressed, noise and grunge effects. Later on, professional designing applications like Photoshop, Procreate and Clip Studio Paint brushes with the halftone stamp and CMYK mixes made some of the coolest artwork of 2022. I wonder if comic book films might take a cue and start making their film posters in distressed, noisy halftone illustrations.
Gold Luxe Glam:
Photographers and graphic designers teamed up to make beautiful adverts and designs with rich dark backgrounds, classy fonts and gilded designs for that luxe glam aesthetic. Gold glam meant that the label you were looking at was probably of a high-end product with a matte finish wrapper and spot UV of glossy gold metallic print. Ah! Pure elegance! This is one of the classic design style trends that may go on to stay popular even after 2022.
Lines and Blobs:
Often times a simple design gives you more vibes than a space with complex, crowded elements. This style has evocative colour palettes of neutrals with that single deep rich colour for a pop, simple line art icons and clean thin fonts. It is an easy design style for hassle-free branding.
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