The face of design is always changing. As a brand, you want all your customer touchpoints to feel timely and relevant. You need to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the creative and branding world in particular. Design plays a huge part in branding and it’s important to know the most up-to-date design trends that will capture your target audience. For the insights on the trends that are poised to sweep the design world in the upcoming half year, let’s take a deep dive into them!
Unique branding
Brands know that they need a logo to differentiate their brand. While logos will continue to be a key design asset in the upcoming half-year, expect 2020 to see brands thinking beyond the logo and building a broader, more comprehensive brand identity. If you want to focus on your brand identity in 2020, think about how all of your design assets will come together to build a cohesive brand and whether they need a refresh. Think about designing something more on-brand to make an impression on your clients. Consider hiring a designer to come up with something that’s more in line with your brand. Focus on your packaging and design something that’s going to fly off the shelves, or reach the most engagement.
Custom typography
It doesn’t matter who you are, what you do, or what industry you’re in. Your market is saturated with competition. With so many competitors out there, it’s never been more important to break through to grab your audience’s attention. That’s why, in 2020, expect relying on common fonts to take a backseat to a more custom approach to typography. Creating a custom font for your brand can be a great way to differentiate yourself and stand out in 2020. Before you start designing, you need to put some serious thought into what kind of font you’re going to design. Designing custom typography is great. Before you start designing, just make sure you know what the typography is going to say about you and your brand. Custom typography is set to be a big trend in 2020. But if it’s not in your budget, don’t worry. You can still get a unique look with your typography.
Thinking outside of the design box
Many brands and designs have been following the trend of playing it safe, which has led to a more formulaic approach to design that hasn’t exactly made for interesting or unique designs. But in 2020 you should see more brands and designers flexing their creative muscles, thinking outside of the design box, and creating designs that feel special, on-brand, and truly one-of-a-kind. If there’s one 2020 design trend that offers unlimited possibilities, it’s this one. This trend offers you the opportunity to get creative, so take advantage of it!
Bold, contrasting colours
While great designs often boast a neutral colour palette, in 2020 we can expect the colour trends to lean more towards the bright and bold. If you’ve wanted to experiment with bright, bold, vibrant colours, now is the time to do it! If the thought of going all bold with your colour palette feels like a lot of colours all at once, that’s ok! You can still embrace this trend by using more vibrant hues as accent colours. If your brand colour palette is mostly neutrals, try adding in a bright pop of yellow, green, or pink to liven it up. If you’re designing a monochrome image for social media, add some vibrancy with one boldly coloured element. Take small steps towards adding bolder colours into your design and by the end of this year, you’ll be rocking this trend like a pro.
Injecting more art into the design
Graphic design is an art form. But it’s certainly not the only art form. If your designs have an artistic talent that you typically don’t incorporate into your graphic design projects, look for ways to integrate both to create fresh, on-trend designs. Illustrate your mascot instead of using computer graphics. Try incorporating more artistic, hand-drawn elements on your packaging. Creating a watercolour background to lend it a more artistic flair. In the second half of 2020, the more artistic, the better!
