2022 Design Trends
Design trends are a great way to keep your marketing materials relevant. However, when it comes to design, some techniques are timeless, and trends can distract from that. Remember, it may not always be best to chase the trends. It’s important to evaluate first and see what fits best for the chosen tactics for your brand. Now, let’s look at the eight design trends that are taking over 2022.
“The goal of a designer is to listen, observe, understand, sympathize, empathize, synthesize, and glean insights that enable him or her to ‘make the invisible visible.’ –Hillman Curtis
1. Inclusive Visuals are essential to emphasize the diversity of human life because of equality and justice. This is the best way to express and connect more to your audience and broaden your reach. Your audience is paying attention on how your values align with theirs. Companies are making it a top priority to add inclusive visuals in marketing campaigns, templates, etc. A solid example of this is the image below from Slack.
“The life of a designer is a life of fight. Fight against the ugliness, just like a doctor fights against disease. For us, the visual disease is what we have around, and what we try to do is cure it somehow with design.” – Massimo Vignelli
2. Sharp Infographics are where it is at. From the start of the pandemic, we were being blasted on news channels and social media with infographics that are not only ugly, but also hard to interpret. Now designers have taken the responsibility of communicating data to a whole new level by making fun, engaging, simplistic and appealing graphics.
“Color is so intuitive.” – Milton Glaser
3. Simple Bold & Bright Backdrops are in and muted colors are out. Bold colors will grab attention more and make brands stand out with all the busyness of online and outdoors. They also make a great contrast when used with lighter text, making it easier to read.
“Color does not add a pleasant quality to design – it reinforces it.” – Pierre Bonnard
4. Colorful Icons and Illustrations: Keeping the consistency of the bold background trend, colorful icons and illustrations will also be popular in 2022. Icons are a strong marketing tool that help communicate an idea with just a quick glance. Icons are also very helpful because they are a quick way to communicate to speakers of different languages.
“The beauty of type lies in its utility; prettiness without readability serves neither author nor reader.” – James Felici
5. Serif fonts aren’t going anywhere. From making a revival in 2021, they haven’t lost their touch in 2022. San serif fonts are used so often that when a serif font pops up, it immediately catches the eye. Serif fonts come off as elegant, stylish and nostalgic because they have been around for centuries.
“Change my mind” – Steven Crowder
6. Branded Memes are everywhere. Almost anything and everything can be turned into a meme. Memes are now an integral part of our culture and it’s impossible to dodge them. While some memes are timeless, some are only relevant for a few weeks —even days or hours —before they spiral out. Good memes are simple, humorous, relevant to your audience, and they convey a story that aligns with you.
“MOVE it or lose it” – Martin Widdowfield
7. Animation/Motion Graphics gives the audience another stronger insight to your brands personality. Think about all the different types of dance style’s there are and now think about the brands you like and what their gifs or animations being posted look like? Are they calm and slow movements or jumpy and quick? Motion also plays a part in package design and print. QR codes weren’t as popular until the pandemic where they were used as restaurant menus and signing up for memberships at stores. Now people understand the idea of, “Scan for information” thus taking print and package design to a whole new level.
“Waste is a design flaw.” -Kate Kreba
8. Sustainable action is being required to match the aesthetic of a package and brand.
Greenwashing has become common and consumers are very much aware of it.
Brands are having to step it up to show that they really do care about the planet rather than just having their package design look visually sustainable. Brands will have to use more sustainable materials in their packaging or risk more taxes for not following the Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme which will be in effect April 2022. Designers will have to rethink how to choose the most sustainable materials and if they can be recyclable to have the lowest carbon impact.
“Styles come and go. Good design is a language, not a style.” Massimo Vignelli.
2022 design trends are an outcome of the changing social and political world post-pandemic. Following these trends can show your brand’s relevance and quality. Just make sure you’re not sacrificing your brand values by chasing the latest trends.
