What’s New? 2016 Design Trends
As January comes to an end, we had some time to gather the top five graphic design trends that will be dominating 2016. Last year, flat design, grid layouts and a wide display of effortless yet clean fonts were king in compositions for advertising and branding purposes. However, this year, although we can see some of the stronger traces of these styles, there are also other things that will be taking over visual communication.
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1. Hand lettering: Lettering was one of the strongest trends of mid-2015. More and more designers got inspired by vintage ads and integrated them to their graphic solutions. In 2016, this style seems to be gaining more popularity and more brands opt to inspire and connect with their consumers by utilizing it. This effortless resource gives freedom to experiment and get really creative, and this is why we love it!
2. Mono lines: This style is inspired by simplicity, and is implemented by the utilization of a line of unchanging thickness to compose something “wired”, with a sense of infinity. Digital spaces are one of the places where this is used the most and it emits a clean vibe wherever it goes. Implement it in headers or icons.
3. “Modern” Retro Style: This is a little bit of a mix of the last two trends mentioned, the modern retro style migrated from the so-called “rockabilly lifestyle” and lurked its way into this list by offering a refreshing twist on advertising classics.
4. Material design: Introduced to the world by Google and known as “Flat 2.0”, this style was born as a mix of “deliberate color choices, edge-to-edge imagery, large-scale typography, and intentional white space”. Mainly used for web and mobile, it has more to it than just simple shapes creating a layout, as it can utilize gradients and shadows as design elements when appropriate. When those elements are integrated, it results in an effortless and cool image.
5. Negative space: The less crowded a design looks, the better – or at least, that’s the talk across the web. We’re thinking that this trend is going to take over like a storm this year and it should. This approach is especially useful for logos and other branding projects, and highlighting negative space will be the main goal of everyone aiming to show off their love for minimalistic approaches.
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What do you think about our list? Do you have any other trend that you’d like to add to it?
Share your comments with us!