A trend is a generalized movement or behaviour of a group of organisms, be it humans, companies, or markets.
When it comes down to trends in graphic design, we talk about movements in design which are consistent and massive enough to be recognized as a proven framework.
Now some of these trends you might have already spotted or even used in the previous months, maybe even years back! but it wasn’t until now that they have become a well-known trend.
As history repeats itself, you’ll find trends that take root in pre-existing art forms and styles, reinterpreting them for today’s
As a professional designer, while you can disregard the content here, it speaks of your professionalism to stay on top of any shifts and directions in design to provide a quality service.
For Online Business owners, having a grasp of what’s hot in terms of design can be an edge when optimizing a product or service, and equally as important, when creating a relevant brand.
Without further ado, let’s jump right into it!
Graphic design trends for 2019
- Isometric Design
- Modern Mid-Century Modern
- Gradient Duotones
- Serif Typefaces
- Overlapping Elements
- Responsive Logos
- Bold Colors
- Natural, Organic Shapes
- Black-and-White Palettes
- Original Custom Illustrations
Isometric design
Isometric Design is a basic well-known design concept that’s been around for literally Ages, and it has found a fertile ground on where to grow again in the Digital Age.
With simple and clean drawings, the isometric design brings back a fresh 3D look and feel for modern design elements, most noticeable Icons.
Furthermore, its ‘depth’ effect is perfect for more elaborate, yet simple designs that unites Art and Digital in lovely modern harmony.
Modern Mid-Century Modern
Mid-century modern (MCM) is the design movement in the interior, product, graphic design, architecture, and urban development from roughly 1945 to 1975, as America’s response to the European design trends of the time, like the Bauhaus movement.
This design trend is characterized by a much more simplistic yet still style-driven approach in contrast to the flashiness and frivolity of the previous Art Deco movement.
Modern MCM is a modern approach to this movement, applied to the current digital and graphic design landscape. You’ll quickly recognize MCM when you spot any combination of the following:
- Minimalism
- Clean lines and angles
- Geometric shapes
- Usability
- Classic
- Colours: Bold, neutral, vibrant
- The aAbsence of ornaments for the sake of ornamentation
Gradient Duotones
Gradients and duotone colour schemes have been featured pretty much everywhere in 2018 and it’s been such a strong trend that we cannot miss out on mentioning it in our 2019 roundup.
Hardly a trend that ever fades away, gradients have made a powerful resurgence in the past few years, most noticeably as part of the rebranding of Instagram in 2016.
Breaking away from Flat Design standards, gradients have become a staple in modern graphic design, especially when applied to Digital work.
Duotones are images that only use two colours. The technique has been around since the surge of photography, and today it’s being exploited to simplify an image’s colour palette while employing bright and expressive colours.
In 2019, we can thank Spotify for its contribution of mixing gradients and duotones into a striking blend of modern design for the digital era.
Serif Typefaces – Bookman, Old Style, and others
After several years of domination in the Digital and Graphic world, sans-serif typefaces are giving way to the likes of Bookman and Old Style fonts once again in an effort to reclaim originality and expression.
You’ll find the best uses of these styles on food packagings, artistic websites, fashion brands and luxury products.
Digital products are excellent opportunities to break the mould of sans-serif usage and include some strikingly expressive serif types that bring style and personality to the brand.
Overlapping elements
Another one of those trends that feed upon others, overlapping elements has been a known design technique that over the years has evolved into a true design form in and on itself.
This year we will see many brands and designers using opacity and playing with shapes to construct elements that represent a bigger idea.
Expect to find lots of plays with geometrical shapes, colour combinations and playful negative space, among other familiar design tropes.
[content_band bg_color=”#E8F6D2″ border=”all”] [container]Are you looking for a professional way to sell T-shirt designs? Printsome can print garments in no time and send them to you polybagged, ready to be sold. Visit our website to find out more.[/container] [/content_band]
Responsive logo design
Web responsiveness changed brand design forever. Prior to its advent, brands just needed two, maybe three versions of their logos at most. These days, it’s normal for a big brand to have up to four or five different logo variations for different screen resolutions and applications.
But this time it’s more than just making a seamless transition from size to size; it’s more about how to speak properly to the new audiences and the old ones, since we are indeed in the middle of a generational shift from non-digital people (to an extent) to people who have been born into the Digital Age.
Responsive Logos in 2019 feature dynamic typography and iconography, along with a deliberate brand frame to help improve the bridge between consumers and businesses.
Take a look at Joe Harrison’s Responsive Logos page to experiment how popular logos have adapted to this trend.
Bold colours
Last year there was a clear surge in bold colours taking over Design, and in 2019 this is only getting stronger.
And by “bold colours” we don’t just mean supersaturated colours, but actually, bold combinations and usages that we have never seen before, in an attempt to disrupt and draw attention to the work in question. Don’t just slap colours together, have a game plan for it.
Natural, organic shapes
More specifically for web pages, designers this year will turn towards more organic shapes and forms, drifting away from grids, squares and lines, at least for a little while.
Users are at a point where they want more than a website, they are looking for an experience, and websites with a more organic approach to design will go beyond functionality for the sake of adding a dimension of Experience that enrichens user and brand at the same time.
Black-and-white palettes
In contrast to the previously mentioned Bold colours trend, the Darkness trend is surely picking up relevance.
Armed with style, elegance, strong personality and Black & White in its majority, luxury products and websites will be the most benefited by this look and feel.
Whereas colourful designs are expressive simply by way of their colours, Black and White designs are better appreciated in their subtleties and details.
Pair this up with a minimal, yet identifiable colour accent and you might be onto a unique design or brand.
Original Custom Illustrations
As we become more conscious as consumers, we also appreciate the value behind a service, a business, a brand, and ultimately, the Art and the Artist behind it.
Custom illustrations are empowering because there is energy, time and life built into it, stuff that you just don’t get over the counter.
Brands—and any project for that matter—look for ways to capture the audience’s attention, and what a better way to do it than disrupt their routines with killer original artwork?
Phew! That’s a lot to digest, but thankfully there’s a brand new year ahead to put all these tactics to good use. Remember, Trends are always a source of inspiration, never a substitute for creativity. We hope our research and predictions on the current design trends inspire you in this amazing year to come!
Text: Gero Silva Pereira
This was a guest post by Gero Silva Pereira from Vexels.com, the Prime Vector Stock for Commercial Graphics. CLICK HERE to subscribe and get a 25% OFF on your Plan (limited time offer).
Print on Demand in the UK
Here at Printsome, we’ve always supported creative endeavours. Through our print on demand services, we are helping agents, artists, entrepreneurs, designers and content creators who have their own T-shirt line.
With dropshipping we deal with all the inventory and logistics headaches so you have more time to do what you love. We offer very fast dropshipping services in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world.
No matter where you want to sell merchandise on demand. We deliver anywhere.
If you want to sell quality garments, Printsome’s Print on demand service is exactly what you are looking for. Our garments are handpicked and thanks to our +6 years of experience in the T-shirt printing industry we ensure the highest print quality. You can take a look at our items here in our catalogue.
We don’t have minimum orders and we can print any design with no colour limitations. From the moment you connect your online shop with our Shopify T-shirt fulfillment platform, anyone can buy one of your designs.
If you have any doubt, you can contact us here. Our friendly team of printing advisors will help you. Print on demand worldwide has never been easier!
