BLOGPOST: 7 Design Trends for 2022
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What trends will be shaping graphics and web design in 2022? One thing is certain: When it comes to design trends, this year is going to be even more experimental than before. Here comes our own (quite personal and by no means exhaustive) selection: What you can look forward to is maximalism, the 90s, escapism, inclusive design and yes, also serifs.
1. Maximalism
For many years, it was minimalism, geometry and harmony that were fashionable. But there’s been a countervailing trend for some time toward opulence along with more chaos and disharmony, what can be called maximalism. It can be described virtually as baroque richness. (Digital) spaces are now filled with many objects, colours and shapes. More is more. But at the same time, it needs to be authentic, very personal and incredibly expressive.
2. Nostalgia and Retro: Near Past
When it came to nostalgia and retro, creative designers used to enjoy zooming back to the seventies and eighties. But now it’s the turn of the decades that followed them - the nineties and noughties. Somehow it fits with the near-future wave seen in current books, films and series. So, let’s call this trend the Near Past. The Near Past epoch is naturally just as diverse as the epochs that preceded it. It’s a bit of candy pop, a bit of grunge and a bit of Web 1.0.
Candy Colours: Bring on the colours!
Whether it’s pink, light blue, turquoise or yellow, the main thing is for it to be colourful and even a bit dazzling, to be millennium style colours, and above all, it should be embedded into the look of the early internet.
Grunge Revival
Countering the bright and cheerful candy colour trend is the grunge style. Grunge means something like “filth” or “muck”, and it can be expressed in different types of art, from music to fashion and visual design. Grunge is gloomy, ugly, rough and uncontrolled. Correspondingly, the design is deliberately torn, scribbled and unclean, and during the pandemic a counterpoint to two years of living under safe hygiene rules.
3. Escapism
Last year, there was a description of people escaping from their own four walls to commune with nature, which has consistently continued in 2022. Escaping into the magical, supernatural, surreal, bizarre or sometimes even psychedelic, it somehow always descends into fantasy. Escapism at its best!
4. Illustrations: Flat Design and 2D/3D Mashup
Further experimenting with illustrations can be expected in 2022. Creators have at times gone wild with reduced flat designs, radically foregoing three-dimensional elements and working all the more with colours instead. Or else they have been combining 2D and 3D. The main thing is to keep trying, trying, trying!
5. Typography: exotic, outsized and frisky
The trend for typography to become itself a work of art keeps going. Designers are experimenting in 2022 with exotic typefaces rarely used before. Yet the trend to oversize is also continuing. Catching everybody by surprise and attracting attention is what matters. Of course, those looking for less minimalism and more opulence are rediscovering serifs for themselves. To follow the trend toward more flourish and playfulness with less cleanness.
6. Inclusive Design
In 2022, creative professionals are increasingly addressing diversity and inclusion. What does that mean in concrete terms? Inclusive design, whether for web presence, in magazines, out-of-home, social media or blog posts, excludes no one and considers everybody, regardless of gender or culture. The visual language likewise reflects diversity and inclusion, and, finally, there is barrier-free web accessibility. Finding the right “visual tone” is itself an art in inclusive design, where the design should not be overdone, but rather tell the story authentically.
7. Design in Motion
There is literally ever more movement evident in design. In 2022, who can imagine a world without gifs, animations and dynamic fonts? Surely, motion gets attention. But more than that, it creates identity - perhaps even more so than static design can. What does that mean? For example, the same car can be driven both fast and slow. It’s the motion that makes the difference. But it also means thinking about movement, rhythm and time when designing motion. So creative designers should be getting to work on those new skills!
Written by: Beatrix Ta
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This article was originally posted in our blog: https://www.newsaktuell.com/blog/7-design-trends-for-2022/
This blog is published by news aktuell, a subsidiary of dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
