New trends in visual communication are constantly emerging. Designers and marketers should remain mindful of trends as they develop. Awareness of current trends, knowing what's been and is being done, what works and what does not, will help your team make informed creative decisions for your brand communications. Here's what began to trend in late 2022 and is forecasted to hold our attention as we move through 2023.
WHO?: Staying and Remaining Relevant
Above any trends that may wax and wane - one will always be in style: relevance. People want connection - truly authentic relationships. Now in 2023, it is no surprise that the need to connect to your audience and build a relationship of trust is more important than ever. Communication decisions that ensure a stronger emphasis on the relationship between your brand and your audience (current and prospective) only serve to strengthen brand equity. When examining your brand's relevancy, ask the following:
How can OUR brand:
Be more relatable?
Create compelling ideas and express individuality?
Tell great stories?
Be authentic?
JUST YOUR TYPE: Typographic-Centric Designs
Typography is nothing new to visual communication; most designers have favorite typefaces and can spot poor kerning from a mile away. Type-centric designs are on the rise once again. This design approach lends even more power to the typography you employ. It is bold to rely on typography alone to tell your brand's story and visually express your brand's values. Because of this, we will continue to see a rise in custom or customized typeface families and find brands seeking exceedingly expressive typographic treatments.
Agency Grey New York utilized a graffiti font to give typography a starring role in its campaign for ALLY.
RETRO-REFRESH: What's Old is New Again
Constant, new, and emerging technology drives designers to reinterpret the past through new media. Taking past design aesthetics and finding new ways to re-present them is a complex challenge that can help create engaging new touchpoints for your brand. There will continue to be an upswing in nostalgia-driven typefaces, dynamic retro color swatches, and striking imagery.
ILLUSTRATED: The Visual Embodiment of Your Brand
Illustrations add personality to your brand; they are a great addition to your marketing collateral. As more and more brands strive to be authentic, custom illustrations can help add a feeling of authenticity - especially if they look unique or hand-drawn. By adopting an original illustration style, you can broaden your brand's visual palette allowing for more expressive and delightful visual communications. Flat-linear style illustrations have also been taking center stage as of late.
We incorporated custom illustration in The State Bank’s rebrand launch campaign.
COLOR YOUR WORLD: Expand Your Brand's Visual Voice
Color is a great way to express your brand's voice. This year, look for fresh takes on retro colors, nature-inspired palettes, and electric neons. Vivid Minimalism—neon colors matched with solid black or white—is striking and abundant in many brand designs in 2023. There are newly engaging takes on primary color matchups. Also, we have seen increased use of candy pastel palettes and bold use of gradients.
Brazil’s NuBank utilizes a bold and bright color palette.
INCLUSIVITY & REPRESENTATION: All Are Welcome Here
Examining your customer's journey is a great way to discover various touchpoints vital to developing brand equity. Providing a welcoming and safe space for all will aid in building public trust. One way to make your brand feel inclusive is to increase the emphasis on depicting people of different ethnicities, genders, sexualities, ages, and abilities through photography, illustration, and iconography. Visual design practices embracing the idea of universal design—making an end product accessible to everyone regardless of their circumstances—goes beyond architecture and software to now include brand design.
DATA VISUALIZATION: What's Your Point?
Engaging ways to showcase data points can provide a way to inform your customer without overwhelming them. Find some unique ways to visualize complex information so your customers will thank you. You can create stories with data using infographics and illustrations and highlight data relevant to your customers. Take compelling information, make it visually engaging, and with just a few simple graphics, truly elevate your brand.
The design decisions you make are an integral part of your communications strategy. Incorporating on-trend elements that complement your brand can reinforce and strengthen your overall messaging strategy. Unsure where to start? Give us a call to set up a conversation to discuss how Galapagos can help you improve your visual communications.