As our society becomes more instant and rapid, our short attention spans require marketing and advertising to be quick and easy to consume. Graphic design delves into multiple areas including print marketing, website design and even social media. Good graphic design is functional, conveys a message and is attractive.
Why all the psychobabble? Get to the trends! <h3>
There’s a point to talking about attention spans because it dictates how graphic designers must function now and in the future. In an overall sense, we see graphic design working towards maintaining its three purposes while tailoring to markets that value the short term “grab”—simpler designs, bolder typefaces, and more infographics. This simpler approach will also be manifested in more vintage-style designs, which is already being evidenced by the “throwback” versions that many brands have introduced in the last year or so.
What other trends do we foresee being prominent in Graphic Design for 2012?
Cross-platform compatibility <h3>
We probably sound like a broken record at this point, but it’s true. With interactive media becoming more prevalent, the use of mobile devices skyrocketing, and graphic design generally being useful in television, print, and web design, it’s increasingly important that graphic design elements maintain appearance and functionality across multiple platforms. Graphic designers (including ours) will focus on making sure the designs are appropriate for use on multiple platforms
Nature/sustainability
The new header and logo for Nelson Counseling shows a peaceful nature scene. Nature and hints of “sustainability” will become increasingly popular in 2012.
With an increasing focus on environmentalism and nature, we see companies choosing designs that have colors and other elements inspired by nature. There will also be an increase in subtle hints that the company is sustainable both in ecological practices and in overall business practices.
Human touch
As technology has become more sophisticated in the last decade, design has been focused on showcasing the new technology and the new capabilities it brings. We see a movement more towards letting the graphic designer put their human touch on designs, if even in subtle ways. The software and other technology will still be used, of course, but it will be used in a way that lets the viewer feel that the design has been touched by human hands rather than being purely digital. Consumers will see this touch in photography, hand-drawn illustrations and for some larger brands, more user-generated content.
More SEO-friendly fonts
In the past only a select handful of fonts that could be used for content on websites. Sure, more than a handful of fonts could be seen, but those unique typefaces were used in graphics that had to be created. The new web fonts that are becoming increasingly available allow website developers and graphic designers to download the font and use it directly on the site instead of having to create a graphic. Why does this matter? It’s all about search engine optimization. Search engines can’t search words that are in photo documents or other graphic design program documents. It stands to reason that keywords would come naturally in most graphic design projects so by having the downloadable web fonts, graphic designers are able to help increase the SEO of any web project.
Need help? <H3>
The Belford Group is an experienced image-building marketing and website development agency, with more than a decade spent providing creative marketing and advertising solutions to fit any budget and any medium.
Call us. We’d love to hear from you.
479-443-9945