If you’re wondering what will be the big digital design trends in 2018, just look back on 2017 for some big clues – think experimental, fun and unique digital experiences.
We saw brands turn to custom illustration to add emotion to their brand communications, such as Intercom, a B2B company that uses illustrated vignettes to describe product benefits to users.
Global adoption of smartphones continue to push the digital design boundaries with mobile app design focused on delivering a responsive user experience.
Motion is also emerging in unlikely places in the form of cinemagraphs – still photographs with minor or repeated movements, forming a video clip and published as an animated GIF – and parallax scrolling on websites. The latter is an elegant and playful trend born 4-5 years ago, sees the background of a web page move at a slower rate to the foreground, creating a 3D effect as your scroll. Used sparingly, it can help create a memorable brand experience for visitors.
Let’s dive straight into the six digital design trends we’re likely to see more of this year.
01 Custom Illustrations
Gaining further momentum in 2018, custom illustration will continue to grow in its use by more serious, formal companies precisely because it makes the brand appear more approachable to customers.
The popularity of generic, heavy stock images is on the wane. In their place, innovative companies are turning to bespoke illustration that strike a balance between personality and functionality.
DesignCrowd is home to a community of top illustrators who can expertly create illustrations to meet any client brief.
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02 Bold Type
Long the obsession of print media designers, type is now viewed as a unique element in digital design, rather than just text on a screen.
This year typography will become more experimental through spacing, size and weight. With more unusual web fonts being supported by browsers and other OS, we expect to see the merging of other type families such as serif fonts sitting used alongside san serif typefaces.
We’re looking forward to seeing how designers incorporate bolder, louder and in your face type in everyday digital environments.
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03 Breaking The Grid
The trend for grid layouts to arrange elements is changing. Asymmetrical or overlapping grids are now trending for the best UI/UX as this new approach produces a more stylish and original interface.
When breaking the grid, there needs to be a distinct balance of text and visual elements.
For example, juxtaposing white psace and text with a visuall will create an easy flow to a user’s eye, reducing confusion in the navigation.
Don’t forget, as the examples below demonstrate, breaking the grid, doesn’t mean the layout hasn’t been properly thought out.
04 Movement/Animation
The ever growing trend of animated GIFs has made the digital world more exciting. The movement trend is best seen through cinematography, animations and micro interactions in digital experiences. This trend allows users to interact with the page, when the page is loading, or understanding action buttons, such as scrolling or focusing on a button.
The important thing is that digitally nothing stays still anymore. Digital design should look alive, creating life and energy.
Keep in mind, the movement does not have to be so obvious, it is preferable to incldue subtle gestures of movement to satisfy there user, while there is loading or scrolling time.
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05 Vibrant Colors & Gradients
Vibrant colors have become more prominent in web design via the popularity of duotones, inspired by Spotify. Wikipedia: A duotone is a halftone reproduction of an image using the superimposition of one contrasting colour halftone over another color halftone, bringing out the middle tones and hightlights on an image.
Designers are no longer stuck with ‘web safe’ colors, they are free to juxtapose vibrant and highly saturated colors to attract customers and allow the brand to stand out.
The gradient trend is making a comeback and is more experimental this time, using multi-color transitions rather than a monotone transition.
Color transitions have been growing in popularity ever since big companies like Instagram re-branded their logo from a flat color to multi-color transitions. Designers are using gradients to overlay concepts, provide depth and material design.
The ‘color’ classics black and white will never go away, but since this is the year for experimenting, more and more designers are creating digital designs with duotones, bold and vibrant colors.
06 Brutalism
Brutalism is an interesting new and experimental design trend that emerged in 2017. The design trend is a stripped back version of minimalism, which you’ll either love or hate.
Key qualities of brutalism include raw, rough, unpolished design, inspired by Brutalism Architecture (de post WW2 design trend), where buildings were stripped down to functional, not decorative purposes.
Characteristics of Brutalism:
- There is no true color palette
- No visual hierarchy
- Simple or no navigation
- Breaking the grid with overlapping elements
- Clean lines and simple designs
- Experimental, provocative, niche
- Likely to appeal to a younger generation
This trend is really for brands and companies where risk-taking is part of their DNA. Brutalism works for the global Italian fashion brand Gucci, who use this trend to evoke a connection with their fashion-forward customers and younger fans. The approach could also work well for graphic designers who want to present their work as cutting edge in an online portfolio.
Gucci
Biennale
Mile Inn
Want more?
To get your head around the trends of the future, familiarize yourself with the trends of the past:
The key web trends for 2017
The top web trends set to dominate 2016
5 web trends for 2015
20 cutting edge website designs and trends for 2014
See where today’s trends started: 50 web trends of 2010
10 stunning style guides of leading brands
5 visual design trends brand managers and designers should embrace for 2015
Written by Divya Abe on Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Divya Abe is an expert graphic designer ready to share her knowledge with the crowd. Besides spending quality time on the internet she enjoys anything to do with cats. Get in touch via Google+.