Top 10 graphic design trends in 2022 to enhance your work
Graphic design's importance in our daily lives cannot be overstated. Good design enhances the identity of our favorite brands and goes far beyond an entity's appearance. We use it to provide information, convey messaging, or persuade our audience by combining images, colors, and shapes.
It can be difficult to keep up with the changes in the world of graphic design because there are so many players and influences in the field. As a designer, it's important to stay current on graphic design trends and choose which ones to include in your design portfolio.
To help you feel better, this article will explain, and more importantly, show you, the top ten graphic design trends and creative styles you'll notice more in 2022, some of which will last for several years.
Trend 1: Combining 2D x 3D
For many years, 3D design has been on the rise, and it continues to evolve and establish itself. It allows designers to be as creative as they want because it provides an almost infinite number of options.
The most popular work in this category includes highly realistic 3D visuals that blur the line between digital and physical elements, as well as mashups that incorporate 2D graphics and paper cutouts.
The year 2022 will see a significant transition from 2D to 3D.
Trend 2: Going back to 90s
Popular media such as Netflix's Cobra Kai and Stranger Things (among many others) have recently revived 80s nostalgia, ushering in an era of vaporwave landscapes, neon colors, and Gothic serifs. And retro comebacks will finally reach the 1990s in 2022!
Many of the trends on this list show a return to the 1990s. However, the nostalgia trend reflects a romanticized view of the past.
To that end, we're reliving the 1990s with simple emojis, crude internet frames, geometric shapes, and scribbled illustrations. Childhood's dripping slime and bright color blocks are still kings.
Channel the 90s for a retro vibe in your next design project.
Trend 3: Twisted Typography
This trend involves anything "out of the ordinary" that disrupts your order, whether one letter is upside down, in a larger or smaller font, or completely missing.
In a smaller text, a portion of your lettering could be arranged to reveal a different message than the rest. This design trend is a great way to make a statement and draw attention to a specific area of the design.
Also, if the Squid Game intro comes to mind, you're not alone.
Trend 4: Design in the Ukiyo-e style
Japanese ukiyo-e was a popular form of art from the 17th to the 19th centuries. They portrayed female beauties, kabuki actors, sumo wrestlers, historical and folkloric scenes, travel scenes, landscapes, and flora and fauna. The Japanese term ukiyo-e means "pictures of floating worlds."
Vector artists are well-versed in the use of bold outlines, flat colors, and limited perspective techniques. Similar designs are used in today's creative world to give ordinary flat vector scenes an edge.
Trend 5: Candy Colors Vibes
Nowadays, standing out from the crowd of online content creators is a full-time job. As a result, graphic designers have begun to experiment with color to capture our attention while scrolling.
A trend of vibrant candy-colored scenes is sweeping the internet.
Hint: it's easier to make these fairy-floss themes if you understand and can apply color theory to your tasty digital creations.
Trend 6: The emergence of the anti-designer
An anti-design is exactly what it sounds like: a rejection of traditional design principles and aesthetics.
In this trend, asymmetry, color clashes, bare interfaces, and busy patterns challenge our senses. The style has been chastised for being ugly for the sake of being ugly. To its supporters, however, it results in projects that are free of the beauty standards imposed by traditional designers.
In 2022, the anti-designers intend to completely disregard the rules.
Trend 7: 3D Characters
Fans of the Nintendo 64, cheer! Our favorite 3D-style characters have made a big comeback in graphic design for many apps, websites, and animations.
Characters can be created as 2D designs, holographic designs, candy color designs, or any other type of design discussed in this article. As shown in the examples below, we can all enjoy the 3D character trend.
Trend 8: Parametric patterns
A parametric pattern is made up of geometric structures with morphing lines based on their relative positions. The style is inspired by graphs of parametric equations.
Parametric patterns in 2022 designs represent the complexities of the subjects they represent, ranging from communication to identity.
Patterns are heavily used in the graphic design industry. These decorative elements break up solid colors and add visual interest to backgrounds. Designers will put statement patterns front and center with parametric geometry in 2022.
Trend 9: Holographic design
Holographic design is unmistakably high-tech and futuristic, with its combination of high-gloss multidimensional pastel highlights. Even in static images, these highlights create the illusion of motion. This trend has captivated 3D motion designers in particular due to its captivating effects.
The holographic trend has recently made an appearance in other areas of our lives, such as fashion (remember those see-through holographic bags and jelly shoes from the 1990s?), stationary, and so on. As a result, it's no surprise that this trend has spread to the animation and web industries. Apps and logos are no different.
Trend 10: Design of an extreme "high school" bubble
A graphic designer's job isn't complete unless they have some fun. Since circles do not have corners, they exude a friendly and lighthearted vibe that is undeniably positive. Designing rounded graphics and lettering styles will be a popular trend in 2022, as we could all use more positivity in our lives.
Instead of the typical bubble fonts and shapes found on children's products, the 2022 trend is exaggerated through elongated forms and psychedelic colors. As a result, the inflatable design feels mature while retaining a vital spark of childlike fun.
Make sure to add these designs to your portfolio in 2022!
Overall, the graphic design trends for 2022 may appear random. What they all have in common is a massive 90s flashback, from anti-design and parametric patterns to candy colors and extreme bubble doodles. There is no doubt that these distinct design trends will define the coming year in design.
It will be exciting to see how this global community of designers will collaborate in 2022 to create incredible designs (just don't try to master them all at the same time!).