As 2024 has been in full swing for a few weeks now, it’s not entirely revolutionary to claim that this year’s holding more than a handful of exciting design trends that brands and designers will be more than happy to explore and experiment with.
While some or continuing or constantly changing from current trends, some are entirely new and innovative approaches that might take the design world by storm. Still, one thing is for sure – the graphic design world is constantly changing, and designers are always striving to come up with something new and unique. As such, we will discover the latest trends that are predicted to dominate this year’s graphic design directions.
The Future of Graphic Design: Top Graphic Design trends for 2024
A lot of business owners and even marketers aren’t fully aware of just how intricate the nature of graphic design is – it’s in constant change, evolving with technological innovations, web design, web development, with fine art trends, often changing together with fashion. They also evolve with marketing trends, and graphic design directions can often influence and even change how agencies and businesses market goods and services.
That said, here are some of the most prevalent design trends that have been brewing and on the rise for the past few weeks. No one can tell which trend will be able to evolve into a paradigm shift for the industry, but still, you will see that there are a lot of new exciting things to explore and experiment with for this year. So, here are the most prominent visual trends for 2024.
3D Typography and 3D Design Elements
3D has been around for a while, but experts agree that it will become even more popular this year, especially regarding typography and design elements.
When done correctly and in style, 3D allows designers to create truly outstanding compositions that can make any page more engaging and interactive. Also, the nature of 3D typography can add additional layers of depth to the overall design.
Anti-Branding
The term may sound pretty counterintuitive, but there are quite a few businesses that use this trend to demonstrate their reliability and authenticity. Anti-branding is future-focused, aspirational, and minimal, often focusing on monochromatic packaging, minimalist messaging, and overall, a striped-back design where the “presence of the brand” is minimal, which usually also encompasses handwriting-like, uneven typography.
On a more artistic level, anti-branding gives companies a more “human tone.” The design is unpretentious and straightforward, suggesting that the company’s products are created by human hands and crafted with passion.
Metaverse and Virtual Reality
VR and AR are also gaining more and more ground in web and graphic design as these technologies continuously advance.
Using virtual reality in design concepts can help companies capture the attention of tech-savvy audiences, and it’s also an excellent way to showcase their technical prowess. Those who want to make an impact on their customers will embrace this technology trend which still promises almost untapped potential.
With the help of AR and VR, companies will be able to create fully immersive and exciting branded experiences for their customers that will set a new standard in the world of graphic design.
Serif Fonts
Experts also predict that serif fonts will be making a massive comeback this year. In previous years, minimalist designs dominated the scene, but some say that serif fonts will be a key player in new graphic design trends in 2024.
These fonts are often the go-to option for branding materials, logos, and other high-priority projects. Still, 2024 will bring many non-traditional serif variants that will aim to make an even more eye-catching composition than before.
Many brands are using serif fonts for their logos, rebranding their already existing material in serif, and more. Sans-serifs have dominated the world of design for so long, which created a sense of unwanted uniformity among brands, and the many variants of serif fonts now enable businesses to stand out while still being a part of the most prominent graphic design trends of 2024.
Photography-Heavy Concepts
Image-dense concepts aren’t actually totally new graphic design trends for 2024 – the pot-heavy approach was gaining more and more popularity last year and will continue to grow this year as well. Utilizing high-quality photographs to create memorable and impactful concepts, these trends seek to capture the eyes of customers to convey each message effectively and quickly.
Designing with AI
Artificial intelligence tools are becoming a mainstay in various industries, and they have also made their mark on the world of design. There are several text-to-image AI generators that are capable of creating captivating imagery and art with the help of data sets and algorithms.
There are quite a few design agencies that are already starting AI-based platforms to help brands with their marketing campaigns, where a few keywords will be enough to create a useful image. Still, experts agree that the results and expectations may vary dramatically.
Many have voiced their concerns about AI replacing skilled design experts. Still, as of now, the industry says that these tools should only aid the experts in creating their projects faster, allowing them more creativity during the process.
No matter how we look at it, AI is among the most important graphic design trends in 2024 and beyond.
Brutalism
This is another new design trend for 2024 that favors strong typography, edgy designs, bold colors, and shapes. Focusing on raw elements, brutalism creates memorable and eye-catching brand messages with boldness, uniqueness, and rawness.
Seeming simple on the surface, experts agree that designers who embrace brutalism should think through their approach before starting their work. Simply put, brutalism can be a much more challenging trend as it focuses on rawness and the bare minimum. With that in mind, designers need to be more creative with what they have to create something that will stick with customers.
Natural Textures and Patterns
Not entirely a ground-breaking new design trend for 2024. Natural patterns in graphic designs will also play a key role in their projects. The trend has been around the previous year, and experts agree that stone textures, wood grain, and other organic patterns will continue to influence both designers and brands to embrace earthiness and nature in their projects.
Natural trends are often combined with other principles like hand-drawn elements to create an even more complete and immersive effect.
Foundational Diversity
Less of a graphic design trend for 2024 and more of a philosophy; diversity is all about brands voicing that diversity is their core value, which can translate to design and branding as well.
From featuring different groups to eliminating the need to retouch images, foundational diversity aims to reinforce the social discourse of modern times, encouraging brands to omit the “picture-perfect,” often almost stereotypical imagery, and establish a more inclusive design philosophy where imperfect is perfect and diverse is the norm.
Candy Pastels
Vibrant colors have been the most prevalent in recent years, but still, the constant presence of pastel colors reminds us that soothing and soft tones will always have their place in the world of design. In 2024, a lot of businesses might choose to use more cooling and sweet shades instead of bright, flashy, and bold colors.
Experts agree that candy pastels, with their soothing softness and playfulness, can be excellent mood boosters and effective in all marketing campaigns and even product packaging, representing a perfect antithesis to all the vibrant neon brightness that’s still pretty prominent in today’s designs.
Minimal Vintage
We are all a little guilty of being nostalgic about the good old days when it comes to design, fashion, music, etc. Nostalgia enables us to relieve happy times in our lives, and some even argue that “back then,” art, music, poetry, fashion, and even automotive design “had more soul.”
To capture a small piece of these lost eras, designers embrace vintage concepts in various ways. Vintage minimalism, for example, represents a hybrid approach that strips away the today unnecessary elements of vintage designs, leaving only the essentials, with the end design being a sophisticated, timeless, and clean (re)design.
Vibrant Nostalgia
This design trend takes a different approach that uses vintage concepts and mixes them with bright, popping, fun and moving designs. Vibrant nostalgia was massively popular in 2022, and a lot of experts say that it will remain a mainstay in 2024 as well.
Custom Fonts and Type
Businesses are always looking for ways to stand out, and designers believe that custom fonts and type will be a massive graphic design trend in 2024. Custom type is synonymous with freedom, enabling them to reflect their true brand identity.
The race for uniqueness has let businesses hire designers to create brand-specific custom typefaces, and the popularity of such practices will probably keep on rising as more and more companies realize just how beneficial standing out from the crowd can be for brand awareness.
There’s Always More to Explore
This is only just the tip of the iceberg. Different strokes work for different folks, meaning there is still a myriad of design trends that we didn’t include in this article.
That being said, your business might benefit from an approach that’s missing from this list. Fortunately, with the help of expert graphic design agency, you can explore the latest concepts and see which one works for your brand best. On that note, feel free to reach out to us so we can help you assess your brand’s design needs and offer a few creative ideas to boost your presence both online and offline.
