Each New Year brings new design trends. 2016 was full of wonderful surprises and us Big Cats can’t wait to see what the forth-coming year will bring. Our junior designer Lizzie investigates further and has put together some design predictions for 2017.
Transparency and authenticity
A continuous and growing trend, people are more interested than ever in knowing the origin of the products they buy. Big brands such as Aldi, Superdrug and Co-Op have conformed to either cruelty-free or organic, and with Veganism gaining traction it may only be a matter of time before more brands join this conscious uprising. This transparency goes hand-in-hand with authenticity as consumers want nothing more than honest communication with the brand, and to feel like they’re a part of their design thinking.
Bespoke photography and illustrations
Move over stock imagery – brands are focusing more on being original (tying in with the ‘authentic’ factor) and creating imagery that will immediately link in with their ethos.
Animated websites
Animation is improving in leaps and bounds, especially now that designers are able to create complex animations that every computer can process. Long are the days where it would take forever to load a simple animation! (Think of all that time saved!)
Video storytelling
This often seen as an expensive investment, however video content provides more cut through than any other form of media. As humans perceive and process visual elements 60 thousand times faster than reading words, (Pant, 2015) smaller companies are now getting in on the action more as the realisation that good video content does not always have to break the bank. Time lapse, flip books and slideshows are an increasingly creative solution to inexpensive footage.
Cinemagraphs and GIFs
Similar to how gifs reigned supreme in 2016, cinemagraphs will see a huge rise in popularity. The beauty in a moving still image will act as a simple but effective way for brands to stand out across social media platforms – being small on file size but huge on impact.
Minimalism – less is still more
Continuing on from 2016’s plethora of brand mark simplification, with the likes of eBay, PayPal, and Instagram brands will continue to minimise design ‘noise’. False clarity and simplicity (creating a somewhat soulless sea of similarity) will triumph in 2017, allowing large ‘boring’ corporations to ‘claim’ they are saying a lot by not saying much at all. In saying this, there has been some great brand refreshes this year e.g. Co-Op, Premier League and Channel 5.
Interesting typography
Although minimalism is stripping design back to basics, designers are being more experimental with typography and placement. Bold imagery and typography is key in getting noticed by the general public – especially as our attention span is steadily reducing (Watson, 2015).
Sounds exciting, right? Let’s see what 2017 has in store for us!