From bags to boxes to billboards, everything starts to look a lot different as the years go by, and no, that’s not the time playing tricks on you, it’s the design that’s ever-evolving. If you don’t really picture this yet, think of brand that you have an affinity for. Now, think about how it’s packaging, brochures, website, and even its social media feed have changed over just the past 5 years. This is where ever-changing graphic design trends come into play.

For all we know, design can never remain stagnant, simply because communication can never remain stagnant. New graphic trends come around every so often and are picked up almost instantaneously in this fast, digital world with virtually no global boundaries. New graphic trends are almost always picked up by brands and businesses in order to stay trendy, relatable, and have a competitive advantage over others in the game. As a professional graphic designer, one must always stay on the lookout for new graphic design styles- and that is a philosophy we stand by at Doodl Space.

So since we give you the lowdown on all-thing design in our blogs, here’s all you need to know about the latest graphic design trends that are making the headlines in 2022!

Graphic Trends & The Dawn of The 21st Century

Before we get into the ‘now’, it’s always a good idea to take a look back at our roots. With the coming of the 21st century, graphic design trends were all about trying something out of the box, being creative in seeking inspiration, and doing due research when it came to new graphic trends. 

In a changing world, graphic design trends in the 21st century became more bound to technological innovations, the needs of society, and the imagination and creativity of practitioners. A lot of modern trends in graphic designs became appearing since designers now had the power of specially-created software to add a lot of pizzazz to their artworks! 

To say the least- graphic design trends in the 21st century were solely the result of the guiding light of advanced tech. A few trending graphic design styles that really made the cut then were:

Art Deco

While this may be a term you’d have heard in a particularly famous song by The Weekend, or in an Instagram influencer’s caption, ‘Art Deco’ is one of the most trending graphic design styles from the 1950s-60s that involves the decorative and attractive attempt to infuse functional objects with artistic touches. Reflecting modern technology, art deco is characterized by smooth lines, geometric shapes, streamlined forms, and bright, sometimes garish colors.

3D Typography

We, as children, had seen innumerable 3D logos and typographies that might seem tacky now but were all the rage back then. While still in use today, the 3D design was one of the most prominent graphic design trends in the arrival of the 21st century. With this technology, designers could add a sense of realism into a design that would create an immersive experience for the viewer (just like how a VR device would work in today’s day and age).

Inspired By Nature

From muted, neutral colors to floral and tropical design elements, graphic trends began to revel in the full glory of nature. These trending graphic design styles also flowed onto digital prints on clothes, accessories, and household equipment. New graphic trends began adopting organic and natural tones with soft designs that exuded a feeling of calmness (perhaps since the concrete jungle left us craving for a touch of nature).

A Brief History on The History of Graphic Design Trends

Now that we know a few of the new graphic trends that the 21st century has to offer, let’s go a little further behind in looking at the historical evolution of graphic trends before we jump into modern trends in graphic design. 

Starting with the Industrial Revolution, lithography was the prime graphic design trend that involved inking your design into a stone or metal surface and transferring it to a sheet of paper. Next came Art Nouveau, a new graphic trend that sought to bring modernity and elegance to design, characterized by organic forms and sinuous lines. 

Next in the line of graphic design trends came Austria’s Wiener Werkstätte a.k.a. “Vienna Workshop”—a productive cooperative made up of visual artists, including painters, architects, and the industry’s first graphic designers. This sparked some major graphic trends, laying the crucial groundwork for Bauhaus and Art Deco styles of design that came next. Bauhaus was a modern trend in graphic design that encompassed and combined different art forms into one cohesive whole that used minimalism, geometric shapes, and simple typefaces.

In the 1970s postmodernism was one of the most influential graphic design trends that broke the rules and let graphic designers embrace the mixing of different styles and media while using new unconventional, expressionist techniques. 

Soon after came the digital age where graphic design trends were all taken to the computers, and the rest, as we know is history!

Graphic Design Trends In 2022

Now that we’ve taken you through the journey of graphic design trends since probably the beginning of time (at least for us designers), here are the new graphic trends that are taking the visual world by storm today.

Back To The ’90s

Yes, you read that right. With most streaming devices giving us that retro throwback, graphic design trends have also gone back to the 90s with gothic serifs, neon colors, and vaporwave landscapes.

Anti-Design

Disruption being the new black, a new graphic design trend has taken shape and it’s called Anti-Design. Forgoing conventions, graphic designers have jumped onto this new graphic design trend and challenged good-old graphic design industry trends with asymmetry, clashing colors, bare interfaces, crowded elements, and stark typography. 

Bubble Design

Often seen in high-school girls’ notebook doodles, extreme bubble design is fun, quirky, and well, bubbly. With a tendency to have a positive effect on the viewer every single time, these inflatable designs strike the perfect balance between the feeling of being a grown-up and sporting some childish glee at the same time. 

Maximalism

While maximalism is commonly known to fill spaces to the brim, each element in this trending graphic design style is a reflection of what the designer wants to communicate, leaving no grey area or whitespace (quite literally). With a plethora of elements competing for attention, a maximalist design is one that makes you look again- for a new discovery each time.

Frasurbane

A conjunction of the word ‘Frasier’ (a 90s American sitcom) and ‘urbane’, this graphic trend is a favorite among the urban GenX as it has the ability to balance stuffy adult sophistication with youthful city-dwelling hipness. The hallmark of this graphic design trend lies in stately serifs, muted colors, and carefully placed design elements. 

Y2K

A term GenZers are quite acquainted with- Y2K- inspired designs are a mix of crude interfaces, low poly CGI, bubblegum pinks, blues, and iridescent colors that scream cyberpunk but lean towards a bright and innocently nostalgic look instead of dark, neon and sleek.

Escapism

As the name suggests, Escapism is one of the many latest graphic design trends that delves into space as well as fantastical worlds. Full of unexpected colors, tantalizing settings, and whimsical character designs, this graphic trend gives designers and viewers a chance to imagine intricate illustrations that go best as background patterns on labels and websites. 

Now that you know the key graphic design trends of 2022, go ahead and give us the task of designing some of the most eye-catching materials for your brand. Subscribe to Doodl Space’s design services today!