Design
Top 5 graphic design predictions for 2020
A new year is a great opportunity for designers to blow away the previous 12 months’ cobwebs and start thinking differently about how they approach their creative work. With that in mind, we wanted to offer design predictions for 2020.
From creating the next big concept, to new colour palettes, to reimaging tried and tested past trends, there is a lot of scope for fresh and interesting work, and in researching our own creative projects for this year we have isolated what we believe may be a few key directions.
Here are five graphic design trends that we predict will be big in 2020.
Texture
The 2010’s were all about flat colours and gradients, but in 2020 we’ll see a much more naturalistic approach to textures across web and print – bringing a tactile and organic feel to graphic design.
Earthy colours
2020 will see a shift away from the bright, saturated tones that have come to define digital media throughout the last decade, and move toward earthier, more muted palettes. We have already seen Pantone make 19-4052 Classic Blue their Colour of the Year for 2020, a hue they describe as “suggestive of the sky at dusk” and bringing “a sense of peace and tranquillity to the human spirit”.
Big chunky fonts and Swiss-style typography
Helvetica and Swiss-style type may well have fallen out of fashion for the best part of a decade, but 2020 will see a return of big bold fonts and stricter, more grid-based typography.
Midcentury style not going anywhere
The earthy palettes and classic Swiss-type we expect to see in 2020 means the ’50s aesthetic that’s been ubiquitous across huge swathes of modern design since Mad Men hit TV screens nearly 15 years ago isn’t going anywhere quite yet, it’s coming to digital too…
Print and spot finishes
People will become tired of digital intrusiveness, omnipresence and over-saturation, and will start to remember how great print used to be (not to mention how un-intrusive). This will lead a renewed vigour for books, magazines, general print collateral and all kinds of paper stocks and fancy print finishes. Ok, this isn’t a prediction so much as just what I want to happen.
