Our designers have quite the ‘palette’ for design and today they weigh in on what’s up next
Last week’s bit on social media had us picking out predictions like we’d been there already (it kinda reminds us of that guy with the hoverboard and self-lacing Nike power trainers). This week we’ve got heaps of the same, but in designer-speak—you know, “creative clouds”, kerning, white space, etc, etc. Before we dive in though, let’s take a pulse on last year’s design predictions: like brands throwing Cinemagraphs into their digital marketing mix, minimalistic design, and the big push for eco-friendly design. So, what’s next?
More Retrobrand Reboots
Peter Pelosi, Senior Graphic Designer
With the success of Kodak, Co-op, and Natwest resurrecting and refreshing their old identities, I think we’re now coming full circle and will see more brands hopping on the retro ‘brand’-wagon in 2017. In the 60s we saw brands radically simplifying their identities. This was a welcome change from the overcomplicated 50s, or the ‘golden-age’ of advertising. When the rise of desktop publishing occurred in the 80s and early 90s, we saw many companies butchering their branding in favour of fads and trends. This continued through the early 00’s with companies continuing to hop on various trends to the detriment of their brand (here’s looking at you UPS).
The last year or so has seen a number of high profile businesses returning to their elegant, considered former identities. When done well, this looks clean, modern and timeless. Maybe those guys in the 60s actually knew what they were doing after all. Long may it continue.
UPS, please bring back your old Paul Rand designed logo. Go on… you know you want to.
Being bold with colour and shape
Jade Macfarlane, Senior Graphic Designer
Over the past few years UI/UX design has pushed the boundaries by using bright, retina-burning colours. For print and design, recent trends like risograph blue and red and using big blocks of Klein blue will pave the way for a new-found confidence in colour. This will be amazing for designers. In the past where clients may have been a bit weary of using vibrant, zingy colours, they’ll soon be more receptive to being bold and brave.
As ever, negative space will still be key to getting the balance right. I think ‘using colour boldly’ applies to bright blocks, subtle but vibrant gradients, wild gradients, and unusual colour-on-colour pairings. Mostly, bold colour will be used in experimenting with block shapes overlaid on each other. Spotify (again) seems to be leading the way with their ‘Year in Review’ campaign, and I’m looking forward seeing more brave design projects this year.
Daily Videos
Asa Rodger, Graphic Designer
Love it or hate it, Casey Neistat’s vlog applied aesthetic appeal to a huge sub-culture and stormed the YouTube platform with the one thing that was missing – quality. As 2016 closed out, Casey did the proverbial ‘mic drop’ and quit his daily vlog, leaving the king of the YouTube hill wide open. From influencers and personal brands to creative-collectives and smaller companies – I think there’s a wave of daily, weekly, and monthly video uploads on the way. Companies might even start to share with a little more authenticity – the moments of dark, light and everything in between, which audiences relate to so much (news flash, there are people behind the logos!). Brands will be competing to cut through YouTube’s vlogging noise soon enough but lets see if, once again, quality rises to the top as authentic storytelling is opened up outside of Snapchat stories.
Animated logos
Emma Faulkner, Graphic Designer
Animated logos have been around for a while now. For example, over the last few years we’ve seen the evolution of the Newsbeat logo, and perhaps better known—the Google rebrand. Both of these heavily embrace movement. As digital technology advances (and where appropriate), the use of animation will certainly begin to create logo marks that both stand out and are more interactive. Up to now, animated logos have mostly been an afterthought for brands, but this year we’ll see more of them delivered hand-in-hand as a part of the final design.
