As technology evolves, so do design software and tools that affect how graphic design artwork looks. Therefore, graphic designers must keep up with the latest trends and news affecting their profession. They need to stay informed of what their clients might be seeking next, and sharpen their skills so they can meet their companies’ expectations.
Cross-Platform compability
Graphic design now encompasses print, the web, television, and mobile and tablet devices. It has become essential that designers know how to design and build content that can be used across these different platforms.
As graphic designers use skills and software in interactive media, animation, and web design, the lines between what they do and what a web designer, animator, or multimedia producer does will blur. Graphic designer will have to design across all media and think in terms of visual storytelling.
Eco-Friendly Movement
Socioeconomic and cultural developments have impacted art and design throughout history. The most recent movement to grip our lives, and consequently graphic design, is the Eco-Friendly, or Green Movement.
It seems like everyone has gone green. Brands and companies have become more intentional about hiring designers who not only know how to incorporate visual elements inspired by nature, but also follow green practices such as recycling and using non-toxic materials.
Design inspired by the Green Movement uses organic shapes, free-flowing lines, and earth tones and colors that are found in nature such as greens, browns, and blues. Plant-like and natural forms are also prevalent in the art.
Hand-Drawn Effents
Many graphic designers have returned to older printing processes like screen printing, letterpress printing, and techniques such as linocut, block and stamp printing, and transfers and etching.
The past and present are being integrated into works that are a hybrid of digital and hand-drawn or handmade processes. Digital work has seen a resurgence of vintage themes, color palettes, and styles, including textures, halftones, and Polaroid — anything that gives computer-generated designs the feeling of a human touch.
The Art Institute of Philadelphia’s Graphic Design program has added a course titled “Media Techniques” that explores many handmade processes and their uses in graphic design applications. According to Shanks, students have shown a strong interest for working outside the computer lab on hybrid projects that utilize both their digital knowledge and their hands-on skill set.
User-Generated Content
Since entering mainstream use in 2005, user-generated content has been used in a wide range of applications including crowdsourced design, news, and research. Soon after, the phenomenon would spread to the world of advertising, where brands including Doritos, McDonald’s, and MasterCard tapped into the creativity of their customers to design advertising for their products.
The big expectation of consumer-generated advertising is that customers who weren’t involved in the creation of the ad or commercial would still respond positively to it, because a fellow consumer made it.
Although user-generated content in advertising and design is likely to stick around, some say its limitations prove there is still a need for professional graphic designers and possibly even expanding their roles.
Designers are being incorporated in design process from beginning to end. Cutting-edge companies are hiring designers to be a part of the entire process of product development.
Keeping Up
Graphic design is ever-changing. Education and keeping informed on broader trends that can affect their profession are requirements for graphic designers to stay in the game.