In 2023, artificial intelligence became a major topic of discussion. The emergence of AI tools, including generative AI, garnered significant media attention. McKinsey reported that GenAI could contribute as much as $4.4 trillion annually to the global economy.
Society is split into two groups: those who fear job loss from AI and those who benefit from AI tools to streamline workflow or enhance productivity.
Personally, I am saddened to hear how AI has replaced some jobs, but I am not concerned that this will become a widespread trend, especially for designers. Despite the power of AI tools, they still need the creativity that designers possess to bring ideas to life.
How are these trends gathered?
After months of data gathering and analysis, our team of graphic designers have narrowed down to nine top graphic design trends that we predict will set the trends for 2024 and push visual experimentation boundaries to the next level.
Table of Contents:
- Top Graphic Design Trends for 2024:
Top Graphic Design Trends for 2024
1. Fusion design of AI generated visuals
According to Adobe’s research about GenAI, 78% of the correspondence said generative AI boosts the quantity of their content. Also, 78% are confident that AI will positively impact their careers by enabling them to get more creative inspiration faster and create new mediums and styles.
Generative AI is an excellent example of how technology influences massive changes in the design industry. Users have already shown how powerful the tech can be, creating highly convincing AI-generated images like the Pope wearing a Balenciaga puffer jacket.
What’s impressive is how accessible these tools are for the general public. In the past, designers’ tools were gated by high price points and often used only by businesses. Now, literally, anyone can become a designer.
And AI continues to develop at a frightening pace. We expect constant innovation and disruption to the design world as people learn how to create better-quality art.
Piktochart has joined the generative AI movement, making high-quality infographics more accessible to everyone. Whether you’re a business owner or an HR looking to create infographics on any topic, head down to PiktochartAI and generate your first infographic in seconds.
2. Textured 3D design
Drawing inspiration from hyperrealistic 3D design style, one of the biggest graphic design trends trending for the past few years, we predict Textured 3D design will dominate the world of digital art in 2024.
Textured 3D design is a type of 3D design where a hyper-realistic texture is applied to text and used as the center of the design, drawing attention to the text.
Previously, 3D design focused on adding superficial texture and basic shading to bring characters or illustrations to life. With rapid technological development, as of 2022, 3D designs built for AR and metaverse have become increasingly realistic. As the demand for AR and metaverse continues to rise, this trend is expected to continue for several more years.
Tip: Textured 3D designs work best with a simple typography layout, where the text is the focus of the design. This style can be used for your poster, catalog cover, or as the main header of your website design.
3. Quirky characters
The following graphic design trend is my all-time favorite style: quirky characters. Funky and quirky characters are a distinct style of character illustrations with fluid-like bodies. Drawing inspiration from abstract and organic shapes, these characters can be spotted easily for their distinctively long legs, body, and arms.
“I love the sudden boom in quirkily designed and reimagined characters. It gives a fun & refreshing twist to a lot of visuals, characters, and designs. It opens doors to endless possibilities in creating visuals for posters, packaging, social media graphics, and other brand materials!” Steph, our Senior Graphic Designer, added. “Coming up with these original characters is a smart way to get people to remember your brand and designs too!”
Tip: This versatile fusion style works well in expressing your brand characteristics. Combines abstract shapes and vibrant colors to create quirky characters for a fun brand identity design. Alternatively check out free illustrations library like Blush by Pablo Stanley to get character illustrations for your visuals.
Or head down to Piktochart with an integrated free illustration library offering a wide range of fun, quirky character illustrations to enhance your visuals, and they are 100% free.
4. Hand drawn doodles
The hand drawn doodles graphic design trend, also known as hand drawn art, brings out the ‘human’ in design. It derives from the idea that handcrafted elements infuse warmth. More brands and corporations have recently adopted this style to create a friendly, approachable image. You can use this versatile style to create designs in print and digital media, from outdoor banners to social media graphics.
Our rockstar graphic designer, Den, once said, “I love combining the Liquid Retro Display Typeface and the Hand drawn Doodles. To me, this combination represents a new perspective that is limitless and not restricting. Additionally, the retro vibe of these two styles is so good when combined.”
As part of our research process, our designers collected brand images they liked from the previous year. We then shared our findings with the team and identified the styles we believe will be trending in 2024. Afterward, we conducted another round of voting to select our favorite styles and discussed the reasons behind our choices. The versatility of hand-drawn doodles makes it a favorite trend among all designers.
Tip: Combining hand-drawn elements with minimalist design and layout can create a modern and unique brand identity.
Alternatively, you can draw inspiration from the beautiful, natural world and create a serene and botanical design with hand drawn botanical doodles.
5. Liquid retro display typeface
Liquid retro display typefaces are similar to liquid typefaces but with a few key differences. While liquid typefaces have characters that resemble liquid, liquid retro typefaces have a bold stem and delicate, liquid-style stroke and tail. So, while both typefaces are liquid-like, the retro version has a slightly more industrial look.
Liquid Retro Display Typefaces make really cool experimental fonts. They are popular for designing identities for art galleries, museums, or exhibitions due to their unique characteristics that attract attention.
Quoted from Lian, our Senior Graphic Designer at Piktochart, “And despite its decorative nature, it can still maintain its readability, creating a contrast that will add visual interest and help your message stand out. I can see Liquid Retro Display or similar typefaces remain in demand this 2024 because it is well-suited for website design to fresh packaging design trends.”
As shown in the examples, more brands are embracing this liquid retro display. But due to their relatively low readability, they’re used only in big-size texts.
Tip: You can use Piktochart’s Brand Fonts feature to upload liquid fonts and use them when you design your posters, flyers, logos, or social media graphics.
6. Metallic typography
Another charming graphic design trend that we predict will dominate the music and entertainment industry is Metallic typography. Metallic Typography is a special typography technique that involves adding a 3D texture to a text with liquid font. The result is a captivating metallic text that seamlessly blends industrial elements and is guaranteed to draw people’s attention to the text instantly.
This is why metallic typography makes great movie and album covers. Many artists and graphic designers have adopted this typography technique as an experimental and expressive method to showcase their creativity.
Quoted from Den, one of our professional designers, “This is a revamp of one of the viral design trends in 2021-22, which is the molten chrome text effect. They added the silver bling and the “rock band” vibe, which gives it a new and fresh look. I can see this style flourish in 2024, particularly in fashion (with the resurgence of the vintage big print tees) and the music scene.”
Tip: This Metallic Typography generator can add a 3D metallic effect to your logo or title. You can then import your typography to Piktochart to create posters, flyers, and presentations.
7. Gradient leak
We predicted in Graphic Design Trends prediction 2023 that the gradient leak trend would be popular throughout 2023. As expected, it was a huge hit. Today, we see the trend continue flourishing in 2024.
The versatility of gradient leak makes it an irresistible choice to enhance your brand style. This graphic design trend embraces many styles depending on the color combinations and design elements used with the gradient leak.
Tip: If you are thinking of incorporating gradient leak in your branding, here are some tips on color combinations. Combine cool-tone colors such as blue and green to achieve a futuristic look.
And if you’re going for a fun and uplifting design, consider using vibrant colors and combine it with fancy script typefaces.
8. Bold-pastel duotone colors
The duotone style of combining exactly two colors for a design or artwork has existed since the nineteenth century. However, it gained widespread popularity in digital design in 2015, when renowned brands like Spotify started using the duotone effect in their reports.
This trend went so viral that I had difficulty finding the actual design by Spotify. I managed to locate the archive of the landing page design for Spotify Year in Music 2015, which featured the Duotone effect.
Soon after, the duotone photo generator was created, which helped people apply the duotone effect to their photos. It’s hard to believe that it’s already been eight years since the trend became viral.
Since then, the duotone trend continues, but the color palette shifts dramatically. It’s getting several modifications through explorations in different colors.
In 2023, many brands utilized contrasting bold and pastel duotone colors, especially for packaging design.
Tip: Are you still deciding which colors to combine for Duotone? Consider combining colors from World Global Style Network’s trending colors forecast.
9. Visible grid lines
Visible grid lines first became popular in website design, and we can consider this as one of the tech centric design trends. The visible grid lines feature a unique line style, providing a modern minimalist look that fashion retail brands love.
Soon after, the style became prevalent in diverse industries and was adapted to various mediums, ranging from dashboard designs to printed posters and banners.
This trend also influenced the bento box grid trend, where designers apply a boxy grid to the dashboard and report.
Tip: This signature design style combines a clean, thin sans serif or serif typeface with a solid color block or background.
“This style gives a raw, aesthetic look. Combining with geometric shapes or typography creates a chic, industrial design.” According to Ethan, one of our Graphic Designers, this style is particularly suitable for digital media such as apps, websites, or social media, as it can be easily adapted to a modular layout.
Are you interested in adding visible grid lines to your dashboard or presentation?
What do these design trend predictions mean for professional and non-designer professionals?
For Visual and Graphic Designers by Profession
– Pablo Picasso“Good artists copy, Great artists steal”
Whether you are a novice art director or a junior visual designer, you can draw inspiration from this post and the provided references to apply the style to their next design projects. Discover new design styles and techniques to enhance your rebranding and design projects.
For Aspiring Designers
Suppose you are interested in visual design or wish to become a graphic designer. In that case, you can use this post as a source of inspiration to determine the style of your marketing campaign or to choose your brand’s color palettes.
We also include free templates and graphic assets to help kick-start your visual creation journey.
Besides, keeping up with the latest trends in graphic design can be incredibly helpful, especially in the age of generative AI. Understanding different styles in graphic design can help you create better prompts and visuals for your visual content.
Which trends to follow?
Upon discovering the top graphic design trends, you might be interested in implementing some of them. However, the challenge is selecting the appropriate one that resonates with your brand and enhances your visibility. How can you make the right choice and apply the ideal graphic design trend for your brand?
Choose based on your audience.
Identifying your target audience and understanding their preferences is imperative before choosing a trend to attract them. This will enable you to select a trend that appeals to a specific demographic group and use it to attract them.
Start small and test it out.
If you’re uncertain, consider testing a small, focused group and gathering feedback before committing to a particular branding style.
Adapt and iterate
As companies target younger generations, such as Millennials and Gen Z, more brands are rebranding to appeal to their youthful audience. Examples include Hugo Boss and Minute Maids.
As consumers evolve, so must brands. Adapt and leverage trends to stay relevant across generations.
Conclusion
Graphic trends constantly evolve. Brands often experiment with different graphic design trends for various campaigns or stick to one that endures. We hope this blog post can offer inspiration for your next visual projects. And with the ever evolving tech landscape, trying out new design trends has become easier than ever.
