Recognizing graphic design principles and trends starts with understanding the basics. Graphic design is a delicate composition of tension, balance, connection and relevance. This has always been true of design in general. Of course, designers should be versed in the latest trends, particularly in digital and social, as those platforms and restrictions change all the time, not to mention who engages with them and how.
The thing about trends, however, is that they come and go.
In 2018, instead of obsessing over the latest trends, the Commit creative team is doing meaningful work with these simple graphic design principles:
- Quick gets. Messaging and design should be simple and easy to understand almost immediately. A swipe or click-through message should engage enough, and build suspense to get the user to the pay off.
- Movement. Whether it’s with depth or animation, movement is important for engaging your audience. Movement doesn’t have to encompass an entire creative strategy, even if it’s just making a website homepage more alive. Video is still evolving and growing, and we’re using it in many unique ways for our clients this year.
- Classic fonts. Fonts are here today and gone tomorrow, so a focus on classic cuts is important. If appropriate for a project, hand-drawn headlines or designs add character and originality to a concept.
- Logo evolution. Logos should be scalable and responsive to the ever-changing digital landscape. Today, logo evolution includes multiple renderings, from complex to simple, to accommodate screen sizes and user experiences.
- Less copy. There are exceptions, but assuming people will not read past the first sentence is today’s reality. This point, however, doesn’t make a copywriter’s job irrelevant. In fact, it makes a copywriter’s job more challenging, while simultaneously strengthening the collaboration between designers and writers.
Knowing that each objective is different, and each audience engages differently, we approach every new project with a clean slate, while keeping these simple graphic design principles in mind.
