Top Graphic Design Trends of 2021 to Keep Your Marketing Up to Date

Graphic design is one of the most crucial aspects of marketing for a variety of marketing strategies: web design, event marketing, social media, signage, brochures, and more. For your designs to keep catching potential customers’ and patients’ eyes, though, you need to keep updating them with appealing and on-brand looks.

Trends shift in graphic design, and there are ongoing studies tracking new design trends and how they appeal to consumers. As a full-service marketing company that provides graphic design services along with marketing strategy development, consulting, and other services to grow your business, our team at McCauley Marketing Services aims to share the latest trends and knowledge with businesses. As part of that mission, we’re sharing the top graphic design trends of 2021.

Organic Color Palettes

Sustainability and ecological conservation have become growing priorities for society in general, and chances are that the same applies to your customers or patients. As a way to appeal to that nature-loving side, the emerging trend is to incorporate more organic, natural color schemes into your designs. This could include muted greens, pastel floral colors, a range of neutral shades, and so on.

If you already have branding guidelines in place, way to go! As part of your overall strategy, you will more than likely modify these guidelines over the years to stay relevant. You can still easily add some of these organic colors as secondary or complementary colors within your guidelines, but be sure that they make sense with your existing colors.

Visual Dissonance

In graphic design, dissonance refers to designs that don’t align with the traditional “grid” behind visual designs. For example, asymmetry is a type of dissonance, and so are warped or non-traditional fonts. The goal is to incorporate design elements that are eye-catching and unexpected yet still readable, so they capture your audience’s attention.

Minimalist Designs

Minimalism is a design concept that involves a clean look with plenty of open space and few design features. Take the Google homepage for example: just a logo and a box. While you don’t have to go that far, simplistic designs are ideal for marketing pieces that are meant to be useful, such as web pages and flyers. These pieces are meant to convey information, so minimalist designs make it easy for consumers to get the information they’re looking for. In other words, your design is eye-catching!

Appealing Illustrations

Photos play an important part in graphic design for some industries because they have a personal appeal. In 2021, though, there is a growing trend to incorporate more illustrations into your designs as well. In fact, many brands are combining illustrations with dissonance by using uniquely illustrated designs in a surrealism style.

Be careful with this, though, as we have seen many designs that don’t do a good job of conveying their brand to the general public. It’s important to ensure that your design isn’t so “surrealist” that the average layperson can’t understand it without being an expert in your industry.

A Note About Design Trends

Staying up to date on design trends is an important way to keep your marketing materials modern and effective so you can appeal to the changing tastes of your patients or customers. However, it isn’t wise to blindly jump on every trend that comes along. Remember that you need to build a consistent brand as well. Move with the trends but only in a way that continues to fit your brand and the image you want to maintain for your business.

Of course, navigating those shifting trends alongside your brand can be tricky. That’s why we are here to help. Contact McCauley Marketing Services to work with our skilled team to develop cutting-edge designs that will capture your future customers’ attention while building a strong and appealing brand. Be sure to also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more top marketing tips.