14 Best Graphic Design Trends for 2021

The internet has come a long way and graphic design played a vital role in the overall enhancement of user interface and experience. With so many rich and varied graphic design trends, brands were able to take design risks. Moreover, technology and societal changes quicker and better than ever before. Most brands still rely on old trends like serif fonts, simplistic data visualizations, and muted color palettes. In this article, I will explain the best graphic trends that will dominate the year 2021.

Check out this list of the best graphic design trends that will be trending this year and grab the attention of your target audience. Also, here are top 6 essential graphic design software for beginner-

List of best graphic design trends

Here is a glance at the 10+ trending graphic design that can bring your website to life. Graphic design trends play a significant role in business, especially when it comes to branding. You want to offer the best and latest user experience to your target audience while being consistent. You don’t want to seem old fashioned but you still want to offer a sense to familiarity to your audience base. Therefore, have a look at the following graphic design trends to remain ahead in the competition.

1. Minimal designs

After 2010s, minimal designs were immensely dominating the world of digital. And it is going to intensify as we enter the 2020s. In this ultra chaotic world, people are automatically attracted to anything that offers calm, positivity, and stability. Minimal designs strips off the extra embellishment and flair and offers a much simpler and straightforward presentation. Therefore, minimal designs are not going anywhere anytime soon and offers a latest user experience to your targeted audience. The objective of minimal design is to make the complex data easier to understand. It doesn’t require much context and eliminates the need for explaining. Overwhelming your audience with way too much data is going to drive them away. Therefore, eliminate the noise and keep the design minimal for an enhanced user experience.

In fact, flat designs along with evolving discipline of UX design is giving graphic designers a powerful tool to develop easy-to-navigate content and designs. Minimal designs had a reputation for lacking feels and warmth. However, with the shift from while and light colors to pale yellow, sage, and beige making it warmer and friendlier. Therefore, minimal designs are becoming ubiquitous.

2. Flat icons

Flat icons are not necessarily new. However, graphic design trends tend to be cyclical. Something new hits the market, everyone starts using it, it becomes overused, people start shifting to other trends, and they come back to being trendy. If you are a graphic designer and create infographics pretty often, you must have noticed that flat icons are making a comeback. These flat icons can be created with or without any context and they will still be consumed effectively. They are a powerful design trend for visual communication. You can tell a story with the use of a handful of icons. Add them to your blog posts, infographics, social media posts, video, and more to give a lot more context.

3. Muted color palettes

After years of bold and bright colors, people started demanding relaxed and understated colours. As a result, muted color-palette started trending last year or so and hasn’t looked back. In case you are not familiar with the term ‘muted color’ they are basically vivid colors edging off a prime color (blue, green, red, etc) with an infusion of black, white, or a complimentary color. Muted color offers a safe and secure feeling. Therefore, designers are now adding muted colors to their designs to offer a more authentic and organic feel. You can use a color-palette generator to generate muted color-palettes.

Especially, industries like health and fitness, muted colors are going to grab the attention of a lot of consumers because they blend well with text. Unlike other graphic design trends, color palettes usually take longer to become overused. It can be difficult to create a web design that offers variety of subdued colors and look flawless at the same time. Therefore, go ahead and change your color-palette to something more muted without a second thought.

4. Sustainable designs

People now more woke than ever when it comes to our planet earth and its sustainability. His has forced more brands to come up with eco-friendly sustainable designs that make a positive contribution by encouraging the use of recyclable and ethically sourced materials through graphic designing. You will notice that a large number of brands are now using their online platforms to spread awareness among their audience about planet preservation missions. It is a great opportunity to show your affection towards the environment and how you are contributing your bit using ethically sourced materials or using plastic-free packaging, etc.

5. 3D designs

Layering is the ultimate approach to create the illusion of depth. Three dimensional is one of the well-popular and classic graphic design trends. Brands are still using 3D designs to bring their user experience to life. With the advancement in today’s technology, 3D graphics are a lot more easier to create. As expected, 3D designs will continue to be a viable graphic design trend in 2021. In fact, the extraordinary amount of depth offered by 3D designs are capable of absorbing and engaging users. Moreover, the ultimate reason for the existence of graphic design is to increase the user engagement. However, designing experts are getting creative by combining 3D objects with images, illustrations, and 2D designs. 3D typography is also going big in 2021 and is expected to take the front seat this year.

The higher resolutions are empowering 3D designs and it is pretty clear that these designs are not going out of trend any time soon. If anything else, they are going to be trending even more than ever. They can be integrated with different design trends like minimalist designs to bless the website wit the best of the both worlds.

6. Abstract designs

Abstract trends are breaking grounds with uber-trendy to blow you away and pull you in, of course metaphorically. Excessive color and intensely intricate abstraction are crossing the traditional borders by infusing fine arts with design. Abstract designs are basically geometric designs that consists squares, rectangles, circles, etc. They can comes across as simple, restrictive and primitive but designers incorporate them with complex, sprawling compositions that exude freedom. They can include images of people, vibrant people, colors, and more.

As a result, we can expect a lot of painterly techniques such as abstract expressionism and acrylic brushstrokes in graphic design. Brands that want to convey an old world elegance go for abstract graphic design trends. In 2021, you will see a lot of abstract designs on cosmetic packaging and wine labels.

7. Essence of nature

Leaves, trees, flowers, animals, oceans, fruits, natural color palette are the new design motifs. Brands are using these themes to offer beautiful, calm, sensitive designs to remind you how beautiful our planet earth is. Especially with the last year that was mostly spent cooped up inside due to the global pandemic situation, people are now more aware of how important nature is in their day to day lives. It may be no surprise when nature will be making its way through digital platforms. The best part about this trend is that it goes beyond environmentally-oriented products. Moreover, it fits with various other graphic design trends including minimalism, muted color palettes, abstract designs, and more. Furthermore, the nature elements in your graphic design will add serenity, renewal, and growth to your good designs.

8. Geometric shapes

Geometric shapes are ubiquitous and they have every reason to be. Flowing and abstract shapes in designs was in abundance which led to chaotic data organisation. Therefore, designers shifted to Geometric design trends that are hard-edged and rigid in nature to keep the content confined in blocks, offering a non-chaotic data placement experience. Not only they are easier to create but they also help to add order and consistency to the content.

Designers can get creative with the simplest forms by adding a touch of imaginative flair. This year is taking us back to the basics and moving forward with the touch of creativity. Designers are using 3D geometry block shapes layer upon layer to add depth to the good-old geometric designs. Overall, it makes a lot more sense and structure to a visual. Moreover, it blends well with muted color palettes and offers an incredible contrast with a more natural muted color palette.

9. Classic Serif font

When you think about classic designs, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Serif font. If yes, then you’re a designing buff, just like me. Serif fonts offers embellishments in the most subtle way without exaggerating designs and offers a classic tone to your design. Serif fonts are elegant, timeless, and trustworthy, which means it will never go out of the design. Moreover, it also evokes nostalgia that can help build an emotional bond with your audience.

10. Device dependent responsive design

Till now, designers were focusing on developing a website and making it responsive to mobile devices. However, we can see a new trend in 2021 which will widen the responsive design area. Basically, designers will design a fully tailored version for each device and allow the platform to fully consume it. In fact, users will notice incredibly enhanced user experience. Moreover, the ability to meet this new design challenge and captivate an audience with specific designs matched to experience across different platforms will define this design’s extensibility.

11. Social media slide decks

Social media is an inseparable part of the digital world. As the name suggests, this design offers slide decks dedicatedly created to accommodate social media sharing options in the most attractive way. These slide decks are mostly shared on graphic sharing platforms like Instagram or LinkedIn. As a matter of fact, Instagram and LinkedIn offers a smooth experience with these decks and also the algorithm of these platforms favors decks. Bloggers can also use these decks to summarize an article in an interactive way or repurpose the most vital content from a blog post. Brands are also using this design in creative ways like for explaining how to use their product or announce a big news. Best part: they are easy to create and look ultra classy.

12. Intent motion

Motion graphics are not new but it is the time to spice it up by using them in different ways. You can expect to see colorful materials, hyperreal geometric sculptural 3D forms, generative computational work in both 2D and 3D, unconventional typography animations, etc. The latest popular motion is motion with intent which can be seen in the use of seamless transitions. Brand recognition with meaningful motion can do wonders for your web design.

13. Next-level GIFs

Clever animations are something we can expect to get more attention from the designers in the coming year. With the gaining popularity, GIFs are now everywhere including social media platforms, web pages, email marketing, and more. Now, more brands are leveraging this clever animation to reshape their digital landscape.  This is the golden opportunity to try out and discover how the popularity of the updated GIF format can work for them. Therefore, brace yourself to see GIFs trending everywhere and enjoy.

14. Metallic designs

Metallic designs are all set to become uber-trendy this year. It is already a well-popular design with the latest smartphones. However, you can expect this to become a graphic design trend. Designers have successfully been experimenting with different metallic looks including gold, silver, brass, and iron. However, Gold is still the daddy. It offers the inevitable luxurious and expensive feel to your brand. There are other metals as well that designers use to add dimension to the design. Moreover, it can be clubbed with other graphic design trends like GIFs, 3D typography, and more. Designers use it to design printable articles like posters, brochures, etc because it doesn’t lose its appeal after getting printed.

Final Words

Designs that invoke a sense of positivity, calm, and understanding have been the most favorite things for the most brands. Brands are steering clear of such things. So what graphic designs are going to work for you in 2021? Graphic design trends play a vital role in the success of any website, especially eCommerce website. when it comes to designing, you need to keep an eye out for the changing design trends. You don’t want to be stuck with a trends that has passed already and now your website feels stale. Therefore, we have prepared the list of some upcoming design trends that your can work with.

Here are your latest graphic design trends for 2021 that will certainly get you talking and give you head start to stay ahead in the competition. With the growing competition, there has been great development in the technology and graphic designing trends. We have done an in-depth research on your behalf to present our prediction in the graphic design for the year ahead. This is your turn to use these trends to stay ahead of your competition. Best part is you can use these graphic design trends in your web designs, blog posts, infographics, webinars,  brochures, posters, eBook landing pages, and more. Also read about Coreldraw vs Illustrator, best logo design software, and Gimp vs Photoshop.

I hope this article was helpful to you in understanding the upcoming graphic design trends. For more such blog posts, subscribe to us!