Vintage has not been completely put aside, in graphics, however, there are still those who amaze using this style, but precisely in terms of fashion and trends, we have witnessed a significant change. In fact, the graphic trends for the year 2021 can be summarized in two words: energy and modernity.
Over the years, communication has become more and more impactful, stronger, more exuberant so to speak. All this is surely connected to the slow but continuous deterioration of attention.
Our attention, among the thousands of sources from which it is captured, TV, social media, influencers, etc, has decreased drastically compared to even 10 years ago. One study showed that the average time visitors spent at the Grand Canyon decreased to just 17 minutes.
The company has changed completely and with it also the communication and consequently the graphics, which are at the service of communication.
Graphic Trends In 2021
Color & Cyberpunk
As aforementioned, the art of graphics has slowly given way to dynamic and futuristic schemes. Not surprisingly, a very fashionable trend in this period is precisely the style connected to a future dimension and light-years away from us, namely cyberpunk. This graphic expression with sci-fi tones usually recalls the atmosphere of futuristic films of the 80s, such as “Blade Runner”, especially for the colors characterizing this style, such as Royal blue, orange, dark purple, those colors difficult to see in a natural environment.
Out of the Ordinary and Surreal Images
Among the graphic trends for the year 2021 there is the use of extraordinary images, in the true sense of the term that is from the Latin extraordinary, composed of, extra that is out, and ordinaries, that is ordinary. The photographs are presented here as particular, unpublished images, with de-saturated or hyper-saturated landscapes, made with plays of colors and contrasts. However, these images continue to employ lines and styles of the brutalist and vaporwave genre that rank first in the trends of 2019.
Pattern All Tastes Plus One
The patterns have definitely landed in the world of graphics, spreading like wildfire very quickly. We are not talking about simple and ordinary schemes, but about very impactful, out of the ordinary, extravagant figures. Up to the limit of the possible, using patterns made up of patterns themselves.
Giant Typography
This trend in the art of graphics was already well present in 2019, until it spread in all sectors of use, today we find it in a more extreme, soft, and flexible style.
Minimal, Light, and Compact Figures
The lines are an expression of the object to be represented. Usually, in graphics, the geometric lines reproduce the forms of artificial, man-made, technological objects, on the contrary, the lighter and more curvilinear lines are the bearers of more natural and biological forms. For the 2021 season, designers and graphic designers will find themselves combining these two dimensions, no longer choosing between geometric or sinuous lines.
But going to weave a relationship between these two worlds, to recreate figures with strange and unusual shapes. The purpose of this processing method is to create a break with the usual shapes we are used to, and to reproduce movement and dynamism, combining the firmness of geometric lines with the precariousness of the most sinuous and natural shapes.
Creative Creation of Graphics
The famous “Big Data” is the basis of every large company worldwide, especially for those businesses that have very high rates of development and technological innovation. Online you can find lots of interesting data and statistics, but how to get attention? How to create a source of interest with a simple statistic?
This was a stimulating challenge that graphic designers immediately took up, trying to make data that at first glance are absolutely inexpressive, more readable, and more captivating. So green light to all those creations that allow the visualization of numbers in an eccentric and singular way, using abstract themes and mobile and interactive graphics.
Dark Mode
Another gradually spreading trend, which we have actually already begun to see, is the so-called Dark mode. This type of graphics gives users the possibility to decide to use the dark mode for each situation, or each app. The dark mode is a graphical model of visualization of a site or application that develops a contrasting inversion of colors, towards darker shades. It starts from a very light palette, with a greater presence of white, to move to a very dark one with a prevalence of gray and black. This different display mode has the simple and sole purpose of improving usability, so it must be up to the user to decide whether or not to set the dark mode.
Metallic Finishing
Lately, embossed prints with a glossy or metallic style are used quite frequently. This type of graphics is the result of a set of printing methods present in the world of design for years, and in recent times, there has been a great increase in the use of these techniques that create new works with elegant and refined tones.
Multimedia Images
With multimedia images, we mean the union of drawing and photography or scribbled photos. This is an extremely popular trend this year and is represented by images that are combined with scribbles. The technique takes the name of doodling, and it is a style now very famous in the dimension of illustration, and we can also find it in the street artworks of the 70s and 80s.
Doodling has gone beyond the confines of street art to get straight into the world of communication, advertising, and therefore graphics. The scribble, in the graphics, is aimed at obtaining a less formal atmosphere, which will therefore be customized, nice, cheerful, and dynamic, as if the photo were in continuous transformation.