Almost 2024! For the eighth year, we’ve gathered awesome and inspiring examples from top creative minds and sorted them into 10 graphic design trends.
Things will be totally different in 2024, especially for creatives. Technology like Artificial Intelligence and machine learning shook things up, and graphic design got hit hard. Tools like DALL-E 2 and Midjourney changed the game fast.
Access 700+ cartoon characters in a variety of action poses that AI can’t generate.
Now, in 2024, we’ve got to adapt. Designers and artists have to push their creative boundaries to deal with these shifts. Let’s take a closer look at these carefully curated and inspiring examples.
Here are the top 10 graphic design trends in 2024:
1. AI Assistance
Many artists oppose AI, with valid arguments. However, AI is here to stay, and we must harness it for our benefit. It can expedite our work, provide inspiration, and enable us to create things previously impossible.
In 2023, AI revolutionised design industries. AI-generated images began replacing stock and custom graphics, saving companies time and money. You should embrace this change, regardless of your design field—whether web design, illustration, packaging, or posters. AI streamlines brainstorming, concept creation, color selection, revisions, and generating multiple design variations. This boosts productivity, allowing you to take on more projects and enhancing creativity, especially when facing creative blocks.
Ways to use AI in 2023 in your designs:
Find inspiration for your designs
Give you ideas for concepts and compositions
Help you with choosing colors
Help you change backgrounds or retouch images
Help you with revisions and variations
Resize and recompose designs in different dimensions for different platforms
Create visuals for websites, marketing, and social media
With AI’s growing potential, you must stay updated on its usefulness. Tools exist that can generate numerous design variations quickly and aid in selecting the best composition. These tools can also adapt designs for various purposes. Take, for instance, the Designs.ai platform, which can produce multiple concept variations, saving you substantial time on experimentation.
AI can also help you animate static graphics and above you will see an example intro made with AI. Below, you’ll find remarkable AI-generated images suitable for your website design, poster design, social media posts, and more.
2. Composition-Heavy Designs
Say goodbye to white space! Heavy compositions, packed with many things everywhere, using all the space on the canvas will be a big design trend in 2024. Color-rich, detailed graphics using all the space possible are becoming more and more popular, as they are able to tell more stories, grabbing the attention for longer.
Key elements of the Composition-Heavy design trend in 2024:
Using all the space on the canvas instead of white space
Many actions are happening at once.
Colorful and rich in details
The heavy composition still needs to follow some rules, however. There still has to be a main focus that drags the attention instantly. You can achieve that using perfect balance between different elements while creating a complicated composition full of detail.
The heavy composition is also great for marketing and promotional purposes. As the audience watches the design for longer to scan what is going on, the chances to remember the brand or campaign increase significantly.
3. Reeded Glass Effect
Reeded glass enhances depth, diffusing light to create intriguing effects that capture the eye’s attention. An integral aspect of the Art Deco style, it has experienced a remarkable resurgence in interior design in recent years. Additionally, there is a substantial increase in graphic designs that incorporate this element in exciting and varied ways.
Key elements of Reeded Glass trend in 2024
Diffuses the light in an interesting way
Adds depth to the design
The effect of Reeded Glass is great for experiments as it can be used in different ways. You can approach it live, or via effects, you can use it as a text effect. You can also blur an image, or go wild with it in animations as it acts hypnotic and increases retention.
4. Barbie’s Pink
We can’t miss one of the big booms of 2023! The “Barbenheimer” memes were epic, and the stylistics of the Barbie movie were so memorable, that pink thrust its way to the forefront of graphic design trends. As expected, 2024 will continue to be highly inspired by that – but build on it.
Key elements of Barbie’s Pink trend in 2024
Vivid candy colors combined with girly pink
Designed with playful shapes
Let’s see some beautiful examples of vivid pink in graphic design.
Of course, all trends change, and Barbie’s pink is no exception! Recently we have seen an evolution into a majestic pink-black combination that looks more stylish and elegant, as you can see in the examples below. And there is more to come!
5. Vibrant Colors
Vibrant colors have been trending for years but perhaps due to Barbie’s influence, they look likely to become even more popular in 2024.
These color-rich graphic designs with strong contrasting colors easily catch the eye of the audience. Perfect for social media, posters, and advertisements. In 2024 extreme saturated coloring will remain the battleground of designers fighting to grab the attention and make their designs stand out.
Key elements of Vibrant Colors trend in 2024
A combination of vivid rainbow colors
Often includes colorful gradients from one to another
Great for branding as it is associated with multiculture, diversity, etc.
Colorful designs are widely popular for marketing purposes, as they give a sense of diversity and variety. Google is a great example of how colorful branding can scream “We have it all”. Using vibrant colors in design is also a great eye-catching trick, that improves contrast and makes your designs stand out in any environment.
6. Dot Display Graphics
This rising graphic design trend powerfully combines retro and modern into one, creating a fresh tech vibe. The dots trend is making its path to typography, but you can also find many designs with dot backgrounds or half-tone-like images inspired by this cool clean stylistic look.
Key elements of Dot Display design trend in 2024
Monochrome dots in modern, minimalist designs
Often applied as type font for text to add a high-tech vibe
Depending on how it is used, it can achieve a high-tech/futuristic look, or give a retro vibe
The dot fonts are becoming really popular. A great example of that is the Nothing brand, which became viral for its creative concepts.
7. Pixels Rediscovered
Another popular back-to-the-future trend in graphic design for 2024 is pixels combined with modern styles. Many artists found inspiration in the early era of the web when the resolution of displays was far from 4K, and video cards weren’t able to provide high resolution.
These inspirations have led to a style mix combining retro pixel elements with modern high-quality graphics. Ultimately, this brings us to a design trend that offers infinite possibilities for creative experiments.
Key elements of Pixels Rediscovered trend in 2024
Combination of modern, high-quality graphics with 8-bit pixel-style elements
Often applied to only a few letters or graphics
The retro-look design trends have been here for a while now. First, there was the Art Deco style, then the 70s Retro Flat designs became popular. Now, we are stepping into the early web era when Photoshop and Illustrator came out. Think about the first 8-bit games that ruled the world; when the first websites with ultra-simple, low-res graphics were top-notch. Now designs are making a comeback to the roots, combining nowadays possibilities with styles popular decades ago. And if you are interested in old-school graphics, take a look at this inspiring retro design collection.
8. Nature Reference Designs
As interest in bio and organic products is constantly rising, and the trend also comes to graphic design. Natural colors, natural materials, and overall natural feeling are something that makes a design attractive in 2024. Of course, it is one of the things that cannot be applied to absolutely every niche, but designs in industries like food and drinks, cosmetics, or medicine can only benefit from this trend.
Key elements of Nature Reference design trend in 2024
Using natural color tones
Real-life-inspired textures and recycled elements
With all artificial food and products flooding the world, natural products and designs are becoming more and more popular. Having that in mind improves your chances of grabbing the interest. Of course, being nature-inspired doesn’t necessarily mean you should limit yourself to green and brown colors. There are many ways to make a design more natural with textures, natural shapes, and hand-made styles.
9. Abstract Gradients
Gradients have been a popular trend in graphic design for a while now, but in 2024 gradients start to look more abstract, interesting, and artistic. Using vivid colors, or experimenting with unpopular color tones can make a design really stand out and we are super excited to see what creative designs with gradients will come up in 2024.
Key elements of Abstract Gradients trend in 2024
Combination of colors that are not often combined
Feeling surrealistic and unfamiliar, making the design look unique
Combining non-traditional colors is actually breaking the rules of colors. Colors that on paper are not supposed to look good close to each other, are a sort of protest, used by companies to say “Hey, we are different, we are not like the others”. Still, there should be aesthetics and the overall design should still look pleasant to the eye, so it requires a lot of skills and practice to create good, trending design with abstract gradients. Find inspiration with these 100 good color combinations.
10. Grids & Visible Borders
Grids are about making order in the design and improving readability. In most cases, designers are trying to get out of the grid – to make it non-noticeable and break the rules. Well, in 2024 the trends are changing, and one of the most interesting uprising trends is the noticeable grids and visible borders between sections. So don’t be shy, and use grids to your advantage, be proud of it, and present your grid-inspired design to the world, like these design examples:
Key elements of Grids and Visible Borders trend in 2024
Separate the design into different sections
Minimal white space between sections
Ordered, well-structured design
An easy-to-understand hierarchy
Using grids in your designs will improve the hierarchy and structure of the design. The bigger the element, the more important it is. Yet, grids can still allow you to create abstract, more creative designs using free space or by breaking the grid for your needs.
Final Words
In a time when AI can recreate popular styles instantly, defying conventions by embracing unconventional color palettes, shapes, and concepts is set to define 2024, and this year’s design trends exemplify this shift. Emphasizing intricate compositions and narrative-rich designs, with captivating choices in colors, fonts, and shapes, will set your designs apart. Furthermore, making AI your ally in the creative process is essential for productivity and workflow optimization. The design competition is fiercer than ever, and adaptation is key to maintaining a leading edge.
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