Design Trends 2010 (an Outsider’s Perspective)

Over the past several years, I’ve hired many graphic designers and have had to spend a lot of time providing feedback on design projects. While I usually come into a project with a basic aesthetic in mind to relay to a designer, I’ve often wondered from where they draw their inspiration. Where do designers go to tap into the visual zeitgeist of the time? Are there unwritten rules about which visual elements are timeless, on the cutting edge, or render a project aesthetically obsolete?

I’ve done some investigating on a number of graphic design blog pages and comment boards recently and here are what appear to me to be some of the hot trends in the world of graphic design right now.

Going Green

In the business world, going green is all the rage these days. Companies are eager to project an image of environmental awareness and responsibility, and it is not just up to savvy public relations copy to communicate this message. Muted earth tones and organic textures appeal to our senses and convey the sense of an environmentally engaged company every bit as, if not more effectively than a well crafted corporate statement. With eco-friendly business practices continually increasing in prominence, don’t expect “green” graphic design to go out of style any time soon.

Versatile Designs

Most content generated these days will likely be used for a few different kinds of media. Not only should a design project look great in a glossy brochure, but it should also make for engaging web content as well. Big typography and intricate, high resolution logos are a couple examples of design trends directly fueled by the need for content to be engaging both in print and on the web.

The Grid System

The Grid System has long been used to organize content in printed layout designs, with images and text interacting within a given page layout. Web pages, obviously a much younger medium, have taken a while to catch up. However, as web-design capabilities grow, increasing attention is being payed to the way in which elements of a web page layout interact. Web design increasingly seems to be borrowing design ideas from the printed page, thus resulting in a design more akin to printed catalogues, brochures and magazines.

Serif Fonts

Until recently, serif fonts were not widely used in web design due to poor compatibility with the current technology. However, due to recent developments in monitor resolution and operating system upgrades, serif fonts have become much easier to read and are becoming more widely used in web page design. Given the trend discussed earlier for designs to function across several media, one can expect the development of serif friendly web-technology to increase the font style’s usage in print as well.