Being trendy is something that clients ask us about all the time. How do we keep trends from becoming the focal point of the design or brand ?
Creating “trendy” design work isn’t our goal; however, being effective is. It takes significant research, development, implementation, and ultimately, persistence, to be successful with our client’s marketing and advertising. Design trends live, die, and evolve over time, but rarely do they transcend their current period. As trends come and go, we can only hope to lean on our strategy and not allow trends to dictate our client’s brand.
Most of the design trends we’re referring to are purely visual, and often reflect a modern style. One of the current trends we’ve noticed popping up is the expanded use of fonts and typography. Availability of free type kits has allowed non-traditional fonts to dominate current designs and brands. In addition, hand drawn fonts have also seen a lot of action with some of the most well known brands utilizing them.
Determining how far to take and develop these visual aesthetics will depend on the flexibility of the brand – that’s the real challenge in all of this.
Contrastingly, custom illustrations, such as icons or UI/UX elements have begun permeating into brands. Companies are starting to replace stock photography with their own illustrations, icons, and ornamental elements to create a greater “relatability” to the brand. A great example of this can be seen in our portfolio with the United Way Attendance Matters TM campaign we produced. The hand drawn illustrations worked very well for the messaging of the campaign. It spoke to the core demographic as well as being universally accepted and understood, all while being able to differentiate the campaign from others.
Determining how far to take and develop these visual aesthetics will depend on the flexibility of the brand – that’s the real challenge in all of this. Not that bells and whistles will necessarily hurt the brand, but they should be just that: complementary pieces or enhancements to the work. If they’re helping tell a brand’s story without being a distraction, then they should be considered appropriate. You wouldn’t have dessert first or the Caesar salad last would you? Of course not, very much like a full course dinner, design should serve a purpose. So keep this in mind when looking for or designing using trendy graphics
Don’t be fooled with fancy trimmings if it’s not serving it’s purpose.
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