Based on creative industry predictions, here are the hottest graphic design trends for 2024.
Graphic design is constantly evolving, with new trends emerging all the time. This effect is only being accelerated by the current global turmoil. On the basis of industry experts' insights, we explore eight of the most hotly anticipated trends for 2024.
Agency work based on subscriptions.
In our first two trends, we won't be looking at a particular visual style or graphic design technique, but rather at a more fundamental change in how agencies operate. Primary's Nick Pattison sets the scene.
Currently, we live in a rapidly changing industry, with many designers still working from home and others opening up side firms or small studios," he explains. "At the same time, design tools and AI are accelerating the speed at which these designers can create, communicate, and deliver," he adds.
Clients demand more in less time, and designers are looking for new ways to serve them while generating more regular, predictable income," he explains. "As a result, productization, where designers have simple price packages around fixed deliverables, is on the rise."
As a result, the 'design subscription' agency model has exploded this year. A fixed monthly fee is charged to clients for unlimited design work, according to Nick. According to Mark Richardson, designer, and founder of Super fried, "almost every website design firm offers this." There's been a lot of boasting about money being made and minimal time investment with these subscriptions. It's confusing because I'd have thought this would enrage their clients!"
A brand sprint is the second step.
Mark hopes that the design subscription trend will fade by 2024. "However, with the continued advancement of AI, perhaps it will become even more alluring and grow as a potential model," he says.
Nick, on the other hand, suggests an alternative. "Some studios, like Primary, have found success with a different approach to productization," he says. Now that we only offer one service for a fixed price, we call it 'brand sprints.'"
In this business model, the agency designs and delivers a new brand identity in two weeks for a flat fee. Nick reports that this has proven extremely popular with our young startup clients, who can get to market quickly with a high-end identity without breaking the bank. "We can also have a predictable pipeline of work, and we can financially map the entire year based on a repeatable price."
The third step involves de-packaging and sustainable luxury.
Currently, climate change is driving many new trends in design. Brands have become increasingly committed to environmental responsibility in the design and manufacture of packaging, however.
Considering this, what does it mean for the graphic design? "With brands experimenting with package-less packaging, edible packaging, and paper-pulp outers, the graphic real estate on pack is becoming increasingly smaller, forcing designers to think more creatively on how to create standout, convey brand messaging and storytelling in a way that feels authentic," writes Chris Wilson of STCKMN.
Design for 2024 will continue to be influenced by sustainable materials and responsible manufacturing processes, he predicts. With limited on-pack graphics, it becomes challenging to communicate branding and product details. However, with clever use of colour, uncluttered layouts, and smart graphics, like QR codes, it provides unique ways to overcome these limitations."
Moving type is on the rise.
A key trend in the coming year, according to Duncan Gravestock, design director at F37, is kinetic and variable type, with ownable variable sliders.
The emphasis will be placed on type to help brands come across as authentic and unique, he predicts. More and more brands are turning to motion designers and typographers to tell their brand stories in more dynamic and expressive ways.
We've already seen this with Collins' work for the San Francisco Symphony in 2022, he notes. Additionally, &Form Studios' Tokyo Dome City and Studio Kiln's Too Much to Watch branding are other examples. Kinetic typography does not seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.
Typography is also moving forward because of AI. In the works is #ProjectGlyphEase, he notes. According to them, all a designer must do is create three reference letters in a chosen style from existing vector shapes, or hand draw them on paper, and the technology will create the rest of the letters automatically. "You'll either move or you'll move if you type in 2024."
The surreal meets the real.
Remember the Instagram-driven trend of people projecting 'perfect lives' in the late 2010s? As Jessica Strelioff, a designer at Goodside Studio, points out, that trend has been very much on the decline in recent years. "Whether due to Gen Z's coming of age or the pandemic shattering any semblance of perfection in life," she says, "the early 2020s saw a refreshing return to the raw and unfiltered." In its place are grainy, nostalgic shots with in-your-face angles that were considered 'unflattering' five years ago.
Jessica predicts today's 'real' will become tomorrow's 'surreal' in 2024. She describes it as both a cultural reaction to modern life's absurdity and an industry-wide response to the powerful generative tools at our disposal. As we move toward 2024, we expect a trend toward the surreal. This is part escapism for daily grinds, part yearning for play."
In practice, what will that look like? According to Danielle LaRoy, strategist at Goodside Studio, more brands will imagine lush, opulent worldscapes in vivid detail. The typography will also likely push further into the experimental and ornate, accompanied by a smart, sharp brand voice that keeps things grounded and real. Customers will be at the center of these otherworldly experiences, which will be uniquely personal and distinctly playful for smart brands.
The backlash against artificial intelligence.
The AI community has not been unanimously supportive of AI in 2023, as Allumete.com has extensively covered. Are we going to see a big backlash against this increasingly scary technology in 2024?
There is a good chance, according to Mark. "A new movement could see someone setting up a club or badge declaring that all creative work produced by humans should be displayed free of AI." he wonders. What if this was a way to stand out and appeal to a niche demographic concerned with the implications of rapid technological advancement? Or is it a recipe for failure; does staying in the race mean embracing it?"
BCorp or not BCorp.
The B Corp status will also become increasingly popular in 2024, according to Mark. "The creative industry is sensitive and caring, and the environmental concerns are growing," he says. In a difficult financial climate, many may feel this will give them an edge in the final shortlist, although the costs involved may also discourage some from taking part.
Products and services designed by designers for designers.
Graphic designers have always been pretty good at creating products and tools for the community and wider industry. Radim Malinic, designer and founder of Brand Nu, believes 2024 will be the year this goes into overdrive.
"We often help others create commercial brands and get them off the ground, but neglect what we can bring to the world ourselves," he observes. In addition to branding systems, advertising campaigns and elaborate marketing, creative time and energy should be cherished, allowing space for personal growth and exploration as well."
As Radim believes, there is no better time to launch a creative business endeavour than now. "More and more creatives are taking the plunge into a world that could be paved with risk and uncertainty for what could be a career-changing outcome," he remarks. As a community and industry, we've never been more connected and willing to share our learnings and advice.