Member Article

Digital Design Trends That Will Help You in 2018

The role of the designer has changed over the past fifteen years… i.e. since people started wanting websites that actually look good. And with 3.77 billion global internet users recorded in 2017, a website that looks really, really good is pretty much non-negotiable.

Digital design is a particularly nuanced form of creative visual communication, driven by the needs of the user. And as creative design agencies have started to think more and more about those needs, the role of the designer has become more than just the expert aesthetic problem solver. We live in a world of rapidly advancing technologies and creative tools. The digital designer’s job is now to visually excite their audience, curate a journey and find a way to Do Something New. It’s no small task.

The coming year will see a move towards game-changing design that can really differentiate a brand. Let’s take a look at the digital design trends that we can expect to see leading the way for creative design agencies throughout 2018.

Typeface

As our interfaces and type rendering technologies continue to advance, we should expect our fonts to become much more sophisticated. 2017 was also the year that lots of big name brands and publishers launched bespoke typefaces (see: IBM, Youtube and many more). Here’s a good round-up, looking at The Death of Helvetica.

We can expect to see a lot more of this in 2018, made more manageable by Adobe’s newly released tool. The Adobe Open Type variable font groups allow designers to customize styles within a particular typeface design. We can also expect to see an increase in the use of Open Type SVG fonts – type will start to look less like font and more like detailed, multi-faceted digital images.

Layout, Page Design & Navigation

Digital design has often been about rules-based, inside of the box (or…grid) thinking. 2018 will see everything getting a bit more free-flowing when it comes to web page design. Broken grid layouts and intersecting elements will both become more common. Navigation bars may also become a little less fixed and more fluid.

We may also begin to see a move away from traditional page hierarchies and the Hero Image. Designers have started to experiment with splitting content using vertical columns rather than horizontal blocks. Both sides of the page are given equal visual weight and importance in this scheme. This is an interesting one because it means, in many ways, more freedom for brands and agencies. Eliminating the need to establish a hierarchy of content or information (or product or service) relieves a whole lot of pressure.

Colour Palette

As we all know, 2017 was the year of Millennial Pink. It was an obsession prompted by Pantone’s selection of as their 2016. And the brand marketers love affair with Millenial Pink continued well into the following year. 2018’s colour of the year is Ultra Violet and we can expect to see a lot more of this striking, yet versatile tone in digital design.

Last year creative design agencies went all in on gradients. In 2018, (thanks in no small part to Spotify’s now iconic application), we’ll also see designers making use of duo-tone and double exposure. The two-colour palette is bold, but it also doesn’t have to be loud or abrasive. We can expect to see it executed in parred down, slightly muted tones to bring consistency and coherence to a brand’s digital assets.

Minimalism vs. Maximalism

Since what seems like the beginning of time, minimalism has dominated both graphic and digital design. Sharp, clean and non-disruptive. From Web Flow, on what they call the era of minimalism: “Visual designers have long sought to get out of the user’s way by offering as few choices and visual distractions as possible”. Minimalism in site design can be seen as a way of easing users into the new digital world i.e. making the user’s life easier.

Now, in 2018, with our users now very much acclimatized the brave new digital world, digital design may take a new path. We can see emerging explorations in maximalism – busy, chaotic and (it has to be said) sometimes nonsensical design. Maximalist digital design asks a lot more of the user that we’re comfortable with right now. Of course, this takes a bold brand – after all, design that actively confuses the user is hardly going to optimize a site for conversion… But the good news is that it’s created a space for designers to be experimental.

Imagery

One of the most tedious parts of a digital designer’s job is often sourcing imagery. Access to images produced by the brand or organization depends on their resource and budget and stock images can tend to look… well, like stock images.

In 2018, the designer’s rejection of unexciting imagery will come in the form of bespoke creations. On the one side of this, think: intricate illustrations, playful animations and GIFs, branded characters, cursor icons. The visual effect of sites will be less sharp and clean and more humanized – perhaps even nostalgic. We can also expect a focus on movement, plus the creation of isometric imagery. 2D imagery that represents three dimensions, with a hyper-real feel to it.

Good digital design can build your brand. Stay ahead of the game in 2018.

Sabrina Sedicot is an experienced marketer, focussing on all things digital. She works for Appnova.com, a creative digital design agency based in London and Rome. She works on projects across UX/ UI design, eCommerce, Branding & Content Production. She’s inspired by all forms of digital storytelling and interested in creating tailored solutions that can deliver experiences to build brands.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sabrina Sedicot .