Our Top 10 Design Predictions for 2024

In 2024, there's an anticipated blend of bold minimalistic web design layouts interwoven with maximalist details. While minimalist design utilises white space and a minimal number of visual elements, maximalist trends seek a unified design with diverse elements. This fusion creates a compelling contrast, drawing attention to the most vital aspects of a website.

Outside of web design, 2024 marks a shift towards loaded compositions within social media advertising, brand applications and print design. Designers will discard conventional design boundaries, embracing bold fonts, vivid colour combinations, and visuals that spill into every corner.

Margins will fade as we adopt big, bold elements, fostering interest, curiosity, and an overall disregard for page size. Maximalism in composition provides a visually captivating experience, encouraging experimentation with colour, shape, and font sizes.

The fusion of AI-generated visuals into design processes heralds a huge 2024 graphic design trend characterised by surrealistic 3D settings, products, and environments. These designs, with an inflatable, 3D appearance reminiscent of the Cyberpunk world, become accessible through AI tools like Midjourney and Open AI. Ideal for ads, posters, social media, and web design, 3D surrealism adds a futuristic dimension to visual content. In alignment with Adobe's GenAI research, which indicates a surge in generative AI adoption, 78% of respondents acknowledge its positive impact on content quantity and creative inspiration. This trend is set to grow and grow!

Initially gaining popularity in website design, visible grid lines have become a tech-centric design trend known for its modern, minimalist appeal. This unique line style transcends website design, influencing diverse industries and mediums, from dashboards to printed posters.

The bento box grid trend, an extension of visible grid lines, involves applying a boxy grid to dashboards and reports. This signature design style combines a clean, thin sans serif or serif typeface with solid color blocks or backgrounds, creating a chic, industrial aesthetic suitable for digital media applications.

In response to the growing sustainability conversation, designers embrace Earth-First Design, infusing designs with natural elements, textures, and earthy color palettes. The significance of sustainability in purchase decisions is huge, with consumers increasingly valuing products making sustainability-related claims.

Drawing inspiration from rocks, seas, fruits, and forests, designers channel nature, selecting colours with natural dye alternatives suitable for eco-friendly materials.

In 2024, designers embrace a nostalgic return to the funky 60s and 70s, deviating from last year’s Y2K trend. This trend brings forth faded retro colour palettes, handmade illustrations, and a renewed focus on the human touch in designs.

Distinct from the unrestrained Y2K aesthetics, 70s nostalgia introduces earthy tones, retro stripes, floral patterns, and checkers. The trend aligns with a yearning for simplicity amid technological advancements, manifesting in a revival of vintage art designs across branding and graphics.

While experimental fonts were at the forefront of graphic design in 2023, 2024 continues the trend with a modern punch. Display fonts and serif fonts assume central roles, with a focus on elongated, handwritten fonts, and abstract lettering.

This trend transcends language barriers, relying on shape and color for visual communication. Designers tread a fine line, as sacrificing legibility for cutting-edge design poses a challenge, necessitating a delicate balance between innovation and clarity.

Gradients maintain their allure in 2024, with designers exploring abstract gradients and colour transitions that deviate from traditional crystal tones. Vibrant neon colours, resembling lava lamps, add a surreal quality to designs, offering a unique twist to gradient applications.

Meanwhile, color transitions, involving two-toned shifts between complementary colors, offer a modern look without overwhelming the design. Both techniques contribute to improved focus, enhanced text appearance, and visually engaging designs.

In 2024, the design landscape sees a pivotal shift towards prioritising outstanding user experiences and heightened SEO visibility. The harmonious integration of aesthetically pleasing design, SEO-optimised content, and intuitive navigation takes centre stage, defining a prominent trend in website design.

While beautifully designed websites have undeniable allure, the core focus on User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) remains paramount. These factors dictate a website's success, influencing how users discover it online and seamlessly navigate its content to convert into satisfied customers.

Behavioural design plays a crucial role in this trend, putting the user at the core of the design process. By understanding motivations, needs, and behaviours, designers strategically employ elements to influence user actions, creating a resonant and engaging user experience.

As we've employed these approaches for years, 2024 is expected to see them increasingly topping our clients' website wish lists.

Textured 3D design takes centre stage in 2024, dominating the digital art landscape. This design style applies hyper-realistic textures to text, abstract shapes and backgrounds. As technology progresses, 3D designs, especially those geared for AR and the metaverse, become increasingly realistic. Textured 3D designs, particularly effective with simple typography layouts, offer a visually impactful approach for posters, social media posts, and website headers.

However this 2024 trend ventures beyond the digital realm, incorporating real-world textures like liquids, metallics and paper to evoke a physical feel. The rise of texture imagery enhances the artisanal and handmade look. This trend appeals to the senses, adding layers of physical sensation to design projects. Whether it's the grain of wood or the softness of silk, textures create a tactile experience that resonates with audiences and stands out.

The hand-drawn doodles graphic design trend, also known as hand-drawn art, brings a human touch to design. Rooted in the idea that handcrafted elements exude warmth, this versatile style has gained popularity in creating friendly, approachable brand images.

Combining hand-drawn elements with minimalist design results in a modern and unique brand identity. Whether applied to outdoor banners or social media graphics, hand-drawn doodles infuse designs with a personal and relatable quality.

Quirky characters, characterised by fluid-like bodies and inspired by abstract and organic shapes, emerge as a distinctive design style in 2024. This fusion style allows for the creation of fun and refreshing visuals, serving as a unique way to enhance brand identity across various mediums, from posters to social media graphics.

In conclusion, the graphic design landscape of 2024 unveils a dynamic interplay of diverse trends, from technological advancements like AI-generated visuals and textured 3D design to nostalgic returns to the 70s and the emergence of anti-design. Designers navigate a rich tapestry of options, balancing innovation, user-centricity, and sustainability in their pursuit of creating visually captivating and resonant experiences.