Design trends are always changing. You need to keep up with these shifts to ensure your products resonate with potential customers. After all, visual appeal plays a significant role in a person’s experience using your products and services.
That’s why you should keep the following trends in mind. In 2020, they’ll substantially influence the way your competitors approach design. Additionally, when people are trying to find a programmer, they’ll look for those that are well-versed in the most up-to-date and innovative design trends.
Comprehensive Branding
You likely already know that some degree of visual branding helps your business make a consistent impression on your audience. However, it’s important to understand that a unique logo is no longer sufficient. You need to brand all your visual content.
For example, perhaps you’ve developed an app that helps people find recipes. Odds are good the app features a general color scheme and visual style.
Maybe you also promote your app through a YouTube channel featuring videos of hosts making some of the recipes it offers. These videos should also adhere to a similar color scheme and visual approach.
That’s merely one example. Everything that can be considered a visual representation of your business, from your website to your business cards, should share visual qualities associated with your brand.
Unique Typography
Don’t overlook the importance of proper branding. According to some estimates, a major brand could be worth billions of dollars. A strong brand can also help you maintain a loyal customer base.
Thus, you need to consider all the ways you can use visual elements to differentiate your brand from others. This includes focusing on what some might dismiss as minor details.
For example, one way to stand out among the crowd is to simply use your own custom typography, instead of using the same fonts others use. It’s worth noting that developing your own fonts will also help you avoid the costs and complications associated with font licensing.
Just make sure you choose a font that embodies the qualities you want people to associate your brand with. For example, many law firms use formal typography, such as fonts resembling Cambria or Times New Roman, in order to convey a sense of professionalism and reliability. On the other hand, a company offering wellness products to young people might use something more whimsical. While your goal is to develop your own font, it’s also a good idea to start off with standard fonts that reflect your brand to a degree, using them as inspiration when you develop new typography.
Eye-Catching Color
Many brands have embraced a relatively minimalist approach to color schemes in recent years. They’ve branded their products with pastel hues and similar muted colors, ensuring all visuals look clean and unintimidating.
That approach may have worked fairly well for a while. However, design trends often change because consumers get bored. When they grow accustomed to a certain visual style, it no longer impresses them.
This is a key reason many design experts believe 2020 will mark a shift back towards bold and contrasting color schemes. Because many recent color schemes have been minimal, this is a smart, simple, and effective way to capture your audience’s attention.
Experimentation
A focus on minimalism has also had the unfortunate side effect of making brands blend into one another. When everyone is applying similar design principles, no one stands out.
That’s why some design experts also encourage companies to experiment during 2020. Now’s a time to try out design and branding ideas that you may have been reluctant to try when playing it safe.
The types of “experiments” you might conduct will vary depending on your goals and ideas. For instance, some brands might try to make a stronger impression on leads with an animated logo. Others are developing custom emojis to communicate with customers in a language that’s more universal than basic text. Some are simply taking the opportunity to incorporate more video into their approach to design.
Those are merely a few ideas. This year, consider listing all the design experiments you may want to try, and see if any deliver results.
Using Art
Yes, design is already an art itself. However, it’s the type of art that can involve leveraging other art forms to enhance an overall effect.
In recent years this has often taken the form of developing logos and similar imagery with computer graphics. This year, it’s likely some brands will experiment with more traditional illustration and art styles. Once again, by choosing not to continue doing what everyone else has been doing recently, brands are more likely to stand out in the crowd.
Remember these points when designing your products this year! A strong user experience isn’t enough to guarantee success. To ensure your products attract (and keep) customers, you need to ensure they look visually appealing.
