Variable fonts.

Since COVID-19, we have seen companies continue to broaden their visual language through their logos and typography.

Examples of this can be seen in the rise of variable fonts, adjustable by weight, height, width and slant through the drag of a slider.

This has consequently opened many opportunities for companies to create dynamic typefaces that can sit at the forefront of their brand, seen in both static (seen in the example) and interactive styles (seen here).

Brand Logos

Minimal Logo Design.

Over the past few years, companies have adopted less-is-more logos, especially within the corporate start-up world.

These logos are usually characterised by the use of a sans-serif font and a colourful and simple yet eye-catching emblem. Here are a few examples of companies who have used this style: Slack, Airbnb and Monzo.

Their simplicity emanates sophistication and confidence in their brand image, allowing it to become more memorable. Although these logos are visually pleasing, their design isn’t just for the clean aesthetic. They can also be conveniently manipulated for all formats, whether that be a smartphone screen or print production.

Colour, shape… and a lot of it!

Colour is one, if not the most important and powerful visual communicative tool. It can influence emotion and emphasise hierarchy, all without the need for the written word.

Over the past few years and throughout 2022, we have seen bright colours make a big comeback, especially when combined with flat, geometric shapes. Although the shapes themselves are simple, they can create an eye-catching statement when paired with bright colours, perfect for advertising and branding.

This cohesiveness between bright colour and shape can be seen with the brand refresh for Vitaminwater by design company Collins. They perfectly balanced the relationship between colour and shape, aligning with the company’s values, personality, and identity.

Collins VitaminWater Rebrand

Another example is The Girl Scouts brand refresh again by Collins. The refresh not only perfectly balanced shape and colour; but also, The Girl Scout’s long-standing, historic past with its intention of appealing to the modern and diverse younger generation.

One of the most successful ways they did this was by focusing on the shape, colour, message and importance of The Girl Scout badges. As discussed by Collins: “These are artefacts of achievement that girls proudly wear to tell their own story; their goals, their accomplishments, their interests, their identities. We translated these objects into bold, geometric forms that could be used as building blocks for design and interactivity. The system grants a common language to all communications and is flexible enough to support any application, whether it be a presentation template or a vibrant campaign.

Anti Design

Anti-Design.

Everyone knows that legibility is one of the key building blocks for successful graphic design, especially within the world of healthcare. However, although these strict and rigorous building blocks provide fit-for-purpose design, could it be argued that the restraints have limited more expressive forms of visual communication?

‘Anti-design’ has blossomed in agreement with that exact statement, a rebellion against the rigorous written (and unwritten) rules of graphic design. It is usually characterised by a disregard for the grid and symmetry, overlaid and crowded text or imagery, illegibility, and clashing colours.

Examples of anti-design were more common in one-off pieces such as music, event posters, or independent magazines. However, in recent years we have seen large corporate companies bringing this trend into the marketable world. This can be seen in Spotify’s 2021 Wrapped experience, and we can only expect to see more of this in 2023 and beyond.

Could these design trends help you?

If you’d like to discuss any of these trends in more detail and see how they could help you or your client, organise a call with Ed.

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