Changes of a year might seem like just another thing that came and went away, but it is not as simple as that.

With a new year comes new everything. In terms of trends, a beginning of the year sets how trendy the year will be. One may ask ‘how is that possible!’.

We’ve rounded up 9 killer design trends to keep an eye out for:

1. When Magic hits Reality!

Yes, I am talking about magical realism. It is a mind-blowing side of art. Starting from the aftermath period of World War I, magical realism has evolved from the pallet and paper to photoshop and illustrator. As amusing as it sounds, it is also as interesting and creative to work on photoshop. Everything gets better with a little bit of magic. In 2017, keep no limits in your imagination and push out of the old methods of designing.

The idea of magical realism is very similar to our life. It shows that, it is not always what you see. There is always a hidden meaning of the design. Make social media posts or even event promotion, add some magical realism in your personal designing portfolio. Trust me, no one ever looked away from magic!

2. Indie Style



As we all know indie is in trend for a while now, it’s time to make it our regular design style. Feathers, boho patterns, prisms and many more can be added to your design to give it a trendy-indie look. This style is one of my personal favorites. A little bit floral prints can be added as a part of the design.

The colors that are usually used for these designs are not too bright yet very colorful to make a statement. You may want to try out ‘multiplying’ the prism patterns to your backdrop. A subtle warm tone can be added to change the whole look. I think it is quite trendy and very catchy. Try it out today to enhance your design style this year.

3. Mix & Match Typography





Mixing fonts is a great way to make your design stand out. Gone are those days when keeping your typography inside the box. Like seriously, what’s fun in that? In 2017, the formal approach has been decreased to the level when doing what you feel like ‘IS’ the trend. Playing with the words is very important to give your design the final touch of your creativity level. Use bold fonts with sleek ones, play with the color contrasts of fonts, give some motion blur effect to focus your typography. You can also play with the shadows that creates a 3D look. Maybe add some elements to your typography to give a bold voice of itself.

Headlines should grab the reader instantly. You get about 30-50 seconds at best to get someone’s attention in the print world. If you miss that opportunity, you’ve lost your potential customer. Don’t just type, make it a part of your art!

4. Illusions!

Let’s talk about illusions. We all think of it as a very casual side of the internet to entertain us. In reality, it stands for a great value. What is illusion? Illusion is a thing that is or is likely to be wrongly perceived or interpreted by the senses. I must point it to the designers or visualizers that a great illusion of your content can grab the attention of the consumer like nothing else. A little bit of illusion in your design can increase your traffic by a visible number.

Illusion designs are not only used for just still pictures, now a days it is used frequently for videography too. Take the song Up & Up- Coldplay as an example of illusion. I don’t know how many times I needed to watch the video just to understand the illusions right. That’s what we all want for our designs too. So voila! Now you know how!

5. Simplify your design

Nothing screams elegance than a simple design. Again I will talk about the people working in the advertising world, keep your design simple to be noticed. A simple touch of gradient in the background would do the magic. No extra background is needed to grab the attention as the content is doing it for you. In the world filled with so many options, scrolling down yet another typically designed post is very easy. By keeping it simple, we can always show our designing skills. Like Apple does! Their design is very simple and posh and everyone loves it!

Just focus on developing your content than focusing on the other stuffs like backgrounds, textures and additional objects. So keep your design simple this year and deliver the message loud and clear with that.

6.Duotones

Combining two colors in one image is what duotones mean. Bright colors or contrast colors are the perfect way to give your image a duotones. It became a hype after Spotify started using it widely for their advertisement. A good sense of color combination is required to master this skill.

Nowadays, a lot of music bands are using this pattern to design their album cover. It is a very easy process with a very outstanding output. I like using this pattern to highlight a personality or simply use it as a filter to give it a retro look.

7. Geometry Rules

It’s all about the geometry. Any design looks super smart when you add some geometric shapes in it. It is like a backbone. Not that I’m saying that designs without geometric shapes in it is backboneless. A design can be refined with a touch of it.

Geometry shapes any kind of art. But this is yet to be explored by the design world well. We can create some amazing, appealing yet classy designs. Take any geometric shaped background and clip mask it with a silhouette or something you want to highlight and blend it well. It increases the percentage of the viewer’s focus. Geometry shapes are ideal for web designing. Looks very bold and organised. Basically, it helps you to keep your content concentrated and clean.

8. Loud and Bright

In 2017, everyone has their own style. But only the one who dares to go out of the line and play with colors are the one who stands out in the crowd. Same goes for graphics design. If you are not going for loud and bright then you are doing it wrong. Try bright colors like neon, bright yellow, hot pink, groovy blue, poison green. Go crazy with the colors when you are working as an ad designer. Only flashy colors can make your message flash to the customers. But never over-do it. Maintain the color pallet and work with your contrasting. Colors has the power to play with people’s psychology as different colors sets mood. Playing with colors while designing is actually playing with people’s mind and hitting the right spot. Funky Fashion brands can use this trend for their bold branding.

9. POP Art (a.k.a The Retro)

One simply cannot forget to mention about the exciting side of graphics designing, which is Pop art. Lately it has created a trend that is adopted by every designing field. Now we can have pop art printed pillowcase, as well as your own face. This is by far the most interesting and crazy pattern to work with.

Any picture can be turned into a pop art by using few filters and trying out different Hue/Saturation. If you are using pop art to set your brand image, then I would say you are a bold marketer. If you are using it as your personal experiment, then I would say you are creative. Either ways, it compliments your work. So get on with this new pop art trend!

A Closing Note

Anything you make is a piece of art. But the question is, whether you can follow the trend or now. I think that there is something better than following the trend. If you don’t like to be a trend follower, then be a trend setter. And best part is, you can do it right now with your creativity in graphics designing. Get out of your comfort zone (by that I mean the traditional stuffs we use for designing) and try out new things. Because magic happens outside your comfort zone.