What’s Trending?

by Infinity Concepts | Sep 2, 2013 | Creative

No not on Twitter, but what are the hottest trends in the graphic design industry today? Everywhere we look we see some form of graphic design, whether it’s on our lunch menu, on billboards, on the packaging of our favorite dessert, or while we’re browsing the web. We interact with design every day of the week, 24/7.

We can quickly compare different design trends throughout the years. As early as the Renaissance era, writers and artists were concerned with the presentation and detail of their work. Fancy calligraphy and ornate drawings became the most common form of art in books and posters. Overall, graphic designers didn’t consider simplicity until the late 1950s when Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffman designed the Helvetica typeface. The clean look took charge of the design world. Instead of detailed work, designers aimed to produce minimally.

Much like the 1950s, designers are once again simplifying and innovating from the previous years. The rebellious and edgy look of the 90s is transforming into straightforward and UX (user experience) designs of today. The two most popular design trends are flat design and parallax scrolling.

Flat Design

Many of the brand giants are starting to consider redesigning, most notably from Microsoft, Apple, and now Google. These well-known companies are changing their look and developing flat designs. Flat design aims to take away all of the distractive elements like shadows and flares to produce something much more natural for the technological world. Steve Clayton of Microsoft explains that flat design derived from three concepts: Modern Design Movement (deletion of distracting elements), International Typographic Style (cleanliness, readability, and objectivity), and Motion design.

Parallax Scrolling

Another up and coming concept is parallax scrolling. You may remember from astronomy class that Galileo Galilei acknowledged that the Earth rotated around the sun, not visa versa, by observing the phases of Venus through a telescope. Stellar parallax can be defined by the apparent movement of an object in relation to the perspective of the observer. Much like stellar parallax, HTML5 and CSS professionals can show motion through parallax scrolling, as one layer stays inactive the other moves with the mouse.

The new trends of flat design and parallax scrolling can be noticed everywhere from corporate giants to individual portfolios. At one perspective, graphic designers seem to be inspired by the events and ideals of their generation and even history. But from another, the culture and the norms of our generation seem to be inspired by graphic design.