Graphic design trends of 2018

Glitch effects

And so the wheel turns as things which designers and programmers struggled for hundreds of man-hours to get rid of has now become something that people add deliberately. The glitch effect is just as it sounds; it is a purposeful intentional glitch designed into the art scheme of a website or other graphic design features. Glitch effect has many forms from websites which appear to look partially loaded to ones that look like a digital photo has been corrupted with the varying slanted rainbow streaks which we associated with broken imagery back in the 90s. But what is old is new again and the glitch effect has become an increasingly popular trend in modern websites that are pursuing post-modern clients.

Holographic style

Almost everyone has gotten a chance to probably view a hologram at some point in their life. Sometimes they are very real and lifelike and other times they are more colorful and abstract. Holographic style has been a major trend setter for many years and although is not likely to be as popular in 2018 as it has been in previous years, it is still going to continue to dominate certain sections of the market.

Holographic design can also take many different forms, from a realistic-looking picture with a holographic ghost duplicate alongside it, to a similar three-dimensional effect that we used to get from the red and blue 3D glasses. However the holographic effect is achieved, it is always eye catching and pops. It is difficult to make a compelling holographic style imagery in two dimensional space without the use of 3D glasses or other three-dimensional enhancement techniques, but modern artists and graphic designers have found a way to make 3D pictures seem to come alive in a way that is attention-grabbing and innovative. Holographic style has been popular for some time and probably will continue to be a moving force in 2018 although, its popularity in modern designs is slightly fading.

Double exposure

Like with the glitch effect, double exposure is something which people had tried to get rid of and now actively pursue. It had once been a popular design trend and has had a recent resurgence in popularity due to new styles and new creative ways of achieving the effects. Double exposure is a beautiful medium for overlaying two, often times radically different, pictures into the same frame creating an overlay which can create an interesting mesh of imagery which many users find compelling. Double exposure is not only beautiful to behold and interesting to look at but many graphic design artists find it fun to create. Double exposure is almost an art form in its own right as it not only encompasses a strong background in graphic design or artistry, but it also requires a certain level of higher creativity to know how to properly mesh photos together in a way that they complement each other and do not clash. So be on the double lookout for double exposure to continue its rise throughout the design trends of 2018.

Typography

If there is a single rule in typography when it comes to the use of different types, styles, and graphics of writing on the internet or for web pages this is certainly one of the most important rules of all: in the name of all that is sane, do not use Comic Sans! Typography is a far more technical and artistic task of making the written type or letters in a web page beautiful, artistic, and creative. There are many individuals, primarily those of lesser technical backgrounds or lesser artistic abilities who oftentimes think that Comic Sans is new, innovative, and creative. If this is your view, then a simple Google search can easily remedy that fallacy.

Typography can include such things as shadow effects or other graphic design media to enhance the effect of written text or numbers. Typography is far more like calligraphy of olden days which is the process by which you make letters, numbers, or words into actual art and not merely set type for the purposes of reading. Typography has been incredibly popular with graphic design trends in recent years and is likely to continue to be strong for many years yet. The fact is every website needs to have a certain amount of text or numbers on it to convey its information. If that information can be delivered in a way which is eye catching and creative, the message will be not only easier to receive, but the advertisement and the artistry that it conveys will stick with a user longer.

Destruction

A recent trend, and one that is likely to continue, is the trend of destruction. As it turns out, graphic artists love to create destruction style pictures. This could go along in the same vein as the glitch effect, but destruction style is actually something different. Destruction style is also known as the ruined effect. This particular effect is achieved by taking a photo, a background, a painting, or any other medium upon which the artist chooses to work and then purposefully and deliberately creating a destroyed or partially ruined version of it. Thus in a ruined effect photo you will have a part of the original before its destruction and a part of the ruined effect.

This creates an interesting dichotomy which draws the eye to the contrasts and to the similarities between the two halves. Innovative, creative, and destructive without actually destroying anything, this graphic design trend is sure to please and impress a postmodern audience in 2018 and beyond.