It’s no secret that a graphic design agency must always find a way to stand out from their competitors. What is it that makes people come to your graphic design agency rather than choosing your most beloved competitor? Perhaps it’s your dream team which builds credibility to your brand, a strong and reputable presence in the industry, or even your out of the box ideas clients appreciate the most. However, as distinctive as you might want your graphic design agency to be, you must also keep up to date on specific trends your customers will most likely acknowledge.
Trends are big influencers on how people perceive the everyday world. Keeping up to date with social, technological, and economic changes will help you understand what your potential customers are looking for; as people’s preferences and understandings are heavily influenced by these specific matters.
The following is a list of design industry trends to keep in mind for 2018:
More than focusing on data and measurement, a graphic design agency should spend more time generating fresh and exciting ideas for creative content. Data can show you what worked and where you came from, yet spending too much on it will hinder the true inspiration of creative and out of the box thinking. Social media has become saturated with informative and recreational content that is constantly viewed as people spend more amount of time on social media; the only problem being, how do you make content that will make people stop scrolling down, even if it’s for 15 seconds? Creativity in your work, catchy captions, and related content will appeal more to the audience as it will be more prominent than many other posts.
A graphic design agency must adapt to the shift from working with traditional media and transitioning to social media within the last few years. As this trend continues to dominate, it seems that more and more people are liking the idea of short, funny, and informative videos in their news feed. One of the main benefits of video content is the ability to set a tone of voice when communicating with the audience; as well as the benefits of increased online reach and organic growth of online following. Video content began its uprise in 2016-2017; yet, there’s no doubt the trend will become even more significant in 2018.
Microinteractions – tiny animations used to communicate with customers and help them perform tasks. Truth is, people are becoming more interested in moving and interactive content such as GIFs, where creativity strikes in seconds. Just like video content, people are looking for fast, informative, and interactive content on the web. Animations & GIFs enables graphic designers to become creative and make a lasting impression in a short period of time. With an increase in social media interaction, greater content, and a shorter attention spam, graphic design agencies must find a way to grasp a viewer’s attention immediately and concisely. Animation & GIFs should be used as a designer’s advantage to promote enjoyable and swiftly content.
Unstaged photography is becoming a more refreshing way of presenting content, it looks and feels real. Authentic photography enables a designer to create a bigger connection to the customer as it conveys emotions, initiates an action, or tells a story. Authentic photography will enable graphic designers to put their imagination to work, by intertwining photography and communication skills to convey the message wanting to get across. As mentioned in the previous point, it is important to think of attention seeking content, an approach to make viewers stop scrawling down the news feed. Always consider: How will your creative work make an instant connection with the viewer? How will it stand out amongst many other posts on the web?
Society and many businesses are increasingly becoming more interested in the topic of sustainability. Awareness of excessive packaging and damaging plastic is specifically becoming an important matter amongst people. A big trend that will continue to grow as creative designers, scientist and environmentalists work together to implement more sustainable practices. Agencies are working on reducing outer packaging, developing more packaging out of scavenged and recycled material, as well as producing materials that will stay and continue to resonate in customer’s life. Thinking of engaging in more sustainable practices will allow your graphic design agency to enhance its credibility and reputation amongst environmentalist conscious customers.
Providing distinct and creative content for your customers will highly differentiate your graphic design agency from your competitors. However, you must also be up to date on social trends that will influence your business. Whether it is technological, social, or economical, you must always be informed about your surroundings and the hot topics surrounding your industry; remember, people are heavily influenced on society’s beliefs and opinions, which in return will influence their negotiating and buying decisions. In the end, it seems that following some of your customer’s most valuables trends might not be such a bad idea after all, even if your competitors are doing it as well, right?
