What is Project Management?

We constantly get asked all the time ‘What does a Project Manager do’? ‘What is it doing in your breakdown of costs on our quote’?

As a design professional I meet a lot of people that have no idea what a project manager does, and how important they are in delivering a quality product, with no hassles.

It’s a tough question to answer. Especially because in many design firms the project manager is still an emerging position.

Project managers are responsible for the leadership of the project from start to finish. They lead a team and help negotiate relationships within the project—whether it’s with clients, team members, printers, photographers, etc.

Project managers are not the people chasing work and developing new relationships. Instead, they maintain a healthy client relationship throughout the course of the project. This often can turn into a long-term business relationship.

Once the contract is agreed upon and signed, the team is then assembled. Most projects start with a team meeting, that may differ depending on the goals and scope of the work. It is up to the project manager to decide what the best approach to the work should be. Sometimes project managers tend to forget their role is to lead, not dictate, they need to have a vision and an approach, as well as have a clear understanding of the goal.

For us at DesignLab, “It’s all about the relationships.” In a collaborative project setting, successful relationships between team members are essential, and the job of keeping the foundation often falls to the project manager. Conflicts can be an important part of the creative process, but it’s really important that it doesn’t sidestep the project.

One way is to make sure that every team member feels valued, and that they are an important part of the project. This can include making sure that team members are coached effectively, and praised, especially during the challenging stages. It is the project manager’s job to care about the quality of work, and that is the same about the quality of the working environment. Maintaining a positive working environment builds good rapport between the team, and keeps enthusiasm levels on a high.

For the hands-on graphic designer, the profession and work consists of big ideas and the small details. It’s not just enough to have a great concept these days — you have to be able to execute it, and this often means working through painstaking precise and multiple iterations of a concept until you get it right.

It’s the project manager who has to keep an eye on the goals & objectives of the project, both for the client and the design team. Clients can be just as easily fooled by sexy layouts, but it’s the project manager’s job to avoid those temptations and make sure the project meets its objectives.

Although design agencies can benefit from a project manager, they are not always required, especially if an agency has many experienced design professionals. Project managers usually are best in mid-sized to larger agencies with at least 20 staff or more.

In smaller design agencies, an art director or design director often functions as the project manager, and may be capable of handling the role. But sometimes project management is the last thing an art director wants to — or should — be doing. This is where a project manager can relieve the pressure of the art director of these responsibilities so that they can focus on the quality of the design rather than the project process.

Hiring a project manager will not solve all of your agencies issues. But allowing for leadership of your projects, and your agencies work will enable smoother outcomes, and a better workflow, and maybe even encourage leadership within your agency.

Finding the right team, giving correct direction and managing the working environment — while focusing on a strategic direction and staying on top of deadlines and deliverables — are all part of a project manager’s role. It’s a challenging task. But if you can find someone who is good at it, you can build your business and improve the quality of your portfolio.

July 20, 2016 admin Blogs, Graphic design, Graphic Design Adelaide Comments Off

Rebranding Sydney Opera House

Sydney Opera House’s new rebranding will attempt to solve a problem unique to the architecture.

Since it’s construction was completed back in 1973, the Sydney Opera House has become one of the world’s most iconic buildings. Over 7 million people a year take a photo in front of the building, but only a small fraction of those people actually walk through the doors for a tour. although the Sydney Opera House is a popular arts destination, with over 1 million tourists a year, it doesn’t have much of an identity that it can call its own, independent of the building’s facade.

The Sydney Opera House was meant to be seen as one with its exterior; you supposed to want to go in as much as you wanted to walk around it. Now, Interbrand Australia has created a new identity for the Sydney Opera House that the CEO Cooney hopes will finally succeed in integrating the organisation’s iconic exterior with the vibrant arts.

Inspired by geometry and shadow of the building’s exterior, Interbrand’s new logo encompasses a custom typeface to accompany its old logo (an abstract, geometric representation of the Opera House), as well as a visual language that references the building’s iconic architecture. “At the heart of it, we wanted to help the Sydney Opera House reassert its purpose,”.”To be a source of inspiration within a building, not just a building.” says Cooney.

It’s a problem unique to the architecture, of which the Sydney Opera House designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon in 1957. Everyone wants an famous building. But what happens when your building is just too famous? How do you refocus attention when the building is viewed as more important than the cultural institution it was designed to promote?

Interbrand’s approach was simple, Cooney said it’s important to understand the history of the Sydney Opera House. It was commissioned at a time when Australia, regarded as a colony, had just stepped onto the world stage as one of the Allied victors of World War II. “Up until then, people had very simple ideas about what Australia was.”. “But Joseph Cahill, the premier of New South Wales, understood that not only is public infrastructure important to the building of a nation, but so was building an infrastructure of the arts. So he put out the task to make an arts center.” This arts center, became the Sydney Opera House. “The project was a crucial part of Australia working out who we wanted to be, and how the world saw us.”

In other words, the Sydney Opera House original purpose was to shift perspectives. Shifting perspectives is also the goal (and even the name!) of the Sydney Opera House’s new identity. “We looked to the structure’s details for inspiration.” “Most of the shapes we use are inspired by the building itself, which is both beautiful in its magnitude, and beautiful in miniature.” Cooney says.

The new identity includes a new custom designed typeface named Utzon. Designed by Swiss typographer Laurenz Brunner, Utzon’s letters are beveled so that any given glyph is made up of multiple slopes and angles. When animated with a light source, these bevels create dramatic shadow patterns, which evoke the Sydney Opera House when it’s at sundown. And these letters don’t just exist as vectors: they have been designed to be real-world objects, so that they can be used as physical signage, and illuminated by real light sources.

Another element of the identity are the colourful new sails used to tie together the posters, commercials, and other materials. The sails are the subtle chevron pattern of the Sydney Opera House’s exterior, but unlike Utzon’s shells, they aren’t just monochromatic: They also are vibrantly coloured with shades plucked from the famous tapestries which hang on the inside of the building. It’s another example of how Interbrand Australia is trying to unite what goes on inside the Sydney Opera House. The sails look great in static form (for example, as the background pattern on a poster for an upcoming program), but like everything about the new identity, also lend themselves to motion. “When you walk around the building, it feels like it moves,” explains Cooney. “We wanted our work to have the same effect.”

It’s a little too early to tell if the Opera house’s new identity will help improve the attendance: It only started rolling out last December in 2015. But Interbrand Australia has succeeded in what it set out to do: The new identity looks native to the place. When Utzon sat down at his desk to draft the original design of the Sydney Opera House, he didn’t simultaneously create an integrated brand identity for the organisation his arts centre would house. But now, thanks to Interbrand Australia, it looks like he did.

All Images: courtesy Interbrand Australia

March 4, 2016 admin Blogs, Brand Identity, Branding, Graphic design Comments Off

How To Sell Your Design To Skeptical Clients

You know that nervous feeling just before your’e about to sell your design ideas to your clients?

It’s because you know they’re going to ask why, and you’re going to have to think up some sort of explanation. And you’re going to stutter through it with meaningless phrases: “It works because of balance” “I think this is the way to go.”

Why not instead enter the meeting with a solid argument in your back hand. To truly convince a client, nothing beats a lucid, coherent argument based on actual evidence. You may be a designer, but when it comes to pitching an idea, you have to act like a salesman.

Here are four techniques for making a good convincing sale.

1. LISTEN AND REPEAT THEIR WORDS BACK TO THEM

Sometimes, your client is trying to tell you things they don’t know how to express themselves. Your role as a designer is to pick through the subtle ties and pull out the truths they’re not being explicit about. Before you can make a valid case for any kind of solution, you need to know what the problem is. And that means listening.

Listening helps you determine what the constraints of a project really is, what the client’s concerns are. It helps you see whether or not you’ve already got the right argument in hand or if it needs looking at again.

It also helps put your client into a mindset. Repeating what you’ve heard back to the client you’re listening to is the No. 1 way to make a client feel they are being heard to the ideas you’re about to show. It shows that your forthcoming recommendations will be tightly relevant to the client’s needs.

2. ALWAYS ASK QUESTIONS CONTINIOUSLY

A good designer should ask questions—about the business, they’re concerns, they’re needs, they’re prior decisions, they’re team and goals. A great designer wants to see the whole picture.

They ask questions because they’re really curious. They ask questions because the answers can help them see what they’re getting into. They ask questions because they want to work toward a vision they can use to make good design decision. Asking questions lets them do that.

Asking questions lets a designer form a coherent debate. Asking is as important as listening. It’s actually part of listening. Asking means dragging more information out into the spotlight.

Next time you walk into an interview, ask questions. Next time you need to make an informed decision ask questions. Next time you need to fend off a bad idea, someone’s bias, your own bias, ask questions.

3. PATIENTLY EXPLAIN YOUR REASONING

A client asked me to add “click here” to a link. They were worried users wouldn’t know what I meant for them to click—the link was a question like “Forgot password?” I explained the reasons for not including “Click here.”

We all know it takes time to explain things like this. That email took 15 minutes to write.

But it’s worth it. It buys you respect, and it shows your client respect. What they hear is that you care enough to explain your rationale. It also demonstrates that you have a rationale for everything you do. It can build trust.

Educating your clients and co-workers and stakeholders with every recommendation you make has effective effects:

It guarantees you have a reason for your recommendation.
It gives everyone a good reason for the recommendation.
It has a long-term effect: It teaches clients to think about design. To think like a designer. To think like a consumer. It teaches them that every decision has an impact on a user’s experience and therefore should be considered. Do this well, and over time you won’t need to form an argument for your reasoning.

4. PRESENT YOUR RATIONALE LIKE AN ESSAY

If you can present your case and do it at the start, you won’t need to argue. Your narrative will address every concern before it comes up.

It helps to apply an essay-style structure to your presentation. When you’re presenting design work to someone, that essay can be helpful. It’s a template. Its tells a story.

Here’s one tip for how to keep an audience captive while you’re making your rationale.

A lot of times, your audience, especially smaller ones will want to ask questions during the presentation. This is fine if it’s a minor question with a quick answer. There is no quicker way to derail your argument than to let something like this distract you and leave everyone forgetting what you were hoping to achieve.

The tip is simple: Ask your customers to hold their questions until the end of the presentation.

In many examples, especially if you’ve anticipated their concerns, you’ll have already answered most of the big questions. This doesn’t mean you’re done. It’s practically a guarantee that someone will ask you something you haven’t yet thought of. This is why the questions are at the end.

If you let these things throw you off track in the middle of a presentation, you may never answer the other important questions. If your meeting is an hour, leave 5-10 minutes at the end for questions.

Whatever the case, leave some time. Questions are the only way you’ll know what you’ve missed.

In Summary: It can always be a tough sell to convince your’e client your reasons for why you design a project the way you do. Steve Jobs put it so well “The customer is always right was told by the customer”. People don’t know what they want, you need to show them. Believe in what you do and why you do it. Remember customers come to you because they can’t do it themselves.

February 24, 2016 admin Graphic design, Tips & Tricks Comments Off

Graphic Design Trends To Be Aware of In 2016

Graphic Design Trends are influenced by culture and media, past and present, technology and fashion.

Madeleine Morley from The American Institute for Graphic Arts (AIGA) says this:

“A trend never simply emerges for a single year and then disappears in a puff of smoke. Instead, an aesthetic becomes popular gradually, even mysteriously, over time before fizzling out slowly without much notice at all.”

The design trends we will be covering didn’t magically materialise at the end of 2015; trends take time, and you’ve likely seen many of them in one form or another during the last couple years.

But even if you’re not one to follow trends, as a designer it’s sensible to be aware of the shifts going on in the industry—if only to perhaps avoid them before they become overused, or just to have the opportunity to tweak them into something new.

While forecasting trends with any certainty is a tricky business, many members of the graphic design industry seem to have developed a consensus as to what styles and approaches are most likely to take off for 2016.

“Modern Retro Style

As opposed to vintage or “old” retro—styles that draw from the early 1900s through the 60s—“modern” retro takes its influences from more recent decades, the late 1970s through the 90s. Think early PCs and video games, pixel art, and space themes: nerdy is now the new cool.

This illustration and t-shirt design by Ralph Cifra has all kinds of nostalgia happening. The technology theme also ties in nicely with modern-retro influences.

Ralph Cifra

This has a retro yet contemporary feel, complete with vinyl records and a solar system, we just love it.

From The Welcome Branding Group

80s style for a stationery brand

From Write Sketch & Officemilano

Some limited “pixel edition” packaging designed for Coke. It features space invaders from the arcade video game of the same name released in 1978. Pretty cool.

From Erin L. M. McGuire

Material Design

via Google

Google made quite a noise in the design world when it introduced its material design guidelines. This visual language is characterised by “deliberate color choices, edge-to-edge imagery, large-scale typography, and intentional white space” for a bold and graphic look.

Some designers are referring to material design as “Flat 2.0” because it’s an update to the flat design trend, adding light/shadow, depth, and movement for a more tactile sense of realism.

Though Google created it for web and mobile, you’ll see material design principles popping up in all kinds of design now.

This fluid website concept incorporates material design principles, including bold colors, large typography, and light and shadow effects. Card- or tile-based layouts (see the menu elements to the left of this image) are also part of material design.

From Balraj Chana

Flat 2.0 illustrations for a weather app from Disky Chairiandy that integrates light and shadow for a sense of depth. Simple, but effective.

From Disky Chairiandy

Another website, designed by Al Rayhan, that features contrasting, bright colors but with a more traditional design—a good compromise between conservative and trendy.

From Al Rayhan

If you want to try out one material design’s vivid colour scheme, look out Material Palette. It’s a colour scheme generator that can help you quickly and easily choose a versatile selection of hues. Go on, give it a go!

Bright & Bold Colors

Fitting in with both 80’s/90’s styles and material design, vibrant hues should continue to prove popular into 2016.

This trend would be a move away from the more muted, 1960s-inspired palettes to favour bright, neons, pastels and richer, more saturated colors.Pantone’s Spring 2016 Color Report falls in line with this prediction for 2016.

Pantone’s Spring 2016 Color Report

Neon shade of green combined with a golden yellow really makes this poster pop out. It was designed by In the Pool. Very cool and trendy.

From In the Pool

Here, some bright pastel gradients over the imagery in his landing web page design, it really makes the text stand out.

From Michael Fangman

A clearly 80’s-inspired design from Tron Burgundy with electric colours and geometric shapes.

From Ton Burgundy

Geometric Shapes

Geometric shapes and patterns are align with some of the 80’s trends we’ve already looked at. This one can be applied in all sorts of ways—as individual graphic elements, as backgrounds, as an illustrative technique.

Keep an eye out for a style known as “low poly,” which got its start as a 3D modelling technique for video games.

From Vivek Venkatraman

There are lots of helpful tutorials for creating a low-poly effect, either from scratch or taking a shortcut with a tool like this. Or just pick up a selection of free low-poly textures to try out the trend the easy way.

Another take on geometric shapes with shapes layered forming a colourful backdrop for some business cards.

From Tank Design

Coloured triangles on this chocolate packaging create an eye-catching background:

From Bag of Bees

Simple circular and rectangular shapes combine to form a versatile visual theme:

From Simeon

Negative Space

Negative space is an essential part of any logo design. We love it. Negative space can be a clever way to add deeper or double meaning to your designs. It can simply help give your composition a more minimal look.

In this design for a restaurant called “The Swan & Mallard,” has creatively managed to fit a swan, a mallard duck, and an ampersand all into one logo though positive and negative space.

From John Randall

In a different way, the negative space in this logo has movement and context to the word being spelled out:

From Sameer Ahmed

Have a look closely at the shapes created by the violin. They form a series of numbers 1, 2, and 3—which are part of the event name. How clever!

Sam Hadley

Modular Layouts

Modular layouts have been adopted by some of the largest brands for their websites.

It’s the self-contained modules or cards used as the primary organisational principle that has created the twist of a new trend.

From Balraj Chana

Layouts don’t have to follow a grid where everything is aligned. They can be a little more freeform and still serve as an organisational tool. For example, this design below.

From Natalie Armendariz

Typography

Typography isn’t just for reading—it’s for making a statement. Look out for big, bold type that’s the center of attention. You can create drama, fear, love through size, but also through colour and texture.

Look at this handcrafted a series of letters to create the cover art for a magazine.

SNASK

From SNASK

From Brendan Prince

This much more minimalistic freeform approach depends largely on colour and shape.

From Ben Schade

This poster features a more freeform arrangement of some of the letters plus textures.

From Julie Joanny

Illustrations

It’s been said that stock images are dead. Stock photography and graphics are more frequently being replaced by custom illustrations.

No graphic designer wants their work to look the same, and no business wants elements of their branding to show up on another competitor’s website. So that is why designers have been putting in the extra work to create one-of-a-kind solutions.

As bigger brands continue to embrace designs, this tactic of making imagery more personalised should continue to grow in 2016.

From Vlad Shagov

Dropbox takes a personalised approach to its imagery with casual illustrations—more like doodles:

Dropbox

Beautiful watercolor illustrations:

Saudade Tea’s

From Saudade Tea’s

Minimalistic & Abstract Style

In contrast to the more 80’s-inspired design styles we’ve seen, this design trend relies on minimalism and deconstructing or distorting recognisable shapes and forms.

For instance this identity for a music school picks apart some of the shapes associated with musical notes and puts them back together in a different way:

From Aurėja Jucevičiūtė

These designs from StudioBrave and Kajsa Klaesén integrate geometric shapes and bright colours in a simplistic way, with plenty of white space.

From StudioBrave

From Kajsa Klaesén

A Summary

Following design trends just for the sake of being trendy usually isn’t a good solution. If you do decide to try a trend, make sure it fits your project and audience.

February 3, 2016 admin Graphic design, Graphic Design Adelaide Comments Off

Why Not Everybody Should Design

OK, let’s just say my car is not working, and it has some serious issues.

I’m not a mechanic and I don’t know how to fix it. I don’t know what the problem is and I don’t want to go to a mechanic because I want to save the money.

Instead I buy a book and I take the time to learn about cars, then I look at a bunch of tutorials about how others repair cars, I talk to a specialist about my problem and then I go under the hood and try to fix it. My hands get dirty and I lose so much of my valuable time on understanding what happens with all those cables and other pieces. I think I see the problem and I attempt to fix it.

I get into my car and start the engine. It’s working! What a relief. I think that I’ve solved the problem. I’m happy that I didn’t have to go to the mechanic and spend my money. Even if I lost a lot of time on educating myself, looking at tutorials and talking to specialists.

I drive my car and guess what, clank bong bang boom… my car just stops and I don’t know what’s wrong. I get really nervous and have go to a mechanic. The mechanic looks at the car and says “You have an old problem here and a new problem here. Why didn’t you come when you experienced the first one problem?”

Now if I had gone to the mechanic in the first place, he would have solved my original problem faster with some money invested, and with more time gained.

So why is when something is wrong with our cars, we go to the professionals, to a car mechanic?

Now let’s get back to our topic at hand, if you have a design problem, why don’t you go to a specialist, as in a graphic designer?

Let’s say you want to design an logo, you find an online clipart site which creates logos you can easily use add some basic text to. You design the logo, print on business cards or signage on your car are you wait for the phone calls. Guess what? Nothing. Why? Because your logo is ugly. It’s not so visually appealing and nobody likes it. Because your logo was a template where you edit some text.

What if you invest some money and start working with a professional graphic designer?

Why? Because graphic designers understand the power of visuals, the power of good looking visuals and most of them have the experience of creating values through their work.

Creating templates with free design sites or apps which everybody can use does nothing but underestimate the designers’ importance.

If you love design but you are just an amateur starting out, you can design for yourself. But when we talk about brands and companies that need to create valuable identities here is the place where the professionals should look for design.

Another example: how would it be if a plumber could do your logo design work with a free app where he could just press some buttons?

Now think about graphic designers in this situation and just start to work together.

Let us professionals do our jobs with the tools we have learned.

January 21, 2016 admin Graphic design, Logo design Comments Off

The Importance of Letterhead design

Over the last couple of weeks we have talked about the importance of business stationery, and how business cards are such an essential part of selling your brand. Today I want to discuss the importance of letterhead design.

Why your letterhead is important

Your Company logo

Your business has a logo for a reason. This logo will define and identify your brand, and will help your customers to recognise you. So by putting your business logo on your stationery you expose your brand and what it stands for, in turn giving you a far greater brand awareness in your industry and among your customers.

It backs up your brand

Every business wants its customers to know that it offers the best service or the most affordable products, then your letterhead therefore needs to reinforce your brand message.

If your brand is all about providing a professional, bespoke service (for example) then you should make sure that your letterhead reflects this, whether that’s with a clean design, or by colours and fonts. Once you’ve chosen the particular identifiers, make sure to stick to them across all of your business’ communication for consistency.

It shows legality and authority

Not only does your business letterhead present who you are, which helps to identify your brand; but it should also be used for all official documentation. It reinforces your brand’s authority and gives the remainder of the letter credibility.

What makes a good letterhead design?

Clean and simple

Your letterhead should be easy to read, so it’s important for it to be a clean and simple design. Your letterhead should consist of your logo and any contact details.

Contact details

It’s important that your customers can contact you by looking at your letterhead. This means ensure your contact details are relevant and up to date.

Two font rule

Now this is in the eye of the beholder, but we feel you shouldn’t use any more than two fonts in your letterhead design. Try to choose a font which reflects your logo. You may decide to use a specific typeface for all of your marketing communication.

Company colours

You should make sure that your letterhead contains any corporate colours from you logo. A business which sells items specifically related to food for example will likely opt for green and red, rather than purple, it’s simple logic.

Good examples of successful letterheads

Below is a look at some examples of what we think is successful letterhead designs. Just remember as long as you include the right information, and keep any design consistent with your brand’s identity, you can’t go wrong.

Simply in the shape of a comb, this works great for a barber shop.

Choosing a corporate colour must have been a bit of a no brainer with a name like Redbrick.

If you want to chat to DesignLab about how we can help with your business stationery in Adelaide, call Spiros 0n 0431 926 575.

August 5, 2015 admin Branding, Branding Adelaide, Graphic design, Graphic Design Adelaide Comments Off

Good Business Card Design Adelaide

Good business card design Adelaide is so important to your brand. Your business card can be considered one of the most important marketing tools you can have for your brand and business. You are giving you’re contact information to potential customers. In order for the business card to do its job, it has to be professional, memorable and attractive.

It is very important for your business card to be attractive and memorable. Think that some people receive hundreds of business cards and they rarely remember any of them. Making your business card memorable is and should important.

Some mandatories we advise all our clients are your logo must be simple and symbolic to your business services and the industry that is associated with. Having your website and email address is a must these days. Customers will be searching for a website where to look for information about your business and for an email if they want to contact you. If you’re missing these, you better keep the cards to yourself, cause handing them to people would be pointless.

What people appreciate more than anything else in a business card is it’s quality. Your brand is reflected by your business card, and if you have one with a good paper quality and print finish, the first impression of a possible client will be far better than from a regular business card.

In short business cards will never go away. They remain an effective tool for building networks and keeping in contact with clients.

The business cards showcased below are a really good example of how to make your card stand out.

Speak to Spiros at DesignLab if you want to take your business card to the next level and really stand out.

July 15, 2015 admin Brand Identity, Branding, Graphic design, Graphic Design Adelaide Comments Off

Some good Christmas Design Ads

Christmas is upon us yet again. We are all likely rushing around like a crazy people this week trying to get all your work done, finish up your Christmas shopping, preparing to travel, etc. Every year, we are asked by our loving clients to design them something for Christmas i.e. cards, e-cards, newsletters, Facebook banners and more, and every year we strive to design something different from your normal tinsel, red & green backgrounds with snow flakes and cursive typography. It’s just boring as bat shit! So we took some time out from our hectic graphic design schedule and took a look at some inspirational Christmas design that actually looks and feel different.

Let’s take a minute to slow down and absorb some solid Christmas design inspirations.

Some of these ads will make you laugh, others might earn an approving nod or even a roll of the eyes. All are definitely worth a look and are sure to get your brain in a creative mode.

Have a Great Holiday!

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah or Festivus, we here at DesignLab would like to wish you a very happy holiday season.

December 17, 2014 admin Branding, Graphic design No comments yet

SA Caravan & Camping Show

This year’s SA Caravan & Camping Show was a massive success, with a record crowds, a new Camping Kids Zone, Jayco Main Stage featuring The Drumming Monkeys topped off by perfect sunny Adelaide weather, what was there not to love!

We took a different direction with this years branding. We wanted the poster to create a sense of the typical Aussie holiday camping with family and friends. We used a photo which was a brother and sister running on a jetty about to jump into the beach, and with tagline named ‘Your Aussie adventure starts here!’

Category: Graphic Design Adelaide

February 24, 2014 admin Blogs, Branding, Events, Graphic design, Graphic Design Adelaide No comments yet

Graphic and web design trends for 2014

With 2014 well on its way we thought it was a great time to look at this year’s graphic and web design trends to help you work towards achieving your competitive edge.

iStock Photo by Getty Images asked creatives around the globe to weigh in on what’s hot and what’s not for 2014. The resounding response was that simplicity is king, even as we’re introduced to more and more complex devices, platforms and channels than ever before. From ﬂat design to reigned-in parallax scrolling to 5-second social media videos, think of simple design as the yin to technology’s yang.

10 Graphic and web design trends for 2014

1. Simplicity

Simplicity will undoubtedly be the most powerful tool for expressing the highest level of sophistication.

2. Flat Design

Hopefully we see better ‘ﬂatness’ than we did this year. Many screen and app designs have applied ﬂat shapes and solid colours with such fervor that they created layout, rhythm and usability issues. The many screens and wearable tech gizmos will require us to design clever and connected experiences.

3. Improving Parallax Scrolling

Over the past few years parallax scrolling has become a very popular tool enlivening the delivery of content on the web. More and more we will see this used in a restrained way — with more of a ‘light touch.’

4. 5-7 Second Storytelling

The biggest social media trend will be 5-7 second storytelling — clickable videos, Vine, and animated Gifs all use small pieces of moving media to tell a story quickly.

5. Logos With Depth

The increasing simpliﬁcation in logo (re-) design is overused. In many cases this leads to a loss of brand sovereignty.

6. Real Models

I believe there is a trend in portraying reality more. We know models are meant to help to sell products…but the imagery of normal, real people also sells and can enhance public affinity with the brand.

7. Digital Innovation

The Brazilian advertising industry is becoming more and more mature, focusing on what is really relevant to consumers, not just on what wins awards. Advertising needs to change to adapt to a market that has already changed.

8. 3D Printing

New forms, designs and patterns by 3D printer will be gain more popularity in 2014.

9. Creative Inspiration

We need to invest in knowledge about ourselves, about the world we live in, about the role of creativity on this planet. This knowledge will help us transform reality into something closer to what we dream of.

10. Trend Lists

I don’t believe in design trends being overused. The issue is around timing; if you’re using an aesthetic, design or idea that people are sick of, you’re not doing your job. However, I think creatives get jaded with new design styles way before the general population, so I’d say feel free to overuse more. People like consistency.

To download the full infographic visit iStock.

February 7, 2014 admin Branding, Graphic design, Identity, News, Tips & Tricks, Web design No comments yet