by With less than a month left until the end of the year, we just thought, isn’t it time to see people’s predictions for 2023’s design trends? Sure enough, trend forecasting season has begun.
So will 2023 design trends be the same as 2022… and 2021? Or does anyone see entirely new trends on the horizon? One of the first off the block is Envato, which has produced a hands-on video suggesting nine trends it thinks will rock the design world in the next 12 months (if you need to update your work setup to being able to use one). of it in your own work, make sure you see our picks of the best graphic design software).
The marketplace for creative assets Envato (opens in new tab) has published its overview of the design trends for 2023. There are some familiar faces on the list – creative typography has certainly always been in trend. I feel like we’ve been talking about candy pastels and vibrant minimalism for a while too. But there are also some newcomers. The explosion in AI design over the past few months will certainly continue, but what is “new freedom”?
The nine proposed design trends for 2023 are anti-branding, creative typography, Y2K evolution (makes sense, we pointed out ’90s nostalgia as a big design trend for 2022), bright gradients, vibrant minimalism, AI design, “new freedom.” ‘, sweet pastels and ‘fundamental diversity’.
Of course, design trends last longer than a year and they evolve and co-exist, so it’s not surprising that certain trends appear year after year. Gradients and minimalism have seemingly always been big, but the suggestion here is that in 2023 we’ll be seeing more vibrant (and brighter) versions of these resources, with colors that are bolder, brighter, or shinier). The candy pastel trend can easily coexist with these.
Anti-branding is also something we’ve seen a lot in the last year or so, but it’s probably fair to say that we can see even more over the next twelve months, especially from young companies looking to show authenticity and green credentials. Credentials through stripped-down, barely-there branding — Envato says to watch out for neutral-embossed logos, handwriting, and imprecise typography.
As far as AI goes, text-to-image generators feel a bit like a new toy at the moment (see Using DALL-E 2). We’ve seen the technology used in some of Heinz’s clever campaigns and to raise awareness of environmental issues. Envato reckons this will become more common in 2023, likely with some pretty bad results in some cases, but AI may take its place in the designer
And what is the “new freedom” all about? Well, Envato anticipates that post-pandemic designers will experiment with our collective sense of newfound freedom, resulting in “positive artworks” with bright, upbeat color palettes and expressions of individuality.
Finally, “fundamental diversity” means embracing diversity, a core value present in everything from mood boards to execution as a standard, not as a norm but as a specific gesture. Envator highlights the example of Swedish ready-to-wear brand Djerf Avenue (opens in new tab)‘s regular inclusion of people with disabilities and members of the BAME community in his lookbooks (as well as his promise not to retouch images of his models.
Time will tell if these trends will define design in 2023. Things can change quickly. Finally, the use of AI generators has exploded this year, and it wasn’t something many people predicted in their 2022 design trends. For more inspiration beyond passing trends (or the perfect Christmas gift for a designer), check out our picks for the best graphic design books).
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