2 Graphic Design Trend Tips for the Design Entrepreneur

So you want to retain your current clients and also acquire new ones as a self-employed graphic designer? Then you need to upskill, be updated with the current design trends, and execute them well.

Having know-how in your selected field of expertise is a must. This will let you stand out from the rest of the competitors, and graphic design is an industry notorious for having stiff competition. Standing out will not only let you add to your portfolio of clients successfully served, but also opens the possibility of having extended operations in the form of putting up another form of legitimate business–an agency, which will also let you have the opportunity to help other people get job opportunities.

But in order to do that, being updated with the latest trends is important. Here are some tips for current graphic design trends that will help you with your design business:

Clean design

SAMPLE: https://sixnfive.com

The clean layouts we see today are centered around simplicity and minimalism. This makes tight typography work, and the excellent use of negative space to direct viewers on what to look at next or for other use cases will also be paramount in this type of design.

This type of design is centered around the ease of understanding for the viewers. People have shorter attention spans now, so the sooner you get the message across, the better.

Also, for web designers, it’s time to stop using isometric human graphics on websites. It’s already overused.

Ink-bleed design

“Tour dates for Drake’s ‘It’s All A Blur’ tour with 21 Savage have been announced_”.jpg
In stark contrast to clean layouts, an ink-bleed design is centered around aesthetics. These are commonly used for a design that is also an artwork.

The ink-bleed design has some characteristics that distinguish it from other ones. The use of typography with bleeding or smudging ink effects, calculated imperfections in the design such as blurring of parts or having the smudges be prominent, and having a somewhat grunge that is on the cleaner part for designs.

This design is so trendy right now, Drake based his whole tour on this concept. Other artists such as The 1975 and The Marías have also used similar design concepts for their respective latest album branding.

Practice different use cases for the design concepts and try to use them in your current graphic design work. This will help you have the know-how on how to implement these and be able to showcase them to future clients.

There are other concepts and trends to familiarize yourself with, and these two will open your doors to other concepts such as acid graphics, airbrush surrealism, and other cleaner ones such as retro line art. (GFB)