15 Graphic Design Trends: What’s Hot in 2022?

Graphic design trends in 2021 were mostly inspired by retro, futuristic styles, which will take new turns and find more creative solutions in the new 2022 year. 

What graphic design trends are going to be a hit this year? 

Strong brush strokes, 3D art, calming color schemes, shapes that’ll take us a step closer to nature, chaotic typography, gold, and more 3D. But that’s not all. 

Below you can find the biggest graphic design trends in 2022 that you should know about to make creative designs during this year. 

1. Typography Chaos

Unlike 2020, this chaos IS enjoyable. 2022 will be full of chaotic typography design with limitless solutions. No rules, no rights or wrongs, it’s all in your head. 

Source: Ashley Jakubowsk, Aleyna Kılıc, Muna El_sayed, Martyna Wędzicka-Obuchowicz

Chaotic typography is quite famous in the business industry, as well as among influencers on social media platforms. Banners, posters, quote-posts, and more become way eye-catching and vibrant when created with chaotic combinations of big and small texts.  

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1. 3D Design

3D art pieces are going to be quite huge. Like a futuristic feature, they will push the imagination of many designers to a new height. Combining 3D objects with realistic designs, 2D works, or everyday life, will result in superb collages. 3D typography designs and lifelike shapes and characters will surely leave everyone breathless.

Source: Swile, HUAWEI, Garden, Microsoft 365

1. Gold Design

Gold is one of the trending design colors of this year. It can be used in various forms and textures – shiny, metallic, silky, rough, and this is not even half of it. Gold can make almost any design piece classy and luxury-looking, as well as fragile and modest when used right.

Source: Roman Bratschi, Zoldi jewels, Toast, Covalence Architectes

1. Symbol Revival

2022 is bringing back the gods and goddesses, the moon and the stars, the symbolism of hands, and other classic symbols of love, power, beauty, and more. Giving a fresh breath to talismans, symbolic art will inspire growth this year. 

Source: Matheus Ferreira, Kenneth Vanoverbeke, Saberin Hasan, Autumn Hutchins, Helena M. Cintra

1. Inspired by Nature

Natural elements like flowers, trees, leaves combined with calming, earthy colors and mild tones. Textures resembling wood, greens, stone, etc., are going to shine bright when combined with natural light and minimalism. Serenity, purity, and growth are all the themes of this trend. 2020 was definitely difficult for everyone to keep staying at home, so it’s natural that this year people are going to embrace the Earth.

Source: Caroline Delavi, Vinicius Hideki, Diana Silina, Geethanjali Rajiv

Nature elements play a huge role in aesthetic marketing ideas and social media posts. People on Instagram and Facebook love seeing a little green on their timeline, which is why many influencer and business pages use earthy colors and greens to promote their brand or stress their organic nature. 

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1. Geometric Shapes

You can create any design using these basic forms, bright colors, and your limitless imagination. Making it 3D will give your design more depth and uniqueness, making it flat will take us back to the 70s, so it’s a blast either way. 

Source: Arnold Gutierrez, DART / Villa Verlicchi, Atelier Irradié, Melez Iced Tea

1. Art Infusion

Another artistic design is waiting for us in 2022. Brushstrokes, abstract shapes, painting infusion designs will bring out the more artsy and classy side of our imagination. 

Giving a touch of classic art and fairytale to design pieces is another great trend we’re looking for this year.

Source: Ostecx Créative, Feifei Ruan

1. Retro Futurism

When futuristic elements collide with retro style there’s surely going to be a firework show full of color and class. Bright colors, turns and twists are going to be an important part of this trend.

Source: Houston Hanna, New Romantics, 吴 剑, Larissa Pychlau, Sergey Snurnik, Ilustrata studio

Gaming world is full of this style and its specific colors. You’ve probably come across many YouTube gaming videos with thumbnails and video formats in retro-futuristic style. Although we can agree that this style gives a cool vibe to anything.  

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1. Optical Illusions

Hypnotic, mesmerizing, and now even trendy. Coming up with design pieces with optical illusions, be it an object or typography, will spice up your designer year and make people think and try to figure it out.

Source: Polina Lebedenko, Hidden Characters, Figure ™, Sergi Delgado, Ashley Jakubowski

1. Monochrome & Duotone

Effortlessly beautiful, simple, and yet commanding. Monochrome and duotone designs just scream at you to look at them, and if you choose the right color, you’ll certainly send your message across. 

Source: YAV Digital, Jack Mitchell, Joseph Van, Vineet Kumar, Amy Nortman 

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1. Cartoon Illustrations

This trend is still going to be valid in 2022. Cartoon illustrations have been a thing for a while now, giving us familiar feels. They are super flexible and striking, so why not try them out this year? 

Source: Alena Rychagova, Kseniya Sakharova, Tanya Gulyaeva, Daria Ovsanikova, HaeJu Jang 

Cartoon illustrations also add a unique touch to a brand and help people connect with it. They are fun to share online and memorable once they catch the eye.  

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1. Socially Conscious Design

After the numerous challenges of 2020, art is standing up to unite the world. Designers all over the world are trying to make their art speak for itself through inspirational, personalized, and consoling pieces.

Source: Tyler Bumgarner, Daniele Andreotti, Leandro Assis, Atilla Karabay, Nica Vitug

1. Voxel Art

The art constructed out of 3D cubes called voxels is a stunning mix of video games and vintage awesomeness. It’s impossible to forget and really fun to observe.

Source: Vida Foruzan, Yeganeh Aubi 

1. Colorless Design

The dark mode of many applications and websites is bringing back the colorless and modern graphic design on its wings. Classy, bold, magical, and modern combinations of black and white, as well as other faded shades of colors, are going to completely win the hearts of both young and old people.

Source: Tanvir Alam Hira™, Gemma Mahoney, Ilona A, Szymon Jendrzejczyk, Dominggo Mau

1. Comics and Pop Art

Vintage comic and pop arts have been active design trends since long ago. This year too, they are going to stay in trend even in the shape of flat design and expressive texture.

Source: Lesha Limonov, Paula Cardoso 

To Sum Up

Looks like 2022 is really going to be a year full of graphic design trends of almost every kind. It’s important to come up with pieces that express the unique nature of your brand or style and convey the message you want to deliver. 

Authenticity, imagination, and style… with these three elements you can create outstanding graphic design pieces worth to be remembered.