Before announcing our graphic prospections for the coming year, we wanted to encourage you to have your own reflection on graphic design, in order to be able to have a critical mind and to stand back on all these trends.
What is graphic design?
Graphic design is a way of representing. It is a creative discipline that consists of developing graphic elements for promotional, educational or informational purposes. To do this, a graphic designer uses and creates graphic elements such as typography, colors, photos, drawings and any other relevant resource.Â
 Today, a graphic designer can do work by hand, but most use professional software. Among the most commonly used by graphic designers are Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop. These programs belong to the Adobe suite and are used to create communication materials or illustrations for any type of graphic project.
Forms and media of graphic creations
The graphic creation can take several forms and be realized on various supports. It can be of :
- Logos
- Posters
- Brochures
- Packaging
- Computer graphics
- Flyer
- Web-design or website mock-ups
 It can also be a complete visual identity for an entity, which includes mainly the logo, the name, the colors, the layout, the typography and thanks to all this a graphic charter. The way to designate the different supports and to choose the form thus vary according to the communication project in question.
Graphic design professions
The professions around graphic design are constantly evolving. The common point to all these professions is naturally creativity. Currently, the most developed professions are the following:
- Art director: this person will be in charge of creating the visual universe of the brand
- Web-designer: creation or redesign of websites
- Graphic designer: creation of visual supports
- Illustrator: translation or retranscription of texts into drawings
- Motion designer: illustration and animation
The term graphic designer can include several of the graphic skills of the professions mentioned above. We also hear the term DTP modeler (Computer Aided Production). It is therefore a person capable of creating different communication media, such as those mentioned above, using a graphics tablet or a computer.
 These jobs can be carried out within different structures, such as a communication agency, a graphic design agency, an advertising agency, a web agency, or in a pole specialized in the visual communication of any company. These creative jobs can also be done on a freelance basis.
Understand the origin of graphic trends and how they are launched
This is the point we wanted to bring you to. It’s easy to rely on existing and evergreen trends to predict which ones will endure without taking too much risk. But for an estimate to be valuable and relevant, you need to understand where it came from and how it was made.
Colors: a graphic trend to anticipate in light of current events
Colors are commonly associated with emotions. Whether we realize it or not, blue refers to the color of the sky and the sea and has soothing qualities. Green and earthy colors refer to nature and harmony. White and gray are light and pure.Â
We can make a similar association for all colors. Depending on the colors used, the associated feelings can also vary. Multiple influences; historical, social, political or cultural explain the attraction for certain colors.
 The important thing here is to understand that according to social, economic or political upheavals, people will seek this or that feeling. Following a year devoted entirely to the pandemic, the colors of the year for 2021 according to Pantone were the ultimate Gray and the bright Yellow. The former refers to calm and strength, while the latter brings warmth and optimism. Thus, we have a message of hope, which we strongly needed after this complicated year.
Who sets the graphical trends?
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Experts in forecasting graphic trends
There are offices that specialize in producing “trend books” several times a year. Among these offices, we can note for example Carlin, NellyRodi or Peclers. To produce these estimates, graphic designers, data analysts, sociologists and marketing experts work together and analyze the evolution of consumption and the wishes of different population groups. These estimates are highly sought after by companies who are willing to pay a high price for them. Thus, even though these productions are in essence a consumer study, they certainly influence future trends.
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The limitation of these estimates
These offices used to offer exclusive information for years. Today, with globalization and the evolution of the internet and access to information, these offices tend to offer very similar estimates, and people who take the time to search can find some of the information by themselves on the internet. Thus, this profession had to evolve and the current added value of these offices is in the personalization of the advice they can bring to the different companies. Moreover, micro-trends are born today and require an in-depth study of a local territory, which people would find much more difficult to find on the internet.
Graphic trends for 2022
As you have understood, the experts in the creative fields are the most capable of making estimates of the trends because they have a good culture of their sector and evolve constantly with the new graphic codes and technical improvements.Â
 So we present you the estimates made by ourgraphic designers for the trends of 2022.Â
General and transversal graphic trends for 2022
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Trends: colors
- Pastel colors
- Natural colors
- Gradients
- Illustrations with lots of color and detail: towards the psychedelic and abstract
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Trends: the background
- Inclusiveness: the will to show things and people as they are. We are witnessing the rise of a marketing that advocates naturalness, “be as you are”, “assume yourself”.
- Preponderance of nature or space
- Messages that are increasingly simple and impactful
- Committed messages with a strong meaning
- Particular attention to the medium used in relation to ecology
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Trends: typography
- Bold typography
- Strong contrasts between font sizes
- Vintage-retro style
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Other tends
- Minimalism
- Realistic and 3D illustrations
- Use of textures in illustrations
- Mix of styles: linear, gradient, volume, flat
- Illustrations with a lot of details
- Illustrations with ultra dynamic graphic shapes
- Very airy or saturated space, but not in between
- Simplified, geographical, nature-like form
- Pop-art and art deco styleÂ
- Simple and effective lines
- Lively and colorful visuals
Web design trends for 2022
Web trends are evolving very quickly, in line with the development of technical possibilities and computer and artistic know-how. Here are the future trends that our teams foresee for the coming year:Â
- Parallax: it is a movement effect when scrolling the screen
- Superimpositions of elementsÂ
- Glassmorphism: this is a new style of UI Design that is really taking off
It is characterized by transparency (glass effect with a blur in the background), the use of several bright colors with floating objects and a thin and sharp outline. The goal is to use the depth of the interface to create a hierarchy between elements.
- The animations
To conclude, all trend forecasts are only forecasts made through the analysis of the social and cultural context. They aim to be relevant and creative and to reflect a period and a state of mind. So always keep in mind that it cannot be an absolute truth, some trends will be confirmed while others will disappear. Only time will tell what the real trends of 2022 are.