Our talented community of creators brings entrepreneurial dreams to life on a daily basis, and we are lucky enough to see firsthand how great branding and design help fuel the success of businesses all over the world.
To celebrate the opportunities and success stories sparked by creative collaboration, 99designs has teamed up with global media and education company Foundr to produce a special free edition of their digital magazine. The magazine is illustrated entirely by the 99designs community, and celebrates entrepreneurial creativity in all its forms.
Get your free magazine!
Download your copy of the Creativity Issue for free.
Stories of creative entrepreneurship —
The creative process and the entrepreneurial journey are strikingly similar. Both rely on observation, prototyping and iteration, as well as an acceptance of failure, experimentation and critique. And both are made magical by that spark of excitement and inspiration that strikes when you least expect it.
In this magazine you can read stories, tips and advice from some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs who have staked their careers on creative thinking, including Jack Dorsey, founder and CEO of Square; Anthony Casalena, founder and CEO of Squarespace; Clark Valberg, cofounder and CEO of Invision, and many more.
Creativity is contagious. Pass it on! —
Together, the founders and contributors featured in this magazine prove that there are as many ways to be creative as there are ways to run a business, and by sharing their experiences they pass on some of the lessons they learned along the way.
Innovation psychologist Amantha Imber shares her top tips to combat loss of productivity. By -Z-.
Crowberry Capital looks to invest in racehorses, not just unicorns. By Daria V.
Content in a flash: Grant Munro gives his top tips on scaling a creative company. By CriDascalu.
Some of the practical takeaways from this special Foundr x 99designs Creativity Issue include:
How to scale your business creatively
Creative leadership and how to make small changes that boost performance
A simple 10 minute routine that helps improve clarity and creativity
Why excessive content consumption can limit your creativity
How to market your business creatively in the new media revolution
Quick tips for boosting creativity. By -Z-.
Mark Harbottle talks strategic acquisitions. By -Z-.
Srinivas Rao shares his thoughts on why over consumption harms creativity. By -Z-.
Meet the designers —
Special thanks to the talented group of designers whose work is featured in the magazine. Based all over the world from Romania and Belgium, to Egypt, Canada and beyond, they represent just a tiny segment of the diverse global creative community working on 99designs.
Asael Varas is a designer with expertise in typography, lettering, illustrations, mascot-design and merchandising.
BATHI is an exceptionally talented illustrator who has worked with hundreds of clients all over the world.
CriDascalu specializes in illustration, character design, matte painting and UX design.
Daria V. Is a designer with a vivid and colorful style specializing in illustration and packaging design.
Mky is an artist and graphic designer specializing in hand-lettering who loves working on fun, quirky and colorful projects.
Pixeleiderdown is an academic illustrator, portrait artist, and graphic designer by trade, as well as being a qualified archeologist.
Sofijavv is a graphic designer, illustrator and fashion designer.
-Z- is an architect with more than 20 years of drawing experience who has come back to an illustration and graphic design pathway.
Get your free magazine!
Download your copy of the Creativity Issue for free.
https://mobimarket.gosite.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/logonew-1.png00Edwin Georgehttps://mobimarket.gosite.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/logonew-1.pngEdwin George2019-12-05 10:24:542019-12-05 10:24:54Foundr x 99designs: The Creativity Issue
Each year the ever-growing video sector sees trends come and go.
What’s cool this year? Illustration by Vladanland
While it may not be wise to jump onto trends too quickly, it’s good to keep an eye over them as you continue your quest to optimize your video marketing.
So far this year, we’ve seen some trends ramp up, and others start to fade away. It can be hard to keep up, so we’ve done the work for you. These are the video trends to keep an eye on over the next year.
1. Facebook Live may be dead, but live video lives on —
Facebook Live was one of the biggest busts of 2017. In fact, not many of Facebook’s video initiatives have garnered great results for video creators. Facebook Live, Facebook Watch and regular auto playing Facebook videos have seen publishers chasing views and following this prophecy without great results, resulting in the complete shut down of some of them.
But live video isn’t a trend that’s disappearing altogether. On the contrary. Live video has secured a firm place in the video ecosystem. But what that is exactly, remains to be discovered.
Live video via Envato Elements
The concept of live media is still an incredibly engaging one. The secret ingredient? Live interactions with real people.
As an Instagram or Snapchat user, you’re probably noticed that many people you follow “go live” multiple times a day. Those live feeds usually consist of answering questions that are being submitted in real-time by other users—maybe even attempting to do something that users request.
This kind of content is designed to take advantage of the ephemeral nature of the moment.
While Instagram provides the ability to save these live events to your profile, the odds of someone watching an hour-long live stream later are quite unlikely. This is what makes this style of video so powerful.
It’s recreating the sensation live radio and TV used to command—people all around the country, or the world, experiencing the same thing at the same time.
Live video is here to stay. So keep experimenting with the medium.
2. Videos will become “shoppable” —
Another trend that’s picking up steam is “shoppable videos.”
These are video ads that feature links to products within the world of the video.
Instagram Stories and Snapchat feature a lot of these, but the technique is becoming more sophisticated.
Shoppable videos via Envato Elements
It’s reasonable to predict that you’ll soon be able to buy products or get links to them by interacting with those objects within a video. If there’s a chair featured on screen, you may be able to hover over it and find out more about that particular model and where to get it.
The same may go for a mobile phone that’s being reviewed in a YouTube video.
The options are limitless, really. But for now you’ll see more videos that highlight specific products in a story’s stream, often with a shoppable link (or a link to an exclusive deal).
3. Interactive 360 video technology will expand —
360 video via Envato Elements
Interactive 360 video is a huge trend at the moment. Through it, I’ve been able to experience broadway musicals, sports games and iconic locations.
It’s the kind of immersive, futuristic video style we’re expecting to see a lot more of as AR and VR continue to grow in usage. And it’s something that, if you’re ambitious enough, you may want to try yourself.
While not easy to produce (just yet) it could be a great way to set your product videos apart from your competition and really captivate your customer base.
4. 1:1 video experiences will continue —
1:1 video experiences via Envato Elements
While software like Google Hangouts and Zoom have been improving their video conferencing ability drastically, video experiences featuring just one person talking to another person live still have a place—and this type of experience is positioned to grow.
The ability to see another person and to share screens lends itself quite nicely to technical support. Beyond that, it can also be a good way to teach.
There’s nothing quite like seeing another person and looking them in the eye to truly communicate effectively. The intimacy of video conferencing trumps communicating via a voice call, chat app or sending an email.
5. Everyone will be vlogging —
Vlogging is one of those video genres that’s easy to poke fun at but hard to ignore.
Vlogging via Envato Elements
As many changes as video platforms like YouTube have gone through, vlogging continues to grow. Now you have YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat as popular vlogging platforms. With the addition of live streaming as a feature, vloggers are diversifying the type of content they present. In some cases, they’re turning live streaming into their weekly or daily vlogging content and creating more polished videos that drop on YouTube once a week or once a month.
Whether this helps or hinders the burnout problem is arguable either way. But one thing is for certain, vlogging is not going anywhere anytime soon.
6. Videos will be easily searchable —
Just as social networks have integrated video into their core offerings so too have search engines like Google.
More searchable videos via Envato Elements
Over the past few years, videos have inched closer to the top of organic search results on both desktop and mobile pages.
Now, things are progressing further, with Google’s announcement that they’ll be using AI to identify snippets of video related search queries and have these autoplay on search results pages.
This will make video even more important to effective search optimization for brands and businesses.
It will also increase the importance of optimizing your video content for search results—just like you would with an article you’re hoping will rank well in search.
It’s a continuation of the importance of video to the discovery of your business or brand.
7. Training and education videos will expand —
Training and education are already a huge sector of the internet that utilizes video. Think Masterclass, Skillshare and even video tutorials you can find for free on YouTube, or that get charged for through various sites on the internet.
This trend will continue to grow, as I suspect brands and businesses that sell products will start creating their own content to teach people how to use their products.
What’s interesting about this trend is that people, in increasing fashion, already go looking for videos to answer how-to questions more often now than in the past. For how-to questions, videos are justifiably more useful content.
Training and education via Envato Elements
I recently bought an entire bedroom’s worth of furniture from Ikea, and totally blanked on the fact that I’d need to put everything together myself.
I was stunned to discover that Ikea doesn’t provide detailed instructions. That’s an understatement. Their instructions, designed, much like their products, only include what’s necessary. The company works to be as global as possible, so the instructions include images, but no actual words, making them very hard to understand.
I finally came up with the bright idea to look for a video tutorial. I found an entire community of YouTubers who have created whole channels about constructing Ikea furniture.
It delighted me to find these, but the quality of some of the tutorials was hit or miss. This seems like a big opportunity for Ikea to create instructional video content themselves.
My guess is that at some point we’ll see that happen. If Ikea, one of the biggest furniture and lifestyle brands in the world, isn’t doing their own video tutorials, I would confidently assume there are a lot of other brands who aren’t making their own content either.
I expect to see this start to change, adding even more momentum to this continually growing genre.
8. There’ll be more “stories” —
As mentioned in the vlogging section of this article, ephemeral stories, as in stories that only exist for a certain period of time, have become a new form of vlogging.
Because they’re mostly done in the moment, and are low-fi and don’t require editing, they’ve lowered the bar for people who have always wanted to be video personalities.
If you’re an Instagram or Snapchat user, you’ve probably noticed that some of your friends have become amateur video personalities.
Ephemeral Stories via Envato Elements
We’ll see this style of video continue to gain prominence as platforms like Facebook, YouTube and even Medium introduce ephemeral stories.
Similar to podcasts, one of the reasons this is an exciting platform is that people will watch and aren’t going to be overly picky about what they see and the quality they expect.
This means that we could even see things advertised within these streams of video.
Podcasts have done this sort of midstream style of advertising quite successfully. They’re usually presented by the show’s presenter and sometimes can be live to tape and off the cuff.
They work because with these personality-based types of content, most viewers or listeners are there because they have an intimate connection with the presenter or personality. Seeing or hearing them recommend a product is really effective.
As advertisers look to invest more in this style of advertising, expect to see ephemeral stories continue to take off.
9. More platforms with more video dimensions —
As more video platforms get introduced, the preferences for video dimensions, whether your video is in square, horizontal, or vertical format, will expand.
With Snapchat and Instagram Stories, vertical video has increased its popularity dramatically. In fact, YouTube and Facebook video support it.
Video dimensions via Envato Elements
But, IGTV, Instagram’s video platform, hit a wall when they tried to push its users to upload vertical video content. A lot of people ended up freebooting content from YouTube and rotating ninety degrees to fit the vertical dimensions. And due to the generally low usage of it, Instagram has now announced they’ll support normal horizontal video in IGTV.
A similar journey has been undergone with square video. At one point it was thought that square video content performed better on Facebook, and was more fit for Instagram, whose content was usually posted and rendered into a square. But, since then, the platform has started supporting photos in broader dimensions, and videos as well. The square video is generally less present on Facebook and a trend YouTube never fully embraced.
Will we see more square videos in the next twelve months, or have things returned to normal dimensions? Is it vertical video for good? We’ll see. It’ll be good to pay attention to this space.
10. We’ll all be watching silent videos —
When Facebook introduced its autoplay feature, which automatically plays videos within your stream with no sound, it was a game changer. Although it later admitted that it was counting a minimal amount of seconds as full views, no matter how long or short the video was, the idea of watching videos without sound caught on.
No sound via RoundIcons.com
I’m not sure Facebook ever thought so far ahead as to predict that people would elect to watch whole videos without turning the sound on, but that’s what ended up happening, as publishers created videos with subtitles and enough animations and imagery to give context over what they were watching with no need to turn on the sound.
Now Instagram autoplays videos in its feed. So do LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.
As autoplaying videos continue, so too does the consumption of videos with no sound.
11. Video ads will become immersive, midroll and longer —
As mentioned in the 360 video section, immersive video, experiences in AR or VR, are gradually increasing, and so is the interest in them.
Immersive stories are the next frontier for ads. Immersive ads have the potential of giving users a sense of what their life will be after buying or using a particular product.
Imagine being able to simulate the product you’re selling, allowing users to see which color would suit them best or how the product will fit into their life?
Or a productivity tool that consumers can interact with so they can see their schedule being organized in a new and intuitive way. That’s the potential of immersive ads. Combining VR or AR with your live camera to get a product into the hands of potential users—albeit virtually—is compelling. Expect to see more of it.
Immersive video ads via Envato Elements
Mid-roll ads are still being introduced, slowly, and carefully, by platforms. Facebook has been talking about them for a while, but has yet to roll them out in a significant way. YouTube has dabbled in it over the years.
The goal appears to be to bring video ads and the video experience, on some level, back to the days of linear television, with ads popping up in the middle of videos or shows, with no option to skip them.
The problem with small videos on platforms like YouTube and Facebook is that often these videos aren’t long enough, or formatted in a way that lends themselves to an interruption like an ad. But expect platforms and advertisers to keep exploring this concept.
Video ads are getting longer. According to MediaRadar, from January 2018 to February 2019, the number of 6-second video ads on YouTube declined by 20% year over year while the number of 30-second ads increased to 19% to 24% of all ads.
Along with the length of ads on video, another change will be the duration of the ads that play on sites like YouTube before users can skip. They’ve experimented with increasing it to 15 seconds on the Google-owned video platform, apparently the sweet spot of not too short and not too long to explain your product or pitch.
This trend is set to continue in the next year.
12. More showing less explaining —
Finally, showing, not explaining, is a trend that will evolve and continue in video content.
Showing, not explaining ads via Envato Elements
Video allows us to do more than just provide an explanation in text or as a voiceover. It can allow us to just show what things look like, how they work, what they’re made of, and how they can fit into your life. Sometimes all without words. Think Masterclass, putting Ikea furniture together, the immersive ads trend and the silent videos trend.
What video trends do you want to explore? —
As is always the case in this ever-changing sector, video marketing trends come and go, sometimes very quickly. That doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be explored. The key is to ensure that whatever you’re trying fits into your strategy and has a good chance of working for your audience. Try to avoid going “all-in” on something untested.
Over the years we’ve seen publishers like Mashable and Mic completely restructure their businesses to produce video content for Facebook, or go all-in on live video, ending up facing major lay offs because the market wasn’t there for that type of content. Make sure that doesn’t happen to you by approaching trends, not as a silver-bullet solution to growth or exposure, but rather as experiments that might help you resonate with your audience in new and compelling ways.
If they don’t work, you can write those experiments off. If some of them catch on, then, gradually, they can become a more significant part of your video marketing strategy. Explore them all! Trying new things is the only way to innovate and potentially get the edge over your competition.
As we wrap up the final year of the decade, the font trends 2020 are already spelling out a bold, new era of type design. While some designers are embracing technology to innovate fonts, others are mining the past to resurrect and reframe trends for the modern world. This interplay between the past and future gives us plenty of contrast—and plenty of exciting trends to keep an eye out for!
One of the more challenging things about fonts is that they are always shifting on the stage of design between supporting players and leading roles. It’s imperative that designers stay abreast of how font usage is evolving and what trends are coming around the bend to keep fonts and their audience on the same page.
Here we’ve gathered the 9 most exciting typography trends of 2020 along with tips on how you can use them in your next design.
The 9 big font trends for 2020 are: —
Humanizing serifs
Round san serifs
Swiss style typography
Rustic fonts
Wide open minimalism
Classical influence
Pixel art fonts
Seventies and eighties fonts
Kinetic fonts
1. Humanizing serifs —
In our digital age, we often gravitate towards sans-serifs because they have always been considered more “modern.” But we’re seeing a marked uptick in brands using bold, high-contrast serifs in their logos and website copy, and we expect this to be a leading trend in 2020.
The reason? Serifs are great for storytelling. They feel nostalgic without being stodgy because they connect us to an earlier time before the world was so digital. All of these associations have a deeply humanizing effect for brands that use them.
2. Round sans serifs —
The trends for sans serifs in 2020 all point to clean and very round. This move toward highly friendly geometrics is popping up in logos for an increasing amount of visible brands like AirBnB, Google and Spotify. While there is a risk rounded sans serifs can read childish, these fonts instead project simplicity and straightforwardness.
The Cuppa logo is perfect example of branding that feels serious while leaning into a friendly and approachable vibe. These sans serifs are often paired with a bold and playful color palette and are perfect for a business that wants to generate a feeling of trust and positivity.
3. Swiss style typography —
Type designers across the world are attempting to redefine the storied International Typographic Style for the digital age. Swiss style, as it’s informally known, is the design movement that grew out of a handful of iconic designers working in Switzerland in the mid-century and is defined by readability, simplicity and objectivity.
By Darion Mitchell via Dribbble
Even though the style was perfected in print (on posters, book covers, pamphlets and other printed collateral), it has shown itself to be incredibly adaptive to our modern age. It’s adherence to grid-based designs with clear, unfussy sans-serif fonts, builds natural and immediate hierarchy and translates well to digital spaces.
Perhaps because we’re inundated with so much information every single day, designers still feel pulled to the Swiss style with its essential tenet that design is at its best when it’s invisible.
4. Rustic fonts —
Over the last few years, handwritten script fonts have exploded, with thousands of highly customized typefaces becoming available. While the popularity of hand-lettered scripts will likely never fade entirely, we’re beginning to see that level of customization in non-script typefaces.
These new bespoke typefaces often fall into the slab and serif families and are popping up in branding for breweries, farms, bakeries and other traditional industries. While the font in the Gold Country Renovations logo feels familiar, its extra-wide Tuscan serifs make it fresh and authentic, and its line weight feels perfectly tied into the custom illustration of the logo.
5. Wide-open minimalism —
Many type designers are experimenting with negative space and removing the eyes and crossbars of letterforms to create more expansive shapes. Despite the minimalist nature of this approach, it has the effect of strengthening the font and heightening the sense of importance of each letter by granting plenty of breathing room. The resulting font becomes both airy and bold.
by Nathan Riley via Dribble
When executed well, fonts like these can give the viewer a thrill of being able to solve the puzzle of the missing pieces of type. More broadly, these letterforms are design-forward, sleek and open—inviting the viewer into a feeling of limitless possibility.
6. Classical influence —
Particularly in logo design, there has been a marked return to more classical typefaces. These delicate and refined fonts employ small serifed slabs or light serifs to exude warmth and luxury. They feel incredibly fresh for their lack of showiness and integrate beautifully into illustrated logomarks.
In direct contrast to the popularity of heavy sans-serifs and bombastic serifs, this trend asks us to enjoy a moment of quiet repose. Often these fonts are in compositions that lean botanical and seem pulled directly from the beauty of the natural work.
7. Pixel art fonts —
Pixel art evolved from the 2D computer graphics of the 70s through the 90s, and now in 2020 pixel style fonts are again having their moment. While these fonts are fun and whimsical, they’re being used far outside of just video game inspired designs.
By Andrew Hochradel via Dribbble
We’re seeing pixel art fonts pop up in logos for bars and food trucks as well as poster and packaging designs. And it’s easy to see why: for generations of people who enjoy video games, 8-bit design evokes joy and fun, freedom and possibility. Who doesn’t want more of that feeling in our day to day?
8. Seventies and eighties fonts —
It may have all started with the credits for Stranger Things: once the typeface ITC Benguiat was revived, the Pandora’s Box of late seventies and eighties type was opened. This retro trend goes further than the expected kitschy, neon characters that feel like they were pulled directly from Miami Vice. Instead, it dives deep into Souvenir Gothic, Grouch and the type of Herb Lubalin (who created iconic typefaces of the period) to generate truly evocative, throwback designs.
This also goes deeper than just the type—we’re seeing a slide back from the heavily spaced out letterforms of the past few years and a slow and steady embrace of the tight kerning that defined the decade’s style. This trend works particularly well on the younger crowd, who were born late enough in the eighties to see these fonts with entirely new eyes.
9. Kinetic fonts —
by Nathan Riley via Dribble
Kinetic typography is a fancy way of saying “moving type.” It combines old-fashioned typography with the power of video and animation in order to create really eye-catching, memorable designs. Unlike standard type, a designer working with kinetic type has to also take into account style, effects and timing in addition to normal considerations like alignment, weight, and hierarchy.
By lautzip
The “Everything is an Illusion” design by Animography appears for a second to be a standard type design by giving the viewer a brief second of rest before the text begins to warp and vanish. For typography nerds and novices alike, these kinetic type experiments are wildly exciting and surprising. Look for them on website landing pages and popping up more and more in app design in 2020.
Font trends for 2020 and beyond —
It’s clear that 2020 is going to be an exciting year for font trends. From amazing throwback sans-serifs pulled from the mid-century to kinetic animated fonts, from bare bones minimalism to ornate vintage styles, designers are figuring out how to use past trends to make fresh designs we can’t get enough of. As type design continues to push the boundaries, we can’t wait to see what the new decade has in store.
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https://mobimarket.gosite.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/logonew-1.png00Edwin Georgehttps://mobimarket.gosite.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/logonew-1.pngEdwin George2019-12-03 13:55:492019-12-03 13:55:499 creative font trends for 2020
A successful design project starts by understanding your clients’ needs. By asking the right client questions, you can provide better designs, avoid unnecessary revisions and get returning clients who are satisfied with your work. Building rapport and respect are vital to a great creative collaboration, and it starts before you even pick up your pencil.
Here are the 20 essential client questions you should ask clients before working on any design project. These questions will help clients feel involved with the design process, and they’ll also help you brainstorm ideas and fine-tune your creative output.
Establish common ground —
by spoon lancer
Start by letting clients know that you care. Walk in their shoes and understand why they’re looking for a design solution in the first place. These questions will help you learn the challenges that they’re facing at the moment, so you can think about how you can best provide a design solution.
1. “What’s the inspiration behind this project?”
Discovering your client’s motivation helps you get a solid idea of why your client wants to work with you and how you should start the project. Their response can reveal what they’re trying to replicate or do differently.
2. “What are you trying to achieve?”
Setting goals makes it possible for you to track progress and see how effective your design is. When you know what your design should be accomplishing, you’ll be able to see what gaps you can fill.
3. “What are your expectations?”
By asking this question, you give the client the impression that you are a professional designer whose time, resources, and talents must be valued and appreciated. If you’ve heard of “scope creep,” you know how important it is to pay attention to this part of your practice.
Learn the brand —
Getting to know your clients’ business and brand will help you reflect on what’s in their hearts and minds. These ideas and feelings are exactly what you want to tap into when you start designing.
4. “What is your mission?”
Learn the core values that drive your client’s business. Knowing what your client stands for helps you pay respect to what they believe in. Some design projects also may have a cultural or political angle, and these values may need to be an explicit part of the design.
by spoon lancer
5. “What are the strengths of your company?”
Highlight your client’s unique selling points. You can also use this information to inspire the general idea of your design.
6. “Who are your top competitors?”
Get a grasp on your client’s industry. You might find recurring elements and strategies that may work for your client’s project or that could make them stand out.
7. “What do you like or dislike about your previous branding?”
Ask for links to previous marketing materials and make sure that your design is harmonious with your client’s existing marketing materials. If your client has past design samples, it pays to know what’s worked and what hasn’t, especially if they’re rebranding.
Define the audience —
Design with a well-defined audience in mind. Learn about your client’s customers in terms of both demographics (age, gender, ethnicity, etc.) and psychographics (personality).
8. “Who is your target customer?”
Start with psychographics and have your client describe exactly who their ideal customers are, including what they do, how they act, what they like and more. When you start your design, you can use elements that appeal to this target audience’s way of thinking.
by spoon lancer
9. “Is this for a feminine, masculine or gender-neutral audience?”
Certain brands may use traditional gender expectations to appeal to a specific audience. Likewise, if a client tells you that they have a broad, mixed audience when it comes to gender, you bring more gender-neutral elements into your design.
10. “What age group are you targeting?”
Different age groups expect and respond to different things when it comes to design. Consider how appropriate and effective your choices of color, shapes, typography and style will be to the target audience. Will these elements resonate or fall flat?
11. “Are there any cultural concerns with your audience?”
Certain design elements may be inappropriate or perceived differently in other cultures. Avoid pitfalls by asking this question, so you can do research and make sure your design is acceptable to your client’s community.
Set expectations —
Some clients tend to focus on their needs and forget about the specifics of the project. If you’ve heard of something along the lines of, “I want a unique and awesome design that’s going to show just how cool my product is so that I can increase sales,” you know exactly what I mean.
by spoon lancer
Ask these questions to set their expectations. You can praise or “approve” their design ideas, or break it to them (gently) that they’re the plan is not going to work. (“Sorry, I don’t think we can fit the names of all 200 guests on your invitation design.”)
12. “What style are you looking for?”
Determine your client’s taste in design aesthetic by assuming they might be design experts themselves. Instead of, “Would you like to include isometric illustrations or maybe some asymmetric layouts?” you can ask, “Do you want a balanced, clean look, or something more experimental and dynamic?” Your questions will help you narrow down your choice of creative trends.
13. “What must-have elements does your design need?”
Check if your client has quirks or requirements. This question will make sure you don’t neglect any copy, images or themes that are essential to the design. (I don’t know about you, but I have a client in the fashion industry who always needs to see something sparkly.)
Get practical details —
by spoon lancer
More often than not, your clients will use your design in print or digital—for marketing campaigns, online ads, blogs, publishing, and more. Learn more about the final product to inform your design.
14. “Where will you use the design?”
Have your client tell you about the medium, location and size of the finished product. You’ll have different design considerations for print vs. digital and handheld vs. large-scale designs.
15. “How will you distribute or use the product?”
For printed designs, follow up by asking about printing specifications. Depending on the production technique, you may need to limit your colors or you may have the opportunity to add even more layers to your design.
Set professional boundaries —
For a smoother collaboration, ask your client how they would like to work together. You’ll also get a chance to express what you can and cannot do for the client.
16. “How do you prefer to communicate?”
Some clients prefer receiving constant updates, while some will give you time alone to “do your own thing.” Understanding how you’re going to work together for the rest of the project will help you focus more on your work or anticipate interruptions. This way, you can schedule tasks and prepare updates to give to your client.
by spoon lancer
17. “How much are you willing to spend on this project?”
Make it clear to the client what your base rates are. If you will charge for each revision, set expectations whether this will be calculated per hour or revision round.
18. “How do you want to give feedback?”
Determine how often you’ll update the client with new versions of the design. Some clients love to have a back and forth with the designer. Others can take a hands-off approach. Consider your options so you don’t waste time and effort.
19. “What files and formats do you need?”
Make it clear to the customer what they can receive and do with their files. This will also help you anticipate what type of licensing will be required for certain design assets that you will need to use, such as fonts and images.
20. “How soon do you need this?”
Make sure you give yourself ample time to finish a project along with your other commitments. Allow time for revisions and even a bit of possible procrastination or designer’s block.
Great design starts with a little Q&A —
Keep in mind that clients aren’t just looking for an attractive design. They also need professional advice, patience, and understanding, plus a little care and acknowledgment. By asking the right client questions, establishing a common ground, and understanding their desires, you can better satisfy your client’s needs and provide an enjoyable experience that’s worth acquiring again in the future.
And hey, who doesn’t want returning clients?
Next time that you’re working on a project keep these client questions in mind and try to start a conversation. Don’t be afraid to ask. Show that you care and avoid making dangerous assumptions. It all starts with the first question that opens doors to many possibilities: “What can I design for you today?”
About the author
Mia Angela Dagsaan is a certified freelance writer and inbound marketer. She writes about content, design, branding, and digital marketing. When not writing, she paddles out with an 8-foot surfboard and travels to a hidden paradise. Read more of her writing on her website.
https://mobimarket.gosite.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/logonew-1.png00Edwin Georgehttps://mobimarket.gosite.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/logonew-1.pngEdwin George2019-12-02 16:11:272019-12-02 16:11:2720 questions to ask your client before any design project
In 2020, we’re celebrating five years of 99awards! And that means it’s once again time for you to show us your favorite work created on 99designs over the past year.
How do nominations work?
For 2020, we’re asking design fans to nominate the best work they’ve seen (or created) on 99designs over the past year. There is no limit to the number of designs you can nominate—the more the merrier!
This year, submissions will be considered for nine categories:
Branding
Illustration
Packaging
Print
Typography
Digital
Best New Designer
Best New Top Level Designer
People’s Choice Award
Entries must be submitted by January 10, 2020. The final nominees will be announced in early February.
Submit your favorite design to the 2020 99awards _
Do you have a design in mind? Simply fill out the form below with a link to the design, why you’re nominating it and a little about who you are.
We’re just gonna come out and say it: if your brand doesn’t have a voice, your stellar business concept won’t make it. Not a chance. Brand voice is the way you connect with your customers. It’s the way you share your company’s values and motivations. A brand voice is successful when it causes your audience to connect with, engage in and most importantly, believe in what you do.
Here, we’ll highlight companies that have nailed their brand voice and guide you through the process of creating your own.
Illustration by OrangeCrush
What is a brand voice? —
Brand voice is the way you talk to your customers and is defined by your brand’s style of communication. Your brand voice is directed to your target audience, and it can have any style, as long as it feels true to your brand values and persona—be it authoritative, playful, intellectual, ominous, kind or fun.
Just as you communicate in a specific way with your family, friends, partners and colleagues, there’s also a way to communicate specifically with your customer base.
Consumers invest more in brands when there is an emotional connection, rather than with brands that dish out uninspired, disconnected content. In the end, it’s less about what you say—it’s about how you say it. Avenues for expressing your brand voice include, but are certainly not limited to, email, website copy, press releases, packaging, ads, and social media platforms.
How do you develop a brand voice? —
The first step in developing your brand voice is to assert your core brand identity by establishing your vision, mission and values and highlighting the aspects of your business that help it stand out amongst the competition. Start by choosing three distinct descriptors for your business. These should be clear words that evoke a visceral feeling. Think: passionate, reliable, quirky, or relaxed. Consider the mood you want your content to elicit and how you’d like your company to be perceived. These descriptions will lead the tone of all content you create.
Next, get to know who you’re talking to. What are the demographics for your current and future customer base? What do they look like? What would they want from your brand? Social media offers tools to pull insights. If you can, turn to those in your target community, and ask about what excites them most about your brand. This is invaluable information you can use when building your brand voice. From Facebook to Instagram to Twitter, offers analytical resources that breakdown age, gender, location, and the times of day that these folks are most engaged. Create a plan for how your brand will share content via different social media platforms.
Finally, build a style guide, a reference tool which helps maintain the consistency of your brand voice.
Exceptional brand voice examples —
Beauty company Glossier articulates wellness and beauty care for modern women through their empowering voice, creating an immediate personal experience.
It’s important to find your own champions when it comes to brand voice, but here are our picks for companies that are great brand voice examples.
The New York-based brand Glossier describes itself as a “people-powered beauty ecosystem”. Their brand voice articulates wellness and beauty care for modern women through empowerment and self-care.
Their vulnerable social posts and relatable visuals connect directly with their target demographic. Bright, feminine visuals are often paired with simple visuals and bold phrasing.
As a lifestyle website covering streetwear, sneakers, cars, lifestyle and the arts, High Snobiety translates style-conscious branding for the young, modern and provocative.
Apple’s brand voice consistency conveys confidence, quality and intimacy.
Apple’s been the company to look up to in terms of setting themselves apart from their competition. Everyone feels welcome and many feel spoiled by owning their products. Perhaps this connection is somehow based on the level of intimacy felt within their copy?
The successful party game, Cards Against Humanity, leads the voice behind their social posts with snark and dark humor.
The successful and infamous party game, Cards Against Humanity, leads their social posts with snarky phrases and dark humor to make a memorable mark on past, present and future customers. Take their spoof on snack food, Prongles! Their social media posts don’t shy away from shock value, but their consistent tone of (shocking) voice keeps their success rate high.
Health food store Whole Foods combines approachability, playfulness and nutrition through their social media presence.
Well-known American health food store Whole Foods combines approachability, playfulness and nutrition through their physical shops, website copy, merchandise, social media presence. This consistency throughout different platforms reassures their customer base that their values of community and wellness are behind their brand voice.
You don’t always need to speak directly about your business. Frank’s Red Hot shares custom memes to engage with audiences in a new way.
You don’t always need to speak directly about your business. Frank’s Red Hot creates humorous memes to engage with audiences in fun new ways.
Time to find your voice! —
Creating a successful brand voice is all about establishing a tone that speaks directly to your consumers and that builds a robust community. Your brand voice is the personal and honest tone that keep your customer base happy and connected, Keep in mind that while consistency is key, it’s also important to be flexible. Be prepared to adjust your brand voice as customer priorities—and the market—change over time.
Need a design that makes your brand stand out?
Our designers can help you create just about anything.
https://mobimarket.gosite.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/logonew-1.png00Edwin Georgehttps://mobimarket.gosite.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/logonew-1.pngEdwin George2019-11-26 14:01:542019-11-26 14:01:54What is brand voice and how do you establish a successful one?
The digital marketing landscape is constantly changing. To help you stay ahead of the curve, below we outline the 10 best digital marketing trends 2020.
If you’re out-of-date with your digital marketing trends, you’re limiting your brand in both reach and repetition. You may be blissfully unaware of new marketing trends, but your target customers—and your competitors—are not. That’s why we curated the list of digital marketing trends below for you.
Illustration by OrangeCrush
In 2020, we’ll see new marketing trends alongside some older, ongoing trends that are still effective:
Chatbots—personal assistance without the personnel; 2020 tech breathes new “life” into chatbots, making them more convincing — and popular — than years past.
Voice searches—as more people use digital assistants like Alexa or Siri, SEO leans further towards voice searches, with keywords based on how people talk, not type.
Video marketing—with hosting videos becoming easier and easier, each year sees more successful and ambitious branded videos online (including vlogs, #9 below).
With those existing trends in mind, here are the new digital marketing trends 2020.
1. Shoppable posts (social commerce) —
For the longest time, businesses were wondering how to get their social media followers to visit their online stores. Now, they no longer need to.
Shoppable post via clarosa
Social commerce refers to buying products directly through social media posts or ads—you don’t need to leave the site or app. These shoppable social media posts aren’t exactly new per se, but since Instagram Checkout launched in 2019, they’re rapidly getting more and more attention.
And why not? Shoppable social media posts just make sense. At least 54% of people on social media use it to research product purchases. The goal is to create less steps for your shoppers, not more, so selling directly on social media decreases the chances of sales abandonment.
You don’t even need to be an ecommerce brand. As long as you sell products, even just a few pieces of branding merchandise, you can see greater returns by allowing transactions through social media.
If you have a Shopify store, it’s as easy as linking accounts (for Instagram) or installing a plugin (for Snapchat). Otherwise, you may have to create stores in the right places, like Facebook, to qualify. You should also check out Pinterest—one of the first channels to offer shoppable posts.
2. Direct messaging —
In a bid to get more personal with customers, brands are taking the conversation to DMs. As a means of streamlining customer service and assisting in sales, direct messaging is becoming one of the hottest digital marketing trends of 2020.
Via ModCloth
Through messaging apps like WhatsApp, Viber and Facebook Messenger, or through private messages on social media like Twitter or Instagram, brands are building stronger connections with their customers. These forums offer the convenience of text with the immediacy of a phone conversation, all in an environment the user is already familiar with from talking with friends.
Brands find DMing customers to be effective for forging relationships, whether addressing complaints, taking sales orders, or even just goofing around. The big stipulation here is the customer agreeing to it—a customer DMing you first is worlds apart from you DMing them first.
This technique works best when you encourage users to message you by providing your handle or username, and maybe incentivizing them with an exclusive deal or coupon code.
3. Micro-influencers —
Influencer marketing has been a digital marketing trend for a few years now. It’s been so successful, though, that big-time influencers are now calling the shots. It’s not enough to send them a free sample in hopes they’ll review it—there’s payment tables and pricing lists. Social media “influence” is now a commodity, and an expensive one at that.
Rather than competing with global enterprises for the top-tier influencers, small- and medium-sized businesses are opting instead to work with small- and medium-sized influencers.
Via Pexels
Micro-influencer is a term that we’re seeing more and more lately. It refers to the medium-sized influencers with narrower niches—popular enough to be influential, still in touch with their followers and not overloaded with sponsorship offers.
In addition to being more affordable, micro-influencers also often have a better engagement rate than the more popular influencers. Think about it; because they have less followers, they can dedicate more personal time to each one. Moreover, it’s easier to specialize in a niche with micro-influencers, as they often represent niches themselves.
A study from Adweek revealed just how effective micro-influencers are. Categorized as accounts with around 30,000followers, micro-influencers had 60% higher engagement while being 6.7x more cost-effective than influencers with more followers.
4. Polished & interactive emails —
Email still remains just as viable as ever—the ROI of email marketing as of February 2019 was 3,200%. However, other experts notice that the numbers are slowing or stagnating. Rather than abandoning this fruitful channel, digital marketers are reviving it with a new coat of paint.
Via EMS
Lately, we’re seeing a swift decline in plain-text emails and newsletters. In their place are gorgeous, pixel-perfect emails that look ripped from a web designer’s portfolio. Email marketing now and through 2020 utilizes emails that look and function like web pages—including clickable buttons and other interactions.
These highly polished designs do more than just impress, they improve conversions. Readers are more likely to click stylized buttons with accompanying images than they are plain-text links.
But nowadays even using webpage-based email templates isn’t enough; you have to go the extra mile with stunning visuals and UX-centric designs. Considering ROI mentioned above, it’s worth making sure your emails are as engaging and beautiful as possible.
5. Sentiment analysis —
Most of human communication is trying to figure out what the heck each other is thinking. And while hundreds of thousands of years of biological advancement haven’t aided us much in understanding each other, after just a few years of machine-learning technology and we’re already making progress.
Emoticon designs by ben_dsh
Sentiment analysis, or social listening, is the practice of analyzing the reactions of users and customers to a product or service, typically on social media or other places online. Online reviews and posts aren’t always a black-and-white “I like/dislike this.” There’s a big gray area with varying degrees in between. Maybe a user likes the product on a whole but one particular feature gets in the way. Maybe the product is fine just not what what they were expecting.
Sentiment analysis usually involves data-collecting tools and algorithms to scour online responses to your brand and evaluate them. Again, this isn’t a new digital marketing trend, but new technology is making it more popular than ever before. Advances in natural language processing let computers understand the meanings behind what humans say online, including slang and emoji.
Sentiment analysis tools like Critical Mention, Repustate or Lexalytics reveal what people really think about your brand. You can then use that data to fine-tune not just your products, but also your strategies for sales, marketing, social media and content.
6. Alternative and niche social media channels —
Despite optimism over Facebook’s most recent earnings, the continual declines of both user growth and public opinion have shaken confidence in the platform’s dominance. Likewise, Twitter is seeing a similar plateau in growth, leading to a shift in power.
To be clear, both Twitter and Facebook will remain useful marketing tools throughout 2020 and beyond. But the exodus has already started.
Alternative social media channels are already seeing new interest and promising growth levels. If you can start developing your presence on these “secondary” sites now, it’s likely to pay off in a few years after they continue to rise.
Via Pinterest
In particular, Snapchat, Pinterest, Medium and Reddit are becoming new favorites for marketers lately. Facebook has been bleeding young users for years, and brands targeting the under-30 market are flocking to youth-centric outlets.
New and smaller social media platforms may not have the reach of the giants, but that’s not a bad thing. If you’re a niche brand, more specialized platforms are better at reaching your target users. Check out these Facebook alternatives, broken up by industry or interest, so you can find the social media platform that’s perfect for your niche.
7. Programmatic advertising —
Just like with sentiment analysis, don’t send a human to do a robot’s job. AI and machine-learning algorithms are designed to make your work easier, and that includes optimizing your online advertising campaigns.
Illustration by Iconic Graphics
Ad placement, media buying, performance tracking and customer targeting can all be handled by software. Not only do the results tend to be better, but “outsourcing” these tasks to a bot also frees up time in your schedule to handle more important tasks. It’s automation at its best.
Software like the Adobe Marketing Cloud or SmartyAds navigate the landscape of online advertising for you. Real-time bidding can be stressful and time-consuming, just like finding the right avenues to advertise on. Handing off these tasks to an automated system can be best for both you and your business.
8. Optimizing for featured snippets —
One of the reasons digital marketing trends change so rapidly is because the platforms they depend on change rapidly. Just look at Google, which updates its search algorithm thousands of times a year…
by ConceptAlley
But as search engines evolve and become smarter, marketers need to adjust. More and more search queries have featured snippets, which enjoy a lot of real estate on the first page and get a lot more clicks than the other search results. That’s why it’s crucial to keep them in mind when creating digital marketing content and optimize each piece of content for featured snippets, using clear and well-structured content.
Google is trying to get better at delivering content to humans, so we need to take these changes into account and adjust our SEO techniques accordingly.
For marketers in 2020 it’s more important than ever before to create extremely high-quality content that covers topics throughly yet clearly and that is well-structured and easy to understand. We need to write for humans and for search engines alike, and make sure we don’t neglect one or the other.
9. Vlogging —
Branded vlogs: a curse or a vlessing?
With the ongoing success of YouTube, Instagram Stories and Snapchat, video blogs are more popular than ever. As opposed to other video types like explainer videos or short films, vlogs are more personal and direct. Vloggers speak directly to the viewer (PewDiePie style), creating a more personal and direct connection—obviously a great boon to marketers trying to forge stronger relationships with their customers.
Via Equinox
More than just complaining about how the barista screwed up your order, vlogs can also be practical and strategic. You can live-stream special events that not everyone has access to, like a business conference or a musical concert. You can also post other homegrown content your customers would want to see anyway, such as celebrity interviews or behind-the-scenes looks.
As video marketing continues to rise, we’ll likely see more subcategories like vlogs emerge. Learning to differentiate your video content now will help for accommodating future trends… maybe we’ll list those next year for our 2021 digital marketing trends.
10. Talking to Gen Z on their own terms —
Last but not least, marketers in 2020 are welcoming the latest consumer group, Generation Z. Those born just after the turn of the century are now turning 18 and entering the workforce en masse. Some sources even claim Generation Z will make up 40% of all consumers in 2020.
Via royallybaffled
Among other things, marketing to Gen Z means a sharp turn in how you stylize your content. The youngest market is also the quirkiest, with tastes that may seem weird if you’re used to marketing to Boomers or Generation X.
If Gen Z is one of your top markets, here’s a quick list of their general values to keep in mind:
Authenticity—having grown up online in the era of misinformation, Gen Z are very sensitive to authenticity and can smell phonies a mile away—avoid overly promotional approaches and opt for transparency instead.
Privacy—concerns about privacy rank highly among Gen Z, so respecting their data will earn you more than using it against them.
Diversity—the most diverse generation yet appreciates that diversity reflected in the videos and images they see online.
Sense of humor—Gen Z humor has been described as “absurdist” and other less-polite euphemisms, so if you personally don’t get it, hire someone who does.
Marketers note the similarities between Gen Z and Millennials, but as the Gen Z market matures over the next few years (in more ways than one), expect more divisive differences to emerge.
Ready for digital marketing in 2020? —
The upcoming 2020 digital marketing trends are, paradoxically, both more human and more mechanical. It seems the general pull of digital marketing goes in the direction of more personal relationships with more targeted niches, but the means of making those connections rely on automation and new technology. The heart of digital marketing remains the same—getting people what they want, when and where they want it—and 2020 technology is just opening new doors to get there.
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https://mobimarket.gosite.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/logonew-1.png00Edwin Georgehttps://mobimarket.gosite.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/logonew-1.pngEdwin George2019-11-25 15:13:362019-11-25 15:13:3610 top digital marketing trends for 2020
Anya Perepelkina (akawildanya) describes her style as curious, bright and bold. Her cheerful characters exist somewhere between the trend-forward front pages of Dribbble and Behance, and a universe all her own. They immediately caught our attention when she joined 99designs in 2017 and subsequently landed on our Creative team’s radar. When we broke ground onDesign Without Borders: The Future of Freelancing, we immediately knew it was the perfect project for her.
With responses from over 10k designers to distill and visualize, Anya worked closely with 99designs to bring the data points to life. For the 46-page report—which offers a comprehensive view into the experiences of the global creative freelance workforce—she created custom illustrations, charts and infographics, plus the layout itself.
Her personal experience as a professional freelancer added a layer of authenticity to the finished piece. (Case in point: she took reference photos of herself to ensure the characters occupying the pages were relatable.)
We recently spoke to Anya about her creative practice and discovered she embodies the modern freelancer outlined in Design Without Borders. She’s educated, resourceful (thanks, YouTube!), works with clients all over the world, and is dedicated to continuously learning.
Read on to learn how Anya stays inspired as a full-time designer and why she adores her online creative community. Plus, get a sneak peek of illustrations from the report.
Name: Anna Perepelkina 99designs handle: wildanya Location: Russia Specialty: Illustration
So, who is wildanya?
I came up with this username a long time ago when I thought I was wild (you know how it is when you’re a teenager). Originally it was just my Instagram handle but it’s become a part of me. It’s not the worst in the world of usernames, so I feel like I really lucked out there.
by wildanya
It’s been quite a journey. Sometimes it’s hard to be a freelancer, but I truly can’t believe that I get to do this for a living!
– wildanya
Tell us about your foray into design.
I went to university to study linguistics but quickly decided I wanted to pursue graphic design as a career. So, for the most of those 4 academic years I was teaching myself Photoshop on YouTube instead of translating Old English.
At university I designed posters for different events, and that’s when I discovered the importance of visual communication. Graphic design and I have been inseparable ever since. I never notice time pass when I’m on my laptop illustrating, and I’m always so excited to see my visions come to life. It gives me a sense of fulfillment like nothing else.
by wildanya
Your unique style really lends itself to the report. Can you talk about how it’s developed over the years?
I like to think that my illustrations are bold and a bit quirky—my style evolves with each project, whether it’s personal work or for a client.
I always try to make it fun for me and for the viewer, and I tend to use color palettes that feel like they could produce serotonin if they tried hard enough. My hope is that whenever someone stumbles upon my illustrations, it makes their day a little better.
How did your approach to designing the layout differ from the key visuals?
It was a bit overwhelming at first! When I first talked to Steven (Sr. Art Director at 99designs), he suggested I tackle the illustrations first and then the layout. It really helped me fully commit to both tasks.
by wildanyaby wildanya
Before I started I did a great deal of research. I had a folder with examples of solutions to visual problems, and things I felt suited the aesthetic I was going for.
It was a bit of a challenge to get to where we wanted to be, but I’m glad it wasn’t easy because it pushed me as a creative.
What conceptual decisions did you make to really elevate the content?
The report is all about freelance creatives, so I wanted them to be the center of attention. My goal was to humanize concepts so designers could see them and go, “that’s me!”. I pulled a lot of inspiration from my daily grind as an illustrator working from home.
Do you have tips for designers on how to keep things interesting in a text-heavy layout?
Designing the layout almost felt mathematic. I had to consider so much at the same time. Something that became essential to my process was making a rough draft and mapping out what I wanted to put on each page. It gave my work structure, and made things go faster.
I love to browse at a book shop, visit a new coffee place or just go for a walk and take in my surroundings. I find that inspiration comes from the simplest experiences, so I always try to be ready to accept it.
– wildanya
Where’s the first place you go for design inspiration?
My main source of inspiration is the amazing online community of designers, illustrators and other creatives. I love Dribbble for illustration and Behance for graphic design. I also spend a lot of time on Instagram, but I’m very careful to curate my experience there so I can pull as much inspiration as possible.
by wildanya
Let’s talk online portfolios. How do you choose what to feature and where?
My favorite platforms are Dribbble and Instagram, simply because there are more opportunities for feedback and exposure. I don’t feel like my art has to be polished or perfect to find its audience. It took me a while to get over the fear of people judging me or my work, but I’ve realized that people like to see the process as much as they do the finished product.
I also love that the communities are incredibly supportive and encouraging. The positivity definitely keeps you going.
In the spirit of global community, want to give a shout out to three creatives the world should know?
Eugenia Mello is one of my favorite illustrators at the moment. The way she works with colors, shapes and textures is superhuman. Kati Szilagyi is another artist I enjoy because of her smart concepts. Also, I love how playful Justyna Stasik’s art is! It’s so full of joy and always puts me in a good mood.
https://mobimarket.gosite.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/logonew-1.png00Edwin Georgehttps://mobimarket.gosite.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/logonew-1.pngEdwin George2019-11-22 11:45:382019-11-22 11:45:38Mapping out “The Future of Freelancing” with wildanya
It’s the dawn of a new decade, and new trends are already in the spotlight. The up-and-coming 2020 logo design trends are a mashup of old and new. We’ll see a ton of throwbacks to different eras: the chrome and neon 80s juxtaposed against inky, black-and-white images that feel right out of the 30s. Right next to them, we’ve got logos tailor-made for today with 3D gradients and complex animations.
The logo design trends for 2020 will continue to build on everything designers have been exploring in the last few years, while also taking design in directions that are totally new, totally fresh, totally right for an all-new decade. Let’s take a look at the top logo design trends that are already defining 2020!
Here are the top 8 logo design trends you’ll see in 2020:
3D gradients
80s throwback logo designs
Raw & imperfect logos
Logos that reveal their geometric composition
Vintage 1930s cartoon logos
Multi-layered & overlapping logos
Complex animations with elaborate details
Daring typography
1. 3D gradients
In 2020, you’ll see the popular gradient trend evolve and merge with the 3D trend—a perfect fit for our smartphone society.
Gradients are a great way to turn any group of colors into a dynamic spectrum of color that feels like it has life and energy. This year, designers will give rise to the newest evolution of gradients creating depth and 3D effects in logos. Especially tapered gradients—ones that come to a central point and actually emphasize the contrast between their colors—are poised to rock 2020 logo design trends.
Design by artsigma
I think the use of tapered gradients will be used a lot over the next few years. It allows to turn simple projects into more sophisticated designs.
– Designer artsigma
3D gradient logos can be tough in print, but they’re perfect for screens. That’s why they’re super popular with brands that don’t need to worry too much (or even at all) about how their logos look in print.
Gradients are all about playing with the colors, combining them to create surprising results, for a simple and very modern appearance.
Expect to see designers explore the full potential of gradients this year, using them to create captivating 3D effects, shadows and depth like we’ve never seen before.
2. 80s throwback logo designs
Enough time has finally passed for all things 80s to be cool again: video games, pop music, and the attitude that came with them. In 2020, expect to see a resurgence of 80s throwback logos with a lot of chrome, a lot of neon and a lot of pixels. Plus, we’ll get a lot of nods to the old-school tech that preceded the glowing pocket rectangles our eyes are glued to today.
There is a lot of demand for the aesthetics of the 1980s. The heritage of the 80s lives on because people are collecting and consuming vinyl, cassette tapes, video game consoles, vintage computers, arcade machines and pinball machines again.
80s throwback logos have a clear aesthetic: bright, techy, sometimes kinda glitchy. Logo design via Viet Huynh.
Lots of 80s-inspired logos focus on one of the most groundbreaking pastimes of the decade: video games! Logo design by BeeDigitalMedia.
Pixelated designs throw it back to the 8-bit 80s. Logo design by giyan.
8-bit logos are a non-obvious way to go minimalist. Logo design by minimalexa.
Throwback logos are popular because they capitalize on consumers’ nostalgia. Old-school 80s tech is officially old enough to be retro, cool and most importantly, collectible. As people build up their cassette collections again and clear space in their living rooms for vintage arcade cabinets, logos are getting in on the fun, too.
Some logos reference nostalgic 80s items, like the Joystick logo below. Others play with this trend by incorporating 80s typography and design trends, like GV’s logo for LI Mowz.
A neon sign inspired logo design by bo_rad
The more bombastic, the better when it comes to 80s-inspired logos. Logo design by GV.
3. Raw & imperfect logos
Right next to digitally designed gradient and 3D logos, we’ve got logos that are proudly hand-drawn. These logos celebrate the “wabi sabi” that comes with drawing and writing. They reject the sleek, perfect look made possible with design programs and take us back into sketchbooks where there’s asymmetry, uneven lines and shading techniques like cross-hatching and contour shading.
Just like other 2020 logo trends, raw, imperfect logos have been on the rise for a while. This year, they’re getting grittier and more sketch-like and stamp-like as brands continue to embrace the homegrown, organic look.
Is it surprising that in such a digital world people are looking to connect with something more organic and handmade? Designers are constantly pushing the boundaries and exploring infinite ways to achieve something that hasn’t been done before!
Creating a hand-drawn-style logo can make it possible to use and highlight textures that can’t easily be drawn using software. Logo design by anastas.
A raw, rugged brand can express itself effectively with a hand-drawn, gritty logo. Logo design by subtropica.
With all the digital perfection out there people are craving the raw imperfections of hand-drawn logos. Brands can use the hand-drawn look to show off their authenticity and give their logos the personality their customers want to see.
Henning Bo mimics this visually in the logo for Mutiny Recordings that looks like a rough sketch. Designer anastas uses a scribbly ballpoint pen design to give the sheep in La Pecorella Nera’s logo above a texture you just want to run your fingers across and feel the tiny indents in the paper.
Logo design by Aldo.44
Sometimes, the “scrawled in a sketchpad” look is the absolutely perfect look. Logo design by Dusan Klepic DK™.
4. Logos that reveal their geometric composition
One of the emerging logo design trends for 2020 is logos that purposely illustrate how they conform to geometric design principles. Concepts like sacred geometry and the golden ratio have helped us understand the world around us and replicate it in our designs for millennia. When a design works, it’s not always obvious why it works, and the answer could be that it’s built with these design rules in mind.
In 2020, designers aren’t asking us to trust that their designs fit these principles, they’re intentionally showing off their logos’ geometric compositions.
Not all versions of this logo use the guiding lines, but the one that does explains its brand in a way the others don’t. Logo design by J_Ivan.
Some logos subtly reference geometric principles; others make them a focal point. Logo design by Nenzicute.
Any brand focused on physics, geometry or even esoteric knowledge can benefit from a logo that illustrates geometry in design. Logo design by svart ink.
These logos let us peak behind the curtain of logo composition and show off their geometric building blocks. They demonstrate how designers rely on basic shapes and guiding lines to get them just right.
The use of circles and lines should always help in the design process.
Some designers use this sketch aesthetic just as a means of presenting their logos to their clients. Others even make them part of the finished logo design. But no matter how you choose to use this geometry trend, the result is sure to be visually satisfying.
Logo design by Arthean
Designers can “show their work” by working guide lines and grids into their designs. Logo design by Baron DiAdio.
Logos can use clear lines and shapes to visually separate colors. Logo and business card design by Kiky_Gravisi.
5. Vintage 1930s cartoon logos
Like the 80s trends above, this is another nostalgic design trend, but with an entirely different style.
In 2020, the 1930’s cartoon look has the potential to rise up with its modern, clean, sleek, two-tone color palette. The vintage, handcrafted, hand-drawn, line-art style will be there, too.
In our fast-moving world where everything is being digitalized, people are looking for the familiar comforts of printed vintage cartoons to keep them grounded. And the simple, expressive and adorable style of the 1930s hits the spot, appealing to designers and brands alike.
In this modern world of plastic and economic and political instability, people enjoy experiencing a feeling of nostalgia.
Illustrative logos communicate much more effectively to customers.
In 2020, expect to see more vintage-inspired, custom-illustrated cartoon logos that connect with viewers on a deeper emotional level.
6. Multi-layered & overlapping logos
In 2020, logos are going deeper than they’ve gone before, through layer after colorful layer. With this trend, designers are pushing past flat and semi-flat design. Shapes and colors will still be simple, but with more layers to play with, designers are creating more complex logos that use highlights, shadows and overlapping colors to communicate even more about their brands.
Different color layers can turn a set of circles into a fluid wave. Logo design by Arthean.
It’s really just an X, but it’s a very interesting X, no? Logo design via Dribble.
Take a look at the Oshen logo by Arthean, for example. The logo consists of multiple small circles set off-center within a larger circle. Layering and shading turns these circles into a wave. The three-dimensional effect of overlapping elements and shadows creates a tactile experience, like you could almost reach out and feel the individual layers.
Layers don’t always have to have color. Designers also use shading and semi-transparent layers to create subtle effects.
Logo design by Ian Douglas
Logo design by Vi.
Layers and overlapping elements will be drawing eyes deep into logo designs in 2020.
7. Complex animations with elaborate details
Animated logos are nothing new, but today’s designers are making them more complex, more interesting and overall, more useful for the brands that rely on them. Some of the ways we’re seeing this happen with 2020 logo design trends is the blending of 2D and 3D animation in logos and complex logos with multiple moving parts.
Traditionally, animated logos are simple and to the point, but with new technologies at their disposal designers are pushing the envelope, playing with details and making their animations more elaborate and artistic. These complex logo animations aim to take the viewer on a journey and tell a story.
The logo animation trend is already here, but I expect a real rush of logo animations in 2020. The integration of 2D and 3D could easily become mainstream in motion design.
A complex 3D logo animation by zixi
With lots of details to look at, the viewer looks at these logos longer than they’d look at a more simple logo animation and can potentially find something new they like about it every time they see it again.
Designs containing animated elements will be huge next year. When you have an element strategically designed to move, it will naturally grab the user’s attention. Plus, it’s super fun.
The move toward more complex animated logos comes from a similar place as the tapered gradient logos trend: when you’re designing for screens, there’s a whole lot more you can do than when you’re designing for print. One of those things is detailed animation.
Logo animation by Konstantin Kostenko
You’ll also see a ton of animated logos that have different versions for all the places they’re used, and that trend isn’t going to stop anytime soon. In fact, it’s just getting more popular in 2020 because as brands have more places to put their logos online and off, the more challenges they face of making a logo work on multiple platforms.
8. Daring typography
In 2020, we’re going to see a lot of logos that elevate text from just the words that support the image to the focal point themselves. Expect to see logos with funky, daring fonts that have personalities as vivid as the brands they represent.
Weird typography in logotypes is a big trend. There’s a great demand for these types of fonts nowadays because of the need to show the character of a brand and make it unique.
There are lots of ways to make a font weird, like playing with letter sizes and positions. Logo design by goopanic.
Goopanic described 2020’s personality-driven typography as “weird,” but you could also call it funky, crazy or daring. Think of it as typography that has a mind of its own. Instead of picking from a list of the same old standard fonts according to a client’s brand identity, logo designers are creating typefaces that are extraordinarily different from any fonts we’ve seen before.
Turn your head slightly and you’ll see the J in “Joker” is a smile. Logo design by finalidea.
There are lots of ways to play with typography, like distressing, inverting or mirroring. Even scattering the letters so the words don’t read linearly. Or using a font that looks like something else, like scales on a fish’s belly or pawprints in the snow. There isn’t one “right” way to do a funky font logo; the only thing to get right is to make sure it’s legible.
Ready for the top logo design trends of 2020?
New decade, new design trends. These logo trends are the ones that are kicking off a brand new era of design. Only time will tell where they all fall. And we can’t wait to see how they’ll all be used, subverted and reimagined in 2020 and beyond!
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It has been an excellent year for packaging design trends. Over the past months designers have pushed the boundaries of the design form—from function to aesthetics. Exciting trends in color, illustration, form and other design elements have come together to create unexpected product packaging that helps brands break through the clutter of competition and grab their customers’ attention.
But if 2019 was big, just wait until you see the top packaging design trends 2020. The upcoming year is set to be one of the most unique and innovative years for packaging trends in recent memory—and if brands and designers want to succeed, they will need to understand those trends and how to bring them to life.
Let’s take a look at some of the top packaging design trends predictions for 2020!
The biggest packaging design trends for 2020 are:
Packaging that tells a story
Metamorphoses
Retro-futurism
Blurry color splotches and blurred images
Maximalism and heavily detailed packaging
Ecologically aware packaging
Natural & earthy pastels
Neatly structured layouts
New constructive forms for traditional products
Holographic and iridescent packaging
Transparent packaging that lets color shine through
1. Packaging that tells a story
In 2020, brands will need more than well-designed packaging to make an impact. If they really want to connect with their customers, they’ll need to take their packaging to the next level, using it to tell their brand story.
Packaging should tell a story as you unbox. Online, packaging has to carry more weight due to the lack of a store-front experience.
– Will Krispin, Director of Strategic Development at 99designs
While it’s important for all brands to leverage the storytelling packaging trend, it’s particularly important for products that are sold primarily online. Because ecommerce products don’t have the luxury of being seen, and touched, in real life, they need to leverage everything they have available to tell their brand story and build a connection with their audience—and that starts with their packaging.
Causebox: each box has a custom design that tells the brand’s story and also connects to what’s inside. Via Causebox.
“In recent conversations with our partners we’ve learned that packaging should tell a story as you unbox,” says Will Krispin, Director of Strategic Development at 99designs. “They also mentioned the importance of packaging in the world of e-commerce. Online, packaging has to carry more weight due to the lack of a store-front experience.”
The continuing rise of subscription boxes will also play into the storytelling packaging trend in 2020. Branded packaging is especially important for subscription boxes, where the box itself becomes the only representation of the brand since the contents feature other brands and products.
In 2020, expect brands to take a more comprehensive approach to their packaging design—and to use their packaging as an opportunity to tell their brand story, communicate their key messaging and build a deeper connection with their ideal customers.
Lull Mattress is only sold online so branding relies on website and packaging only. Box tells a story with it’s variations of lion/tiger illustrations: “it’s a jungle out there – get some sleep.” By Andrewzz.
2. Metamorphoses
Consumers in 2020 will be overwhelmed with options—and with so many brands and products out there, it will be even more challenging for brands to create something unique and meaningful that resonates with their customers. That’s why artful designs that show fascinating ideas like “metamorphoses” are poised to be one of the biggest packaging trends in 2020.
Detailed illustrations that show different types of transformations can help brands to be memorable—birds become fruits, landscape become a part of animal, etc. These types of packaging not only tell the story of brands or products—they become an art object themselves.
Think of metamorphoses as design where there’s more than meets the eye. It’s where one design element goes through a transformation (or, more accurately, a metamorphosis) into another.
This optical illusion not only adds visual interest to packaging, but it also draws in consumers who want to see the intricate details of the full picture—which can help brands differentiate themselves from the competition, jump off the shelf and grab their customers’ attention with a deeper meaning.
In 2020, expect brands to embrace this more artistic, avant garde packaging trend as a way to stand out from the crowd and create something new and different.
3. Retro-futurism
Retro-futurism might seem like an oxymoron. But the truth is, retro and futuristic design can work well together, invoking both feelings of nostalgia (retro) and anticipation (futurism). 2020 will see package designers using the current gradient trend as a jumping-off point for creating packaging that pairs both futuristic and retro design elements to create remarkable designs that will appeal to a wide variety of consumers.
Bright neon colors and gradients will shift more to the packaging territory to add a retro-futurism vibe to brands.
Expect plenty of neon colors, bold gradients, and retro design touches (like minimalist logos and retro-inspired typography) to come together in unique, unexpected, and on-trend ways.
“Bright neon colors and gradients have been around for a good couple of years now and are still trending,” says 99designs designer goopanic. “They will shift more to the packaging territory to add a retro-futurism vibe to brands.”
by goopanic
4. Blurry color splotches and blurred images
Retro-futurism isn’t the only 2020 packaging design trend to emerge from the still-popular gradient trend. “A great trend in gradients is the use of spotted gradients, multi gradients and blurs,” says 99designs designer Obacht.
The use of blurry color splotches gives packaging a cool and edgy feel. This trend will take gradients to the next level, blurring the edges to create a more abstract look that will feel cutting-edge and design-forward in 2020. Also, expect designers to apply a blur to images, creating an abstract gradient effect that goes beyond color—and will draw consumers in as they try to make out the image behind the blur.
via viamic
5. Maximalism and heavily detailed packaging
Minimalism will always have a place in package design. But as many experts are predicting an economic downturn in 2020, more consumers will be looking towards a sense of opulence, luxury and extravagance in their products—which is why maximalism in packaging design is poised to be all the rage in the upcoming year.
One of the trends I see emerging is more luxurious, more attention-grabbing, with more intense, richer colors. ‘Heavier’ designs, full of details and beautiful graphics that mark the quality of the product.
“As the world economy enters a slower pace, one of the trends in packaging design I see emerging is more luxurious, more attention-grabbing, with more intense, richer colors. ‘Heavier’ designs, full of details and beautiful graphics that mark the quality of the product. People have always wanted a piece of luxury and beauty in their lives, and this notion gets even stronger as the times get harder,” says 99designs designer Agi Amri.
2020 is not going to be the year to keep it simple with package design. As consumers look for more of a high-end experience with their products (which is especially important when the economy may prevent other sorts of high-end experiences, like luxury vacations), more brands will start experimenting with a package design style that communicates a luxury experience—and focusses on beautiful details. Expect more intricate and detailed designs; richer, deeper color palettes; and a more prominent use of pattern.
via Behance
6. Ecologically aware packaging
Climate change has officially become a crisis. So one of the most important packaging design trends of 2020, without a doubt, sees brands taking a more eco-friendly approach to packaging.
One of the biggest challenges for designers and clients in the next years will be to find ecological, plastic-free packaging alternatives to current materials. It will test us to come up with new ideas.
“As we dive deeper into the climate crisis, one of the biggest challenges for designers and clients in the next years—even decades—will be to find ecological, plastic-free packaging alternatives to current materials,” says 99designs designer Obacht.
Expect more brands to start exploring using more eco-friendly materials in their packaging, moving towards packaging that’s easily recyclable, minimizing the amount of materials necessary for their packaging design, or even forgoing packaging altogether (like Lush’s Shampoo Bars, which allow consumers to get the hair cleansing they need—minus the plastic bottle packaging).
Obacht predicts this will push designers to think outside of the box and adjust their design style to suit this new packaging trend. “It will test us to come up with new ideas to design on rather flat colored surfaces, like a typical cardboard package, and make us find out how to create a striking design on biodegradable packaging,” says Obacht.
This perfume bottle is made of reused ocean plastic. Via Dieline.
7. Natural & earthy pastels
As mentioned, taking a more ecological approach to packaging is going to be one of the biggest packaging trends in 2020. But expect the earth-inspired trend to extend past just materials—and directly into the colors brands choose to incorporate into their brand color palettes.
In 2020, brands are looking for more subtle and earthy tones for their products.
“The past few years were dominated by bright pastel colors and shiny glossy, even pastel metallic gradients. In 2020, however, brands are looking for more subtle and earthy tones for their products,” says Obacht. “This is found especially in the organic food and beauty industry; all sorts of low saturated greens, blues and browns are trendy in this sector.”
While more natural tones have been a go-to for organic companies for years, the increased consumer focus on buying products from eco-friendly brands should see a flood of companies outside the more traditional, organic space start to embrace earth-inspired color palettes in 2020.
8. Neatly structured layouts
There’s something inherently satisfying about structure in design. Not only is it visually appealing, but it also lends a sense of balance and order to design—which is why more neatly structured, ordered layouts are becoming a major trend in the packaging world.
This packaging trend is all about the typography—or, more accurately, about how the typography is used in the design. Text, which is typically comprised of a variety of unique and interesting font combinations, is separated by clear lines that divide the space into neat and balanced spaces, making for easy readability and a sense of structure that appeals to consumers—and allows designers to take a more minimalistic approach to the rest of the design.
While these typography-heavy packaging designs are already all over shelves, expect this trend to really hit its stride in 2020.
by Obachtby Eva Hilla
9. New constructive forms for traditional products
In 2020, expect brands to forgo more traditional constructive forms (like your standard box or bottle) for more unique and out-of-the-box packaging ideas. The most effective use of this packaging trend will see brands using constructive form as a way to strengthen their branding and tell their brand story (so, for example, a paint brand that transforms their packaging into the shape of a palette or a fresh produce delivery service that packages their fruits and veggies in a bag constructed to look like a farmer).
Designers are always searching for new forms.
“Designers are always searching for new forms—each year we can see a lot of concepts that play with different forms of packages,” says 99designs designer Mila Katagarova. “But this year there are a lot of real projects that are already on shelves and show us new constructive forms for traditional products. I think we’ll see more in 2020.”
10. Holographic and iridescent packaging
We might sound like a broken record, but another one of 2020’s biggest packaging design trends is a play off of gradients—and that’s holographic or iridescent packaging. This trends is all about the mesmerizing effect of shiny, multi-colored metallics that designers are combining with cool graphics and black or white backgrounds for an edgy vibe.
What I saw in the past year is the upcoming rise of the holographic packaging trend.
This trend is already in play in the packaging world. “What I saw in the past year is the upcoming rise of the holographic packaging trend,” says 99designs designer Daria V., and we can expect to see more iridescent pastels and holographic effects in 2020. While this packaging trend has a distinctly feminine, Lisa Frank-inspired appeal, mixing in deeper neutrals, like gray or black, and opting for more muted, dark hues in the background can lend an edgier feel to these otherwise happy, youthful designs.
An iridescent packaging design for a cosmetics brand by Huntress ™
11. Transparent packaging that allows color to shine through
Many products, like beverages or skincare products, have a color all of their own—and in 2020, expect brands to play off their product’s color and incorporate it into their packaging design.
This design trend is especially found with beverages, as the print can be done directly onto glass or with the use of a transparent sticker. Brands mostly use the color white in contrast to the product’s actual color as a background color.
Using transparent packaging, like a glass bottle, that showcases a product’s color is a win-win; it allows brands to take a more minimal approach to the design process and let their product take center stage, without sacrificing visual interest or impact with the final packaging design.
In the upcoming year, more brands will experiment with transparency, layering design elements of transparent materials and using the product’s color as a design feature to add contrast and make those elements pop once the brand’s product is poured into it.
Are you ready for the biggest 2020 packaging design trends?
A new decade is right around the corner—and so are 2020’s biggest packaging design trends. Now that you know the trends that are set to dominate the packaging world in the upcoming year, all that’s left to do is embrace those trends—and use them to take your packaging design to the next level in 2020.
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