3 Graphic Design Trends to Watch in 2016

From the rebranding of Google and Spotify (which broke the internet, of course) to Adobe releasing updated Creative Cloud programs, 2015 was a big year in graphic design. You can expect more big things to happen in 2016, too. New trends for graphic design are bubbling up. After sifting through the predicted trends, I’ve found the 3 that are the most frequently talked about for 2016.

The Evolved Hamburger Menu

If you haven’t figured it out by now, mobile is literally the “first screen”. This means that most users are browsing the internet via smartphones. With this, responsive websites paired with a mobile UX in mind has been a big focus for web developers. One of the many products mobile UX design has brought us is the infamous hamburger menu. Though it might have been received as peculiar at first, it has evolved into a new menu style called the hidden or “clever menu” and it’s expected to be a growing trend for 2016. Much like the hamburger menu, clever menus will now only appear depending on the user’s action. The purpose of these menus is to simply keep the user from being distracted from important content. Check out some hidden menu examples here!

Goodbye Apple, Hello Google

I hope I got your attention with that one. Apple is boring. Gone are the days of Apple’s reign of the design world, as Google has fought back and taken control of graphic design trendsetting. Google has capitalized on the trend that we will likely see a lot more of in 2016 — Flat 2.0, or “Material Design.”

So What’s Flat 2.0?

Flat 2.0 is a tweaked style of the pre-existing “Flat” design style. Flat design refers to a minimalistic design style that applies bright colors, two-dimensional elements and illustrations and open space paired with sharp edges. Microsoft was one of the first few companies to set this trend off. Flat 2.0 takes that style just a bit further by adding highlights, drop shadows, gradient shadows and multiple values to the mix. See the image below to compare (image credit: Dapper Gentlemen)

Videos & GIFs

Simply put, we as humans love visual things. We love visual things so much, that I couldn’t help but to share some cold hard facts from Medium:

• 100 million people worldwide watch at least one video per day.
• Website visitors are 64% more likely to make a purchase after watching a video.
• 80% of viewers recall watching a video ad up to 30 days after seeing it.
• 92% of those watching video on mobile devices share the content with others.
• Human beings process visual elements 60,000 times faster than reading words.

Capitalize, capitalize, capitalize on these facts. You can do that by visual storytelling and using videos and GIFs to do so. Use videos or animated GIFs in your header images, website backgrounds and make and share all of your footage on social media. Don’t have much time or money? Shoot company culture videos or put together quick stats videos like this one that take minimal time and funding to make. Just make sure that when you’re creating your branded content that you export your videos in the smallest file size possible. I recommend using EasyHTML5Video to export web-safe, small but still great quality videos.

There’s many trends that are predicted to arise in 2016, but you should, at least, be aware of these 3 trends to help you stay ahead during the new year. Capitalize on videos and GIFs, make it easier on your users with clever menus. Don’t worry about Apple, they’re boring. Instead, pay attention to Google and the Flat 2.0/Material Design style. Start your new year off with a head start, because more big things are gonna happen and you’ll want to be ready with the utilization of new trends.

Kyle Christensen

Kyle is the Brand Director at Red Branch Media.

Kyle leads our Graphic Design Department at Red Branch Media. His ability to manage incoming tasks, collaborate with the design team, hit deadlines and keep our file storage system well-organized has helped to shape the design department clients love today. While he’s away from the branch, he spends his time playing drums, video games, cranking the latest emo, pop-punk and screamo songs on Spotify, drinking local Omaha brews, and enjoying life with his wife. Kyle has a BASA with a Concentration in Graphic Design and a Minor in Art History from UNO.