2017, the year of the bold & brave

With a new year, comes new trends. 2017 brings brighter, bolder and more vibrant visuals that will grab attention and draw customers to your business.

In previous years we’ve seen the use of soft, muted pastel colours in an attempt to reflect sleek, sophisticated branding. Whilst some companies have mastered this, 2017 is now rebelling by going full circle with the return of bold colour palettes that bring back some 90s nostalgia! We’re not talking kitsch, clashing colours that came with 90s design trends. But bold striking colours that give your brand a splash of vibrancy, moving away from grayscale tones.

A great example of how this colour is bringing logos up to speed is the recent Instagram rebrand that was unveiled last summer. The design has swapped the realistic polaroid camera icon for a minimal icon suggestive of a camera, accompanied by a variety of vibrant colours.

Instagram said: “The camera lens was a key visual element. As a part of our process, we also asked people at the company to draw the Instagram icon from memory in 5 seconds. Almost all of them drew the rainbow, lens, and viewfinder.”

Not only is colour a key focus for 2017 design trends, but typography too. Daring fonts are to be utilised to grab attention in conjunction with the saturated colours. Lose the paragraphs of information – punchy copy and bold fonts is where it’s at!

Posed stock photography is another element that has been replaced for high resolution, authentic photographs – gone are the days where a pearly white grin is used to promote services/products. Generic stock photography tends to be overused by many varying industries as it is so readily available for download online. Customers can’t relate to stock photography, invest in a professional photographer to snap a few pics for your business and utilise them across your website, social media and marketing materials.