8 Web and Graphic Design Trends That Will Dominate 2019

Exploring digital styles and themes of 2019; what inspires us and what will we see leading web and graphics trends?

The new year is here, and we're excited for what's to come in the world of tech and design. 2018 was a year filled with taking risks and standing out in digital design, there is no doubt that 2019 won't be any different. Whether you’re a designer yourself, working with one, launching a new website or design campaign in 2019, staying on top of the latest design trends is extremely important. It plays a crucial role in solidifying your brand and maintaining relevancy within the world of design and technology.

This year, design trends come from both ends of the visual spectrum and provide a large pool of creativity, in case you're looking for some inspiration. To get an in-depth look, we've created a list of 9 design trend predictions for 2019.

8 Digital Design Trends For 2019

The Newest Web Design Trend: Asymmetrical Design & Grid Layouts

Trash your grid this year! “Broken Grid” layouts are making a rise in the world of website design. The grid is an imaginary plane with horizontal and vertical lines to help layout elements on an image, a page, or a screen.

Typically, on a website, you can spot the obvious grid with content like logos, titles, headers and content lined up in a way that is filled in the centre or the four quadrants of the screen. With broken grid design, items are created around the grid in a way that is more rigid and plays with aspects of asymmetry and geometric shapes. Talk about designing to the beat of your own drum!

How are designers creating broken grid layouts? The CSS Grid.

In 2019, we can anticipate the use of CSS grid as a framework for trashing the traditional grid. Flexbox has been a go-to for web designers and developers, showing you exactly “where to place what” and implement layouts in a relatively simple way. 

However, the CSS Grid technology allows for developers and designers to place what they want exactly where they want, vertically and horizontally, thus allowing for the use asymmetrical/broken layouts to be created, bringing abstract and retro-print inspired templates to the web.

Say "Thank You, Next” to the grid.

Big, Chunky Fonts: The Use of Bold Typography

Large, bold, chunky, “in-your-face” fonts were in last year, and the year before that, and the year before that… (with the exception of the time Apple tried to make Helvetica Neue Ultra Light” happen with iOS 7). So, naturally, bold text certainly isn’t going anywhere in 2019. Why? Because it’s eye-catching! While scrolling down a web page, your brain will almost automatically read an image that contains bold text that takes up 70-90% of the image.

Bold text is used for emphasis, making a statement and establishing hierarchy on a web page or image. It’s a great way to capture the attention of a user. However, remember everything in moderation – even bold text.

Outline Fonts & Block Text Typography

Remember the block/bubble letters you used to in elementary school? Well, who knew it’d make a rather large footprint in the design world! The half-there, half-not font/knock-out text styles emphasize letterforms & create a nice middle ground between thin, traditional text and the ever-so-popular chunky sans-serifs.

 
3-Dimensional Typography and Illustrations

Out with old and in with the new! 3-dimsensional text and graphics are on the rise in 2019 through experimentation with 3D effects, motion graphics and illustrations in digital design. These creations are so in-depth, you feel as though you could reach out and touch them. Although this trend has been around for some time, we predict it’ll be more prominent in 2019 by bringing the aspect of 3 dimensional illustrations and graphics to the world of web design.

So, will 2019 will be the day that flat finally throws in the towel?

Not necessarily! The blending of 3D and 2D images and graphics is another design trend to watch out for in the new year. Many designers and illustrators are combining the appeal of flat design with immersive 3D layouts to explore more abstract concepts in digital and print design.

Monochromatic / Minimalist Design Palettes

While some of the great part of design is having a million colours at our fingertips, having little to none can be just as exciting. The ‘minimalist’ or ‘monochromatic’ look has been around for some time in the world of design and we’re confident it’ll carry on throughout 2019. Designers are limiting themselves to 1-2 colours to create graphics, web pages and designs with minimalist, analogous palettes that are harmonious and make a statement.

Why limit yourself when it comes to colour?

While tons of colours are fun, we also understand why the minimalist trend is becoming so prevalent. Limiting a design to specific colours can help solidify your brand. While many designs are bursting with colours, doing the opposite could make your design, your website or your brand more memorable.

Augmented Reality Design

As augmented reality becomes more popular and mainstream, it’s making its way into the graphic design world as well. It’s become prevalent in technology through augmented reality apps like Google Lens, IKEA Place, Pokemon Go and in social media applications, such as Snapchat and Instagram’s AR Filters, & Facebook’s AR lenses and 3D posts.

3D & AR tools and applications such as, Vectary, Torch, Adobe Aero, Google AR Core, Apple AR Kit and other apps for creating AR graphics are now being used to display design work. We can anticipate seeing a roll out of more augmented reality inspired designs and tech projects throughout 2019.

Abstract Typography In Web Design

It's in the nature of a designer to experiment with typography. In 2018, we saw a rise in "abstract" typography in print design through pushing the boundaries of text by removing parts of letters or words or rotating parts of the message in a way that is unconventional with the message or phrase still able to be caught by the reader.

In 2019, we see this design trend becoming more popular on the web. While it's a little easier to experiment with typography in print, we believe the rise of this trend will push what is possible with typography in web design.

2018 was a big year for design and we trust that 2019 will be no different! While these trends will definitely shape the world of digital design this year, they’ll also make way for fresh, new design styles. We can’t wait to see what new trends will develop throughout the year.