Brand Design Trends 2024: Mid-Year Review
As we pass the halfway mark of 2024 (how did we get here?!) It’s a great time to reflect on the evolving brand design trends of this year.
Whilst purely following trends when designing brands can have its drawbacks, such as leading to a lack of identity and individuality, it’s important to stay relevant and appeal to your target demographic by keeping up to date with current trends. We’ve put together what we think are stand out trends of 2024 that you should be aware of.
AI Co-Creation
Designers are increasingly leveraging AI to push creative boundaries, optimise efficiencies, and create more customised experiences. AI enables the creation of new, on-brand visuals and typography, but it can sometimes lead to generic outputs if not used thoughtfully.
Typography
We are seeing a rise in designers who have been bringing typography to life through the use of AI. Adobe Firefly is a notable tool that allows designers to input text and create AI-rendered typeface. This tool can analyse a brand’s identity to produce bespoke typography that aligns perfectly with its message and values. Adobe Firefly can generate intricate typographic designs, providing endless customisation possibilities while maintaining brand consistency. This innovation bridges the gap between efficiency and creativity, enabling designers to produce visually compelling and brand-specific typography.
Colour
AI-generated dreamscapes with luminescent, translucent effects evoke feelings of joy and wonder. These multicoloured visuals reflect lush, opulent worldscapes in rich detail. This trend allows brands to create vibrant, engaging visuals that stand out in a crowded digital landscape, appealing to consumers’ desire for both innovation and beauty.
Visuals
3D elements are becoming more prevalent, adding depth, realism, and interactivity to brand design. These elements create a sense of tangibility and intrigue, making brands more memorable and appealing. By incorporating dreamlike, fantastical elements such as floating objects and vibrant, otherworldly colour schemes, brands can blend virtual and real worlds, reflecting a desire for creativity and innovation.
The main challenge is balancing AI’s efficiency with the personal touch and craftsmanship that human designers bring. AI can sometimes produce designs that feel impersonal, overly uniform or textures that look a bit too rubbery. It is crucial for designers to guide AI tools with a clear vision and personal input to ensure the final output retains the brand’s unique character and appeal.
If you’re interested in AI, we’ve written a series of articles about AI and the creative industry, the tools we use and the bigger picture, which you can read here.
Retro Modernity
In an era characterised by rapid technological advancement and digital overload, there is a nostalgic yearning for the familiar comforts of past times. This trend combines elements from the past with contemporary design principles, evoking a sense of familiarity and warmth, creating emotional connections that bridge generations. Retro Modernity can be seen as a response to the digital era’s trend of blanding, a movement that many brands adopted to align with the minimalism and limitations of the digital landscape. It appears that in 2024 there is a nostalgia for handcrafted aesthetics.
Typography
Serif typefaces, (whilst timeless) are seeing a resurgence, with many brands wanting to to add a touch of craft and heritage. For example, the National Portrait Gallery rebrand uses customised historic typefaces with modernised colours inspired by archival paint materials, creating a bridge between the past and present.
Brands are also embracing retro-inspired typeface, such as Cooper-like serifs, which are friendly and approachable, with a 70s aesthetic. Whilst playful identities such as Fanta have embraced deep drop shadows, a characteristic of vintage hand lettered signs, adding a three-dimensional quality to text, making it stand out and giving it a tactile feel. These elements help brands stand out with distinctive, handcrafted aesthetics, countering the impersonal nature of some digital designs.
Visuals
Textures like risograph and noise are used to create a craft-like feel. This trend is a backlash against the bland, homogenous designs prevalent in the digital age, aiming to stand out with distinctive, handcrafted aesthetics. Visual elements from the past are combined with modern design principles to create unique, engaging compositions.
Keeping It Human
In response to the rise of digital and AI design, brands are embracing a more organic, human approach. This trend emphasises authenticity, inclusivity, making brands more relatable and trustworthy. In regard to tone of voice and messaging, brands are embracing natural, conversational language that feels casual, honest, and inclusive.
Typography
According to Monotypes 2024 typography trend report, brands are adopting handwritten typefaces that are playful – almost childlike, authentic and honest. This trend is all about presenting yourself authentically, with no need for frills or artifice.
Hand-drawn elements like doodles are becoming a popular approach for brands to humanise themselves. Whether it is through personality filled illustrations or whimsical doodles, these elements add a personal touch, making the brand feel more approachable and genuine.
For example, the Made for Med brand by Grapheine Studio uses doctors’ illegible handwriting as a core element, creating a brand identity that is both unique and relatable. This approach helps to humanise the brand, making it more accessible to its audience.
Conclusion
Staying current with design trends is essential for maintaining relevance and appeal, but it’s equally important to preserve a unique brand identity. By blending timeless principles with emerging trends, brands can resonate more deeply with their audiences.
At The Discourse, we have been designing incredible brand identities, websites and content marketing campaigns for businesses and charities for well over 5 years. Our clients typically spend from £5k to £20k on brand strategy and design, website projects range from £5k to £20k depending on size and functionality.
Content strategy and production can vary heavily depending on the type of organisation and your internal resources. Typically speaking, we’d expect clients to spend in the region of £5k to £10k on their initial strategy and tool kit, with between £1k and £3k per month on ongoing support.
We’re passionate about this topic and we’re keen to help you along the way. If you are interested in discovering how we can help your brand stay ahead of these trends while maintaining its unique identity, get in contact today via our contact page or by emailing us at: hello@thediscourse.design
