A curated look at some of the biggest design trends in social media from some of the biggest brands in the world.

1. 2020 DESIGN TRENDS REPORT CURATED BY PUNCH COMMUNICATIONS

2. TYPE TAKES MAINSTAGE
MINIMALIST TO MAXIMALIST
ABSTRACT 3D AND VIBRANT COLOURS
GRADIENTS, GRADIENTS, GRADIENTS
AUGMENTED REALITY
BETTER GET MOVING
RULES ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN
POLITICALLY CORRECT
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Image rights and ownership still belong to that of the creator and not ourselves.
Used purely for illustrative purposes and highlighting the great work they are doing.

3. Simple, bold typography was
prevalent throughout 2019 and
that trend looks set to continue
into 2020. Rising popularity and
accessibility of variable fonts means
designers are playing around with
the rule book now more than ever.
3 TYPE TAKES MAINSTAGE

4. In what always seem to be a back-
and-forth grudge match between
minimalist and maximalist, it’s now
the latter’s turn to take the reins.
Adding splashes of vibrant colour,
bold geometric patterns or textures
to signify material are different
ways to layer in a personality and
relatability to designs in order to
stand out from the crowd.
4 MINIMALIST TO MAXIMALIST
LAYERING,
LAYERING,
LAYERING.

5. Another area profiting from the
great strides being taken within the
industry is that of 3D rendering.
Both advances in the technology
itself, coupled with the increasing
accessibility of said programs,
mean designers are finding their
toolkit ever growing. With brands
such as Adidas and Nike already
picking this up to portray different
aspects of their products, it won’t
be long before others start to follow.
5 ABSTRACT 3D AND VIBRANT COLOURS

6. This is one that we haven’t seen
mentioned anywhere else, and yet
it’s been implied within all the other
trends, so we thought it was worth
its own special mention. What
with the popularity of minimalism
in recent times, colour too has
been scaled back. Flat colours and
geometric shapes have formed
the base of most content created
in 2019. This is something we see
changing next year. Gradients
provide a great hook, and help to
create a natural depth and realism,
we can see gradients and colour
variations coming hand in hand with
3D and motion in 2020.
6 GRADIENTS, GRADIENTS, GRADIENTS

7. You’re probably fed up of hearing
about this one only to be let down,
never seeing any of the hype come
to fruition. However there have been
some big movements towards the
end of 2019; we truly do believe that
AR will take over next year.
The full release of Facebook’s Spark
AR Studio has created a readily-
available bespoke program that links
directly to the platforms themselves.
It’s also worth noting that Adobe
are now joining the game, having
recently announced and released
their new AR-specific app within the
Creative Cloud package (Aero).
It’s all pointing towards a very big
year for AR.
7 AUGMENTED REALITY - NO. REALLY... WE MEAN IT THIS TIME!

8. Improving optimisation for motion
assets within social platforms has
helped create a movement towards
motion over still assets. This is
something that we can only see
snowballing from here. Moving
imagery and motion assets provide
a way of interacting with the
audience that a still image simply
cannot do. Moving forwards,
brands are going to start becoming
recognisable for the style of
animation they use. Multi-sensorial
branding will become more and
more the norm and designers are
going to need to start considering
how brands work across all spaces
and mediums.
8 BETTER GET MOVING

9. The times are changing. Social
media and technological advances
have changed the way that
audiences consume content.
Ever-shortening attention spans
coupled with the depreciating
effect of the traditional promotional
methods are resulting in designers
and agencies having to re-think
the way they are working. This new
generation of consumers is going
to relate to content in a drastically
different way. The pages of the
rulebook are slowly being torn out
one-by-one, it won’t be long before
it will need re-writing completely.
However one things for sure, it’s
going to be exciting to watch.
9 RULES ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN

10. You only have to look at the
amount of brands that incorporate
the rainbow into their profile
picture for Pride month to see that
brands are no longer sitting on the
sidelines when it comes to political
issues. Social media has created
a platform for everyone to have a
voice, and brands are being held
more and more accountable for
their actions. Other topics such as
Insta-perfection and global warming
are hot topics right now, as brands
go the extra mile to show they are
keeping up with key social issues.
Designers are going to need to be
aware of this; designs should be
made with carbon-footprint in mind,
and materials chosen for a reason.
Gone are the days of flamboyant,
over-the-top packaging. Amazon -
we all know that your boxes don’t
need to be that oversized for the job
EVERY time.
10 POLITICALLY CORRECT

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