In today‘s digital world, a website‘s graphic design directly impacts how users perceive your brand. An outdated or inconsistent aesthetic can deter engagement while staying on-trend visually conveys innovation and relevance.
As a blogger, implementing the latest graphic design trends is crucial for drawing audiences in and showcasing your unique perspective through aesthetics. But with trends rapidly shifting every year, it can be tricky to translate them into a cohesive style for your site.
This comprehensive guide features 12 of 2023‘s biggest graphic design trends along with expert tips for seamlessly adopting them on your blog or website. You‘ll learn graphic design best practices for enhancing visuals while maintaining brand consistency across elements like fonts, layouts, and color palettes.
Let‘s explore the hottest graphic design trends taking the digital world by storm in 2023!
Why Graphic Design Trends Matter for Blogging Success
Before digging into the top trends for 2023, let‘s look at why paying attention to graphic design even matters for running a successful blog.
Graphic design focuses on the overall visual aspects of a digital product or platform. It encompasses the presentation of text, colors, photographs, illustrations, icons, layouts, typography, visual hierarchy, white space, textures and more across websites, mobile apps, advertisements and beyond.
Essentially, graphic design transforms raw information into an aesthetically-pleasing, cohesive layout optimized for user engagement on devices.
For bloggers, your website‘s graphic design has immense impact on:
User Experience
A site‘s design strongly dictates how users initially perceive and emotionally react to your content and brand. Research shows:
- 75% of users make judgements on a company‘s credibility based on web design alone
- 94% of first impressions of a company relate to web design
- Web design is ranked #1 in influencing user perception of a brand
With better graphic design, users better understand your content, navigate pages seamlessly and engage longer with your site.
Brand Personality
Your blog‘s aesthetic conveys brand personality and industry belonging just as much as the written content does, establishing who you are and what you stand for visually.
Conversion Rates
Well-executed graphic design results in up to 400% more conversions compared to sites with subpar design. It guides visitors to take action through strategic layouts and placement of calls-to-action.
The bottom line is that graphic design is inextricably tied to your blog‘s success metrics – from traffic and subscribers to social shares and revenue. Failing to create a solid, on-brand graphic design severely limits your blog from reaching its highest potential.
Just as you strategically craft written content, you must also intentionally create a visual experience through graphic design trends that attract and delight your target reader.
12 Biggest Graphic Design Trends For 2023
So which graphic design trends should you focus on this year to help your blog visually stand out in the crowded digital space?
Based on insights from top designers at leading agencies like Pentagram, Wieden+Kennedy, and Collins, these 12 trends rose to the top for dominating aesthetics across blogs, websites, and other digital platforms in 2023:
1. Maximalist Design
After years dominated by minimalism, 2023 embraces bold, complex layouts with bright colors, dynamic graphics and adventurous typography.
The New York Times exemplifies adopting maximalist graphic design through clashing decorative fonts and abstract layered visuals textured backgrounds:
Maximalist design traits:
- Vibrant, unexpected color palettes with clashing tones
- Overlapping graphic elements and textures
- Adventurous fonts including cursive, display and handwritten styles
- Asymmetrically arranged visuals and text
- Diverse imagery conveying energy
Brands like Apple traditionally avoid such overly busy aesthetics but maximalism done right can capture attention while showcasing creativity.
2. Accessible Color Contrast
With more sites prioritizing inclusivity, graphic design shifts focus to color contrast and legibility to support users with visual impairments.
The Starbucks app smartly maximizes contrast between vivid background colors and crisp white text/icons for easy readability:
Accessible design elements:
- Black/dark gray text on light background or vice versa
- Reduced transparency elements
- Avoiding similar hue text/background combos
- Strong button color contrast
- Simple, legible fonts like Helvetica and Verdana
- Text sizing options
While vibrant and trendy color palettes attract users, ensuring sufficient contrast caters designs to all abilities for positive experiences.
3. Hand-Drawn Illustrations
As a backlash against overly polished graphics, authentic hand-drawn sketches lend a raw, emotional appeal.
Evernote‘s whimsical illustrated characters feel more relatable and human than stock imagery:
[Insert Example Image]Effective uses of hand-drawn elements:
- Conceptual sketches
- Caricatures of people, products or settings
- Whimsical or retro motifs
- Not overused – strategically supplement photos
Avoid perfection with slightly imperfect lines, proportions and colors for maximum charm.
4. Dynamic Gradients
Once relegated just to background washes, gradients now feature boldly thanks to digital design tools expanding creative options.
Spotify‘s mobile app leverages vibrant, skewed gradients to modernize branding elements:
[Insert Example Image]Creative applications for gradients:
- Illustrations with gradient line art and shapes
- Gradating app icons and logos
- Overlaying translucent gradients onto photos
- Animated or interactive gradients responding to users
- Section dividers between content types
The depth and dimension gradients add make them a versatile graphic design element.
5. Variable Fonts
Instead of being static, variable fonts enable text to fluidly adapt in appearance across font weights, slant angles and more natively within web design.
Linotype‘s Paralucent variable font fluidly shifts from thin to broad strokes along a custom axis:
[Insert Example Image]Benefits of variable fonts
- Animate text from light to bold for emphasis
- Fluidly transition between styles without loading new fonts
- Reduce page weight and loading times
- Customize axes like airiness, slant and more
- Endless creativity expanding typographic possibilities
Blogs benefit from variable fonts’ lighter footprint while personalized animations boost messaging.
6. Broken Grid Layouts
Moving beyond just columns and rows, broken grid formats create dynamic yet harmonious visual movement.
Drift‘s webpage guides the eye around important text snippets and graphics through irregular container shapes:
[Insert Example Image]Creating broken grid layouts:
- Overlay irregular shapes like circles or triangles
- Rotate containers and images at angles
- Vary sizing of text containers asynchronously
- Embrace whitespace to zone users’ attention
The controlled “uncontrolled” layout feels distinctly modern.
7. Retro Influence
Vibrant retro color palettes, abstract shapes and airbrushed effects gain modern appeal through paradoxically futuristic vibes.
Wieden+Kennedy’s website reshapes 80’s elements like color blocks more dynamically aligned to contemporary streamlined sites:
[Insert Example Image]Adapting retro influences:
- Use bright primaries and neons sparingly as accents
- Streamline groovy shapes into sharper polygons
- Pair with futuristic fonts like Museo Sans
- Implement abstract patterns or shapes to modernize
The pairing of retro and futuristic styles smartly blends nostalgia with innovative visions.
8. Generative Design
Programming-based generative graphic design automatically evolves visuals like illustrations across digital touchpoints uniquely every time.
Stripe’s homepage animates elegant geometric abstractions endlessly varying thanks to AI-powered generative design:
[Insert Example Image]Harnessing generative graphic capabilities:
- Evolving geometric logo animations
- Morphing custom hero illustrations
- Transitioning intricate background patterns
- Auto colorizing brand assets differently
The branded visuals stay recognizably on-brand yet refresh creatively at each user visit.
9. Isometric Perspectives
Dimensional angled perspectives add depth while enabling more graphic information portrayal in layouts.
Beau Studio’s web and app pages adopt isometric grids arranging icons, graphics and text together harmoniously:
[Insert Example Image]Features of isometric graphic design:
- Depth through angled 2D box shapes
- Overlaid text sitting “inside” shapes
- Diagrams, icons and maps work especially well
- Creates organized information hierarchies
The angled floating boxes guide visitors in processing webpage content easily.
10. Overlapping Textures
Mundane textures like cardboard, metal plates and painted wood modernize as bold graphic design features through shape contrasts.
Burberry revitalizes their heritage by embracing physical textures with digital precision:
[Insert Example Image]Impactful texture techniques:
- Texturally customize fonts and icons
- Integrate subtle grunge and grain
- Layer textures behind text as shapes for depth
- Mimic physical materials like stone and concrete
- Mix unexpected combinations like watercolor over metal
Leverage textures to convey intricacy and high-quality craftsmanship translating tradition into contemporary appeal.
11. Abstract Minimalism
Sleek, refined abstraction emerges through precision-cut geometric fields, gradients and concisely stylized, almost unreadable, typography.
Abstract minimalism boldly dominates Pitchfork’s online editorial aesthetic through dynamically intersecting fields of color:
[Insert Example Image]Crafting abstract minimalism:
- Use solid fields and shapes of color
- Pair bold colors and gradients together
- Embrace ultra-thin lines and mosaic effects
- Stretch condensed letters spacing across layout
- Leverage white space around elements
The controlled use of negative space keeps the minimalism balanced rather than stark.
12. Neo-Memphis Style
The postmodern 1980’s Memphis design style sees renewed interest through digitally enhanced playful geometry.
Mailchimp channels Memphis through angular graphic personalization features and vibrant colors:
[Insert Example Image]Key aspects of the Memphis style:
- Irregular abstract shapes and lines
- Bright contrasting primary colors
- Geometric overlapping page elements
- Bold typography, often all-caps
- Asymmetric layouts
While distinctly retro, Memphis resonates modernly by matching digital dynamism and non-conformity.
How To Implement Graphic Design Trends on Your Blog
From hand-drawn sketches to dimensional gradients, this year‘s hottest graphic design trends reveal current digital styles embracing creativity and original perspectives.
But with so many aesthetic influences across maximalist textures, retro colors, abstract layouts and more, how do you adopt trends cohesively on your own blog or website without looking disjointed?
Follow these best practices for effortlessly integrating 2023’s top graphic design trends into your site for a fresh look that uniquely brings your brand essence to life visually:
Choose a Style Theme
Rather than trying to implement every trend randomly, pick 1-2 prevailing style inspirations for an intentional aesthetic direction setting the tone across your site.
For example, if you publish a boutique travel blog, channel a warm, textural global style with:
- Prominent hand-drawn sketches of destinations
- Overlapped vintage postcard and map textures
Or if you run an edgy music blog, capture youth culture energy through:
- Memphis-inspired funky fonts and shapes
- Generative illustrations morphing with page scrolls
Build all visuals around your selected style(s) for cohesion.
Design a Style Guide
Compile a visual style guide documenting precisely how imagery, color palettes, typography, iconography and layouts manifest your style theme across articles, sidebars, navigation menus, headers and page backgrounds.
Ensure all graphics align not just aesthetically but also support your brand mission. For example, your nonprofit’s vibrant, friendly sketches communicate community-building over isolating slick minimalism.
Adapt Trends to Brand Needs
Rather than completely matching trends as is, adapt aspects suiting your brand identity and audience while discarding traits that don’t.
For a luxury jewelry site, adopt abstract minimalism’s elegance but skip the ultra-thin lines unsuited for showcasing gemstone details prominently. Or integrate Memphis-inspired shapes more subtly rather than intensely clashing primaries.
Implement Design Systems
Standardizing reusable design components streamlines building on-brand layouts efficiently. Diverse visual themes still shine through while interfacing consistency aids usability through familiar journeys.
Formal design systems also facilitate collaborating with external web designers through shared libraries of brand assets easy to uniformly implement new pages quick and on-brand.
Check Accessibility Standards
No matter how beautifully vibrant or artfully arranged, graphic design must place accessibility at the forefront ensuring visually-impaired users also receive information equitably.
Run automated accessibility checks to catch issues like:
- Insufficient color contrast ratios between background and text colors
- Text elements not enlargeable for the visually impaired
- Buttons or icons lacking identifiable names for screen reader users
- Images missing alternative text descriptions
With inclusive refinement, graphic design trends properly emphasize function alongside form.
By centering your brand essence then uniformly applying select trends across layouts, illustrations, textures, color palettes, typography and more as documented guides, blogs and websites weave amazing aesthetics through design coherence.
Key Takeaways
Graphic design remains pivotal for bolstering your blog or website‘s success by attractively engaging users in branded content experientially. By skillfully implementing the hottest new trends shaping system aesthetics now, your platforms gain renewed visual appeal.
2022’s Top Graphic Design Trends
Maximalism, accessible color contrast, hand-drawn sketches, dynamic gradients, variable fonts, broken grid layouts, retro/futurism, generative illustrations, isometric perspectives, overlapping textures, abstract minimalism and neo-Memphis style.
Graphic Design Impacts Metrics
Graphic design significantly influences user engagement, brand perception, conversions and more for digital platforms like blogs.
Adapt Trends Thoughtfully
Strategically pick inspirational styles then adapt aspects enhancing your brand identity for optimum relevance. Create guides to unify trends cohesively across platforms through color, typography, imagery and layout directions.
With an on-trend graphic design identity captivating audiences through aesthetics more profoundly aligned to your blog or website’s vision, content transforms digitally as the optimal frame bringing stories to life vibrantly.
