In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, you must stay ahead of the curve just to survive!
Consumer preferences are evolving with the emergence of new technologies, so keeping up with advertising design trends has become more important than ever.
But before we get into the top five trends, you may ask, “Why do I need to adopt new design trends instead of going the evergreen route?” Because following these trends not only ensures that designs stay fresh and relevant but also helps businesses stand out in a crowded marketplace.
In this article, we’ll explore five key advertising design trends to follow this year, offering insights into how they can enhance creativity, resonate with modern audiences, and give you a competitive edge.
1. AI-Enhanced Design Practices: Revolutionising Creativity
Everyone is talking about AI, and this technology is revolutionising the industry in some ways when it comes to graphics design. Designers now have powerful tools that help them streamline workflows and push creative boundaries in shorter times.
Remember when everyone was afraid that AI would replace human designers? Things couldn’t be further from the truth!
The actual value of AI lies in its ability to augment creativity. It frees professionals from tedious, time-consuming tasks and allows them to focus on high-level concepts, ideation, and the unique human touch that defines great design.
Generative AI’s market size in the design sector is already at hundreds of millions, and it is estimated to reach over USD 7,754.83 million by 2032. Here are some design trends allowed by AI’s existence:
Streamlining Workflow with AI Tools
Streamlining is the keyword when we are talking about AI in design. While it may not replace human creativity when creating advertisement designs for a business, it does make the work easier.
Designers are now faster and more efficient with the help of AI’s excellent features, such as:
- Automated image resizing
- Background removal
- Colour correction
These kinds of tasks are repetitive, and there is barely any creativity associated with them. AI can eliminate these repetitive tasks and enhance productivity.
Image via Adobe
For example, Adobe Sensei, a cutting-edge AI built into Adobe’s suite of creative tools, speeds up tasks like image retouching, video editing, and motion graphics creation. This allows designers to focus on the bigger picture while the software handles the minutiae.
These tools can analyse design elements, recognise patterns, and offer suggestions, ultimately improving the quality of the final product while reducing time spent on menial tasks.
Personalised Creativity: AI as a Design Assistant
We touched on how AI can help with repetitive tasks. But did you know that it can also be a personal design assistant?
AI actively contributes to the creative process by offering intelligent suggestions based on trends, audience preferences, and user data.
Imagine a design tool that can propose colour schemes tailored to a specific demographic or generate a mood board inspired by contemporary art or your favourite visual themes. Now, what technology can do that by processing an incredibly large amount of data? You already know the answer!
With AI, designers can now create more personalised and targeted advertising campaigns. This personalised approach ensures that ads resonate more deeply with target audiences, improving engagement and effectiveness.
AI and Motion Graphics
One of the more difficult fields of design, motion graphics, has seen some of the heavy work lifted from designers’ hands with the arrival of artificial intelligence.
Machine learning lets designers make excellent animations with little effort, enabling even small teams to generate professional-grade motion content.
While keeping great creative standards, AI-enhanced video editing and animation tools can forecast motions, apply transitions, and even create motion routes, accelerating the design process.
2. Maximalism Is Making a Comeback
Image via Vivid
For the last few years, minimalism has dominated the design landscape with its “less is more” approach, clean lines, and abundant white space. However, this year, maximalism is making a bold comeback, and it’s rewriting the design rulebook.
Maximalism embraces the “more is more” philosophy, filling every inch of the canvas with vibrant, chaotic, yet captivating visuals that demand attention.
Image via Yelyzaveta Hordii on Behance
This trend thrives on complexity, heavy compositions, bold colour combinations, and layered images that break conventional design rules.
Unlike minimalism, which focuses on restraint, maximalism is all about creative excess and spontaneity.
It’s perfect for industries that thrive on expressive visuals, such as art galleries, fashion labels, and musicians, where standing out with bold designs can be the key to capturing an audience’s imagination.
Designers intentionally break design norms, using clash-and-contrast elements to create unique and unforgettable compositions.
Maximalism is about striking the proper balance between chaos and cohesiveness, not about stuffing everything onto a page. The difficulty is developing complex, detail-rich compositions that, at first look, could seem overpowering but are painstakingly arranged to enthral viewers and guide them on a visual trip.
As Krystle Wong from Venngage explains, “Maximalism explodes your brand narrative onto the scene, forging instant emotional connections with intricate details and captivating visuals.”
3. Diversity and Inclusion: Celebrating a Broader Spectrum in Design
The emphasis on diversity and inclusion in graphic design is more prominent than ever.
Designers are moving beyond the cookie-cutter standards that have long dominated visual media and embracing the beauty of representing real people.
This shift not only reflects society’s evolving values but also resonates deeply with consumers who seek representation and authenticity in the brands they support.
Designing for a Diverse World
Diversity and inclusion in design mean acknowledging the broad spectrum of human experiences, from different skin tones and body types to varied genders, ethnicities, nationalities, and abilities.
Image via Rebel Slices on Behance
Designers are increasingly including these diverse elements in their work, thus producing more inclusive and representative advertising campaigns. Rather than adhering to idealised models, they concentrate on ordinary people to stress the strength and beauty in the range of real-life viewpoints and appearances.
This change towards more inclusive design aims to create emotional connections with a larger audience rather than only appeal. When people see themselves reflected in commercials, they are more likely to feel noticed, valuable, and understood by the businesses that mirror them. In today’s multicultural and globalised world, where people from all walks of life add to the consumer scene, this is especially vital.
Beyond Compliance: Transforming User Experience
Developing inclusive designs transforms the user experience rather than only fulfilling a compliance box.
For instance, making sure designs are understandable to those with cognitive difficulties, visual limitations, or other disabilities generally enhances user interaction and brand loyalty.
For everyone—including those with visual disabilities—a basic design decision, like keeping a strong contrast between text and background, can significantly affect readability and understanding.
Image via Shopify
Shopify’s illustrator Meg Robichaud underscored this point in her 2018 Medium post, explaining that diversity in design goes beyond superficial changes.
Changing the skin hue of a character to purple or blue won’t help with representation. Real variety, then, results from knowing the lived experiences of many people and faithfully mirroring those experiences in design.
4. Bold Typography: Making a Statement in 2024
Typography is taking on a bold new role, emerging as a focal point in design that not only communicates a message but also captivates and engages viewers.
Image via Phenomenon Studio
Gone are the days when typography was merely a supporting player in visual design. This year, designers are pushing the boundaries of traditional text styles, experimenting with oversized, custom fonts that take centre stage, creating a lasting impression while delivering precise and impactful messages.
The Shift to Bold and Custom Typography
For designers trying to create a powerful visual impact, bold type has quickly become a favoured tool.
Using the ideas of minimalism by streamlining compositions and letting bespoke fonts speak for themselves, designers are now mainly focusing on typography.
This approach makes a strong statement while allowing a cleaner, more unified design possible. Designers can direct the viewer’s eye and provide a message that is both clear and aesthetically attractive by lowering visual clutter and concentrating on one element at a time—that is, the typography.
In a competitive market, big, bold fonts draw attention and establish a solid focal point that helps companies more successfully convey their messages.
Custom Typography for Brand Authenticity
As competition in the business world intensifies, brands are increasingly seeking ways to differentiate themselves and express their unique identity.
Image via Duolingo
One way they are doing this is through the creation of custom typefaces. Custom fonts not only offer a sense of exclusivity and personalisation but also help enhance a brand’s authenticity. They allow brands to develop a distinct visual language that is immediately recognisable and memorable to their audience.
5. Mixed Media and Hand-Drawn Elements: Bringing Authenticity to Design
How important is authenticity? Based on 88% of consumers who want authenticity, it is definitely a key factor for any brand.
In an era dominated by digital precision and AI-generated graphics, the resurgence of mixed media and hand-drawn elements marks a refreshing return to authenticity and human touch in design.
Image via pazmiamor.com
This trend celebrates imperfection, creativity, and the raw, unpolished charm that only hand-crafted elements can bring.
By blending digital graphics with hand-drawn illustrations, textures, and even analogue techniques, designers are crafting visuals that feel more personal, relatable, and emotionally engaging.
The Appeal of Mixed Media in a Digital World
The growing use of mixed media in design reflects a broader cultural shift toward authenticity and human connection.
As Abigail Baldwin from Buttercrumble highlights, “A mixed media approach is going to strengthen in 2024.” This approach combines traditional and digital techniques, merging illustrations, textures, and typography to create dynamic, visually stimulating compositions that stand out in an increasingly digital world.
This trend reminds us that creativity is about expression rather than only accuracy, therefore countering the growth in AI-enhanced design tools.
Mixed media lets creators explore a larger spectrum of materials and techniques free from the limitations of digital tools. Designs produced by this creative liberty seem more natural, distinctive, and personally expressive.
Logos and Mascots: Adding Personality and Fun
One of the most exciting developments within this trend is the rise of hand-drawn logos and mascots.
As brands seek to differentiate themselves, they are turning to hand-drawn elements to add character and personality to their visual identity.
Logo mascots are making a comeback, especially in industries like food and beverage, where brands want to communicate a sense of craftsmanship and authenticity.
Image via Rugiya Babayeva on Behance
Often hand-drawn, these mascots build an emotional link with consumers that helps firms to be more accessible and relevant.
This trend surpasses handcrafted companies. Tech companies, too, are discovering the power of a hand-drawn mascot in humanising their brand.
These light-hearted, whimsical images give the brand more fun and appeal, which increases audience engagement on many different media.
The Rise of Animation and Interactive Elements
We will be watching the junction of animation with mixed media. Motion will bring hand-drawn graphics to life and provide branding and advertising with a dynamic dimension.
Especially on social media platforms, where movement may help brands stand out in a sea of static information, animated logos, mascots, and images provide a fresh approach to involve viewers.
In the digital environment, where interactivity and engagement are essential to grabbing attention, this trend towards animated hand-drawn features is especially relevant.
The combination of mixed media techniques with animation allows brands to create a more immersive experience for their audience, turning static designs into lively, interactive elements that invite participation.
At DiziShore, we are helping talented designers stand out with a plethora of design elements, including digital art and stock video. If you are a designer yourself, you can become a vendor and start selling your creative art.
