I recently read the article “The 12 Most Inspiring Graphic Design Trends of 2023” at 99designs.com, and decided I’d list and describe 3 of the trends I liked the most.
1. Folk Botanical
I’ve always enjoyed botanical designs and patterns on almost anything, I feel that it gives things a more lively and organic appearance. In more recent years these designs have gotten less refined and have started to look more scribbled and/or shaky, almost a hand-drawn look.
2. 90’s Space Psychedelia
This design style is all about combining the past with the future. Futuristic-type themes, such as spaceships, vaporware landscapes, and cyberpunk neon, mixed together with 90’s retro techniques like cartoon styles and Memphis Design patterns. It can often take inspiration from 60’s psychedelia, which is more focused on escapism and nature, considering the use of multicolored clouds and/or melting mushrooms and so on. The 90’s space psychedelia design style is striking, bold, and imaginative, and definitely a good inspiration for design.
3. Acid Graphics
Acid graphics caught my eye in this article, as well as occasionally in public like on clothing or album covers. This style is also sometimes referred to as Y2K grunge and incorporates chrome metallics, broken grids, and amorphous shapes in the designs. This style was born from the late 90’s gothic sub-culture. A lot of the designs I see in this style either look like melted metal and dark colors, or a distorted swirl. This style presents a darker side to design, using adjacent styles like anti-design and brutalism, and often is moody and incorporates computer glitches. I really enjoy this style on album covers and social media.