How 2021 Shaped The Design Industry

New year, new me. 

This motto gets thrown around every year, and understandably so. After all, the prospect of a new year is exciting – it’s a time for us to reset, start anew, and shed away yesterday for a clean state. While we usher in the new year with renewed vigour, it’s also another chance for us to strive for progress by reflecting on our past to build a new, but better version of ourselves.  

The choices we’ve made will set the tone for years to come, and this is especially true in the design scene. As we look to the trends of 2022, let’s take a step back and review some notable design projects of the past year, and the lessons we can carry forward into our next creative projects.

Seek authenticity, not originality

[Image credit: Dezeen

When Burger King rolled out their first major rebrand in 20 years, they rediscovered their roots by centring the new visual identity on a previous iteration of their logo first launched in 1969. The revamp took us on a trip down memory lane, leaning heavily on nostalgia with its retro 70s aesthetic. 

The new identity evokes a sense of fun while referencing Burger King’s heritage. By finding the perfect balance between the new and the old, the fast food company struck gold — the updated identity was still familiar to their current market, but different enough for new and prospective customers to resonate with. More importantly, it signals a new way of creative thinking. 

As creatives, we’re always on the lookout for the next groundbreaking, never-seen-before idea, because we place too much value on originality. Hear me out: originality is overrated. Becoming fixated on being special can impede our attempts at building an authentic brand experience – and this can be detrimental to any branding initiatives. 

Burger King’s decision to embrace their heritage allowed the business to go back to its roots, resulting in an instantly authentic connection with their audience that is far more moving.

Read the room

[Image credit: Bloomberg]

The CIA’s graphical rebrand kickstarted the year  with a contentious design choice that matches either the aesthetic of an electronic music culture, or a streetwear brand (maybe both). In hindsight, the visual identity with its trendy use of fractal lines and a surprisingly solid typeface demonstrated a genuine effort in staying relevant to a younger, modern pool of recruits. Alas, it was a huge missed opportunity – a sentiment shared by many. 

Despite its effort, this was a rebranding effort that missed the mark for trying too hard and straying from its design objectives. For an authoritative organisation, the identity showed a disjointed connection with its younger audience – attempts at referencing ‘cool’ design tropes didn’t quite land, and to the public, the CIA was not accurately presented as a government institution. 

Perhaps if they had been more in-tune with their history, or channelled their pop culture references into a grounded creative direction without relying heavily on a graphical approach, the rebrand wouldn’t have felt as out of touch. 

Design is responsible for inclusivity

Image credit: UnderConsideration]

There is value in design beyond the aesthetic, and it is our responsibility as designers to ensure our work is accessible to everyone regardless of age, race, disability or other factors. Originally founded in the late 1800’s, Aunt Jemima rebranded to Pearl Milling Company in February 2021. Amidst racial protests and calls to address harmful stereotypes, the PepsiCo-owned brand not only retired its name, but also removed the face of a Black woman on the packaging in an attempt to break away from negative connotations. While the rebranding could’ve also paid attention to the packaging and identity design, this is still a step in the right direction to evolve the brand past its problematic history.

A thoughtful and ethical design culture driven by diverse perspectives ensures a positive and immersive experience for everyone. A great way to start is to consider all forms of human diversity early in the creative process. Reframe accessibility as personalisation, and ensure representation, to set your brand up for success.

As we move into 2022 and beyond, let these notable projects serve as a reminder for us to take every brief as an opportunity to make a change, so that this year will be one full of growth, lessons and challenges that will help us thrive.

Need design guidance? You’ve come to the right place: hello@mutant.com.sg

We’re Feeling 2022: A Mutant Take on the Hottest Design Trends for the Year

It’s that time of year again where design trend forecasts flood the Internet. 

Although design trends shouldn’t be the primary driver of brand identity and logo designs, they play a huge role when ideating short-term campaigns and staying relevant on social media. 

At Mutant, we stay abreast with the latest trends to help our clients achieve their communications goals. Here are the five graphic design trends we’re most excited about in 2022: 

Early 2000s Aesthetics: Nostalgia Still Sells

You may have noticed the resurgence of 90s visual cues over the past 2 years. Netflix’s Billion-Dollar Code is almost like a love letter to the 90s, and many brands that made it big in that era have proudly gone back to their roots through limited edition packaging and retro campaigns in the last year. With that said, we believe that the 90s aesthetics have reached a peak in 2021 and we’ll see more early 2000s aesthetics in 2022.

COVID-19 pandemic had an effect on the kind of visuals we’re seeing because it has an effect on the kind of visuals we desire to see. Texture became a big theme in graphic design as an overcorrection to the flat design trend back from 2018/2019.

In a world where glossy screens are dominating our attention, we crave the days of creased magazine pages and grainy photographs and those are exactly the things we saw in 2020 and 2021.

Texture isn’t going anywhere, but how it’s applied will. Gooey blobs (remember gel packaging?) and iridescent colours are already making appearances sporadically; look out for hints of the Nickelodeon green goo, Rugrats, Disney Channel, trading cards and MTV aesthetics!

The Bold and The Weird: Bright & Unorthodox Colour Schemes

This trend ties into the previous one. If you thought the use of colours in the 90s were weird, Y2K took colours even further. The early 2000s were marked by the iconic iPod ads and halftone-heavy textures inspired by magazines and comic books. 

The decade was also filled with uncomfortable colour combinations that somehow worked – think combos like purple and yellow, green and orange, and white and light blue. B2C brands will openly embrace this trend within the confines of their existing brand colour schemes, and it will be a pleasant surprise to see B2B brands follow suit.

Into The Metaverse: Giving Virtual Campaigns Another Try

Hashtags for “meta” and “metaverse” have been trending ever since Mark Zuckerberg announced his ambitious vision to make the “metaverse” a thing, so don’t be surprised to see more visuals inspired by this idea. Keep an eye out for advertisements and social media campaigns featuring “build your own avatar” ideas, 3D virtual environments replacing photography, or even potentially interacting with real-life photography. 

Because of this, we expect a revival of AR in brand activations. Some of the more daring brands might even toy with launching events within developing metaverses. Perhaps it’s time to give Second Life a second chance after work?

Serving Strange Looks: Type Distortion

Wavy serifs, sunburst ultra-bold san serifs, trailing, disintegrating italics — distorted typography became popular at the end of 2020 during the height of the anti-design trend (looking at you, Spotify). 

A word of caution: although type distortion can look great, graphic designers are generally trained to avoid distorting typefaces for the sake of legibility. But no matter how you may feel about it, expect to see more of this trend play out in 2022!

Making Moves: More Kinetic Logos

Motion design isn’t going anywhere. Social media is increasingly video-centred, as proven by Instagram’s shift from a photo-sharing app to an entertainment and video platform as TikTok continues its reign among Gen Zs. This means that the only way for brands to retain attention is to make anything that matters move. We have seen a gradual increase in animated logos since as early as 2018, and this trend is only going to continue in 2022 and beyond. 

Perhaps it’s time to consider animating your current logo for splash screens, website navigation bar, and apps in your next rebranding exercise as animated logos can turn your brand identity into an organic system, just like Fisher-Price’s kinetic logo as shown here.

As a closing thought, it’s important to remember that trends are often precursors to changes in consumer behaviour. They serve as a good guide, but don’t feel pressured to follow every trend predicted on this list nor anywhere else! 

The key to staying relevant is to evaluate these consumer behaviour changes and create an on-brand strategy for your target audience. Doing this not only addresses your customers’ needs, but increasingly solves their problems in creative ways. Now that’s a defining quality of trendsetters.

Want to be on-brand and in trend? Reach out for your branding and design needs at hello@mutant.com.sg