Grace Fussell
• 14 min read
Graphic Design Theory Design Trends
Stay ahead of the design curve with this guide to 2024 graphic design trends, from the impact of AI on the graphic design industry to a revival of classically elegant style in line with fashion’s penchant for quiet luxury.
Don’t miss this ultimate guide to logo design trends and graphic design trends in 2024, backed up by analysis of larger macro-trends across design, technology, pop culture, and society.
Once you’ve brushed up on the latest graphic design trends, you’ll be ready to put these fresh styles into action. Discover a huge range of cutting-edge fonts, premium templates, and trending digital assets on Envato Elements.
Jump to content in this section:
- What Were the Graphic Design Trends in 2023?
- What Are the Graphic Design Trends in 2024?
- AI Impact
- Age of Elegance
- Alternative Eco
- Designing for Modern Tribes
- Look East
- Ultra HD Photography
- Clean Luxury
- Art Nouveau
- Conclusion: Graphic Design Trends 2024
What Were the Graphic Design Trends in 2023?
In 2023, graphic design trends were hugely influenced by the growing conversation around the Metaverse, VR, and Augmented Reality. As brands rushed to participate in the digital dialogue surrounding whether or not we’d all be wearing headsets by the end of the year, designers looked to dark mode websites, glitch effects, and neon typography to bring a metaverse feel to websites and online campaigns.
- What Are the Graphic Design Trends for 2023?Grace Fussell29 Aug 2023
- What Fonts Are Trending Now and Font Trends for 2023Grace Fussell09 Jan 2024
Logo design trends in 2023 focussed on ideographic, symbol-based designs, moving away from the type logo styles that have dominated branding over the last decade. We also went wild for pink, thanks to Barbiecore and the revival of Y2K, and created mould-breaking identities for the emerging wave of commercial cannabis brands.
What Are the Graphic Design Trends in 2024?
We need to take a deeper dive into larger cultural trends to forecast the design trends for 2024. There have been seismic shifts in the graphic design industry over 2023, relating to the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into leading design software, which is no doubt going to have a huge impact—for better or worse—in the year and no doubt decades to come.
Alongside AI’s influence on design trends in 2024, other social trends are expected to shape the way that brands and designers engage with audiences. As social media allows users to build their own communities based on shared values and interests, so designers will need to create more targeted and tailored content to resonate with these modern tribes. We’ll also see more brands looking to commission creative content themed on the climate adaptation market, making Alternative Eco an anticipated design trend in 2024.
In more aesthetic territory, we can look forward to some exciting stylistic design trends in 2024, including ultra high-definition photography, elegant design that echoes the quiet luxury trend in fashion, and continued interest in Japanese and South Korean design.
What are the 2024 graphic design trends? Gazing into our graphic design crystal ball, we have identified eight significant graphic design trends likely to make an impact in the year ahead, all of which will be seen in action across graphics, illustration, web design, and branding:
- AI Impact
- Age of Elegance
- Alternative Eco
- Designing for Modern Tribes
- Look East
- Ultra HD Photography
- Clean Luxury
- Art Nouveau
Read on to find out more about each graphic design trend in detail, along with tips and templates to help you put these fresh styles into action.
1. AI Impact
Perhaps there has been no greater seismic shift in the graphic design industry since the invention of the computer than the integration of AI technology into the design process. Frequently lamented by designers, artificial intelligence no doubt threatens the existence of creative industries as we know them (if not humanity as a whole).
In any case, it seems AI is here to stay, with many mainstream design apps now integrating the technology into their software to improve the user experience... or curtail human creativity. The debate continues.
In 2024, AI will be the biggest technological development in graphic design, allowing designers to generate imagery and change color schemes with a few typed prompts. Successful use of AI in graphic design will be dependent on the skill of the designer in prompting the right requests—it’s far too easy to generate unusable images without knowing what to ask for. We can also expect the quality of AI-generated content to improve over the course of 2024 and beyond, as the technology continues to ‘learn’ and designers become better at navigating the software.
One of the design trends we’re starting to see emerge out of AI technology is the hybridization of designs, in other words imagery that blends original human-created artwork with AI-generated content. We can also expect to see more designers attempting to imitate the surrealist style of AI imagery to create campaigns that resonate with digital-savvy audiences.
Click through the gallery below to see examples of AI-inspired 2024 design trends:
- Can AI Work for Designers? OrShould We Fear It?Abbey Esparza03 Aug 2023
- 36 Cool AI Generated Product MockupsNona Blackman21 Jul 2023
2. Age of Elegance
In our 2024 font trend report, we have noted the emerging elegant mood in typography for 2024. Delicate cursive fonts, wispy scripts, and stylishly condensed serif typefaces make a nod to vintage eras and feel effortlessly luxurious. In graphic design more broadly, 2024 is set to be an Age of Elegance across the board, tapping into the quiet luxury trend that has been making (stealthily expensive) waves in fashion.
As social media influencers look to curate an aspirational aesthetic on Instagram and TikTok, so social media templates, fonts, and photography will acquire a subtly elegant style. To picture the mood, think luxury travel, eye-wateringly expensive yet logoless bags, and exclusive yoga retreats. Recreate a White Lotus aesthetic in your designs with delicate serif fonts, a neutral color palette, and soft-focus, dreamlike photography.
Your brands will be ‘Instafamous’ in no time.
Click through the gallery below to see more examples of elegant 2024 graphic design trends:
- 43 Most Elegant Luxury Fonts (Stylish Classy Fonts to Download)Laura Keung23 Nov 2023
3. Alternative Eco
By now, we're all grimly aware of the impact of climate change on the environment and the devastating effects that warmer temperatures are bringing to many parts of the world. Increasingly, brands are required to prove their sustainability credentials and other climate-positive actions to continue operating and connecting with activist-aware customers.
As a result, the climate adaptation market is growing, and graphic designers and marketers are at the forefront of communicating climate credentials to audiences. The Alternative Eco graphic design trend in 2024 is about how designers can creatively communicate climate themes while avoiding greenwashing, among other traditional eco-design tropes.
Take a punk attitude with confrontational photography, use line illustration to stylishly detail website backgrounds, or take a brave step away from an all-green palette, trying neon colorways instead. This graphic design trend aims to take an out-of-the-box approach to environmental designs, applying ideas from different industries and different brand strategies. The aim? To ensure your eco-themed campaigns stand out in a sea of green.
Click through the gallery below to see more examples of Alternative Eco graphic design trends in 2024:
- 44 Best Eco Mockups (Cloth Bag Mockups to Paper Packaging Mockups)Nona Blackman26 Jan 2022
- How to Create a Climate Change Infographic in Adobe InDesignGrace Fussell22 Mar 2019
4. Designing for Modern Tribes
The meaning of ‘community’ is drastically changing thanks to the internet. Individuals can now find their ‘modern tribes’ on social media platforms, forging connections based on shared interests and values, rather than geography.
What does this mean for graphic design in 2024? While brands traditionally targeted campaigns at demographics, we're starting to see a move towards a post-demographic world—when a Gen Z 20-something and 30-something Millennial are both heavily invested in a shared enthusiasm, campaigns will need to be tailored specifically for this ‘modern tribe’, rather than targeting age, gender, or location.
Designers will need to start thinking about how to present campaigns that transcend these traditional demographics—avoiding cliched representations of age groups such as teenagers and the now-disappearing middle age—and create designs that tap into the emotional and hobbyist interests of these online groups. In 2024, we’re likely to see more brands requesting designs that are themed on astrology, slow living, or wellness that are age-inclusive and feel just as relevant to older audiences as young ones.
A good first step is avoiding design approaches that have been traditionally linked with particular demographics—think Millennial Pink, stereotyped ways of presenting older individuals in photography, or Y2K aesthetics for Gen Z consumers. The graphic design trends for 2024 point towards a more inclusive and intelligent design outlook, looking to unexpected styles, colors, and aesthetics to create designs with universal appeal.
Click through the gallery below to see examples of these diverse 2024 design trends:
- 20 Best Instagram Post Templates Using an Instagram Post CreatorNona Blackman07 Feb 2023
- How to Use Instagram TemplatesAbbey Esparza29 Mar 2021
5. Look East
This 2024 graphic design trend builds on the Japandi design trend from recent years and makes a nod to the ‘K-Wave’ (the phenomenon of South Korean culture exploding in popularity in the West—Think K-Pop and K-Drama). Japan and South Korea have already conquered the entertainment world, with graphic design set to swiftly follow suit.
Japanese minimalism is notable for its gently calligraphic serif (Mincho) fonts, calming color palettes, and serene styling, while K-Wave design picks up on the bouncy retro aesthetic that can be seen across coffee shop branding in Seoul.
In your own projects, make a nod to this graphic design trend with minimal layouts, 3D anime characters, and pops of bright color. For cool and serene designs, lean towards Japanese minimalism, or embrace quirky kook with a South Korean aesthetic.
Click through the gallery below to see more examples of Asian-inspired 2024 design trends:
- Art for All: Celebrate Diversity in Design—Volume 4Melody Nieves08 Dec 2017
- Inspiration: We Love Japan! Japanese Themed IllustrationNona Blackman02 May 2022
6. Ultra HD Photography
High-definition photography and video are nothing new, but this 2024 graphic design trend makes a stylish statement by exaggerating the HD look of photography even more. Partly inspired by developments in gaming and AI, as well as a reaction to the blurred and overly filtered images we’re used to seeing on social media, ultra high-definition photography looks to reveal not conceal, making subjects really burst from the layout.
Ultra high-definition imagery has a 3D, almost wet look that highlights skin, facial details, and ‘flaws’ to the maximum level, creating an eye-popping result.
This is a confrontational, attention-grabbing image trend that has the most impact at large scale—try using these high-definition portraits on website landing pages, large-scale poster campaigns, or magazine covers.
Click through the gallery below to see more cool examples of these design trends for 2024:
- 20 Top Adobe Photoshop Actions for Photography on Envato ElementsEnvato Elements21 Aug 2023
- 20 Best Photoshop Actions With Cool Art Effects for PortraitsMarie Gardiner17 Apr 2022
7. Clean Luxury
One for the committed minimalists is the Clean Luxury 2024 graphic design trend, which swaps traditionally favored serif typefaces for sans serif fonts, teaming them with rich, jewel colors and plenty of luxurious texture across packaging designs and brand identities. This is the graphic design equivalent of quiet or stealth luxury, which has taken the fashion world by storm. Nothing flashy or obvious, but with quietly considered details that bring an ultra-affluent mood to designs.
Even though Clean Luxury is about bringing an overall clean and simple style to projects, the devil is in the detail with this 2024 design trend. The luxury element is emphasized with tactile paper stock, metallic accents, and carefully considered ornate elements, such as background patterns or stamp details.
Beautifully proportioned sans serif fonts are your entryway to the Clean Luxury trend, and the design style is most effective on print designs that integrate texture and materiality into the design, such as labels, packaging, book covers, or stationery.
Click through the gallery below to see more examples of luxurious design trends for 2024:
- The Beginner’s Guide to Hot Foil StampingGrace Fussell08 Oct 2021
- How to Design a Wine Bottle LabelLaura Keung01 Jul 2022
8. Art Nouveau
A 2024 packaging design trend to make a note of is the revival of an Art Nouveau aesthetic, which brings a modern touch to the ornamental art style popular in Europe during the early 20th century. As designers strive to make products feel more luxurious in 2024, Art Nouveau is a natural style to emulate, as the ornate detailing, organic shapes, and connections with a bygone age of European cafe culture help to make Nouveau-styled packaging feel instantly aspirational and elegant.
In 2024, we’ll see packaging designers explore the potential of Art Nouveau as a contemporary design style, looking to modernise this vintage aesthetic with unexpected elements, such as dark designs, metallic foiling, and gradient colors.
To nail the trend in your own design projects, begin with a bundle of Art Nouveau vector elements to give your labels and layouts a suitably ornate border, before bringing in modern Nouveau fonts for a finishing touch.
Click through the gallery below to see more beautiful examples of Art Nouveau 2024 design trends:
- What Is Art Nouveau?Grace Fussell25 Apr 2023
- Why Art Nouveau Will Always Be on TrendLaura Keung21 Sep 2023
Conclusion: Graphic Design Trends 2024
In 2023, we painted the town pink to channel a Barbiecore aesthetic, and envisioned the future of the Metaverse with glitch effects, neon type, and dark mode website designs.
Looking ahead to 2024, we can expect a much more elegant mood, in line with the quiet luxury trend gaining traction in fashion and a general desire for brands to create products and campaigns that feel more aspirational and luxurious. Art Nouveau, delicate typefaces, and clean yet luxurious packaging design signal a move towards subtle, ‘stealth wealth’ design.
At the other end of the scale, AI threatens to throw out the graphic design rulebook, with more mainstream design apps integrating the technology into their image-generating software. What does this mean for graphic design in 2024? The jury is out as to whether AI will help or hinder designers and brands in creating content that resonates with audiences. As consumers become increasingly habituated to viewing artificial, AI-generated, or downright fake imagery online, the line between AI and human-created design is likely to blur. In other words, we may find that consumers soon become more responsive to brands which use AI-generated imagery than brands which don’t. A frightening thought? Let’s set it aside for now.
While we wait for the robot armageddon, there are plenty of 2024 design trends to keep us creatively sustained. From the impact of South Korea and Japan on Western design tastes to ultra HD photography styles that will make your website designs jump from the screen, there are so many juicy trends to get your teeth into in the months ahead.
Ready to put the 2024 design trends into action? Discover cutting-edge fonts, graphics, and elements on Envato Elements to make a strong start in your projects, or scroll down to find more tips and tutorials to make 2024 your most creative year yet.
- 20+ Must-Have Retro Condensed Fonts (Trend for2024!)Nona Blackman16 Jan 2024
- How to Create a Luxurious Text Effect in Adobe PhotoshopJonathan Lam27 Feb 2023
- 20 Best Art Nouveau Fonts (Stylish Fonts to Download)Nona Blackman23 Jan 2023
- Packaging Design for Beginners: How to Create a Simple BoxGrace Fussell23 Feb 2023
- 35 Magazine Templates With Creative Print Layout DesignsMarc Schenker24 Feb 2023
- What Is Adobe Firefly?Ashlee Harrell18 Sep 2023
- AI Sucks With Text. What Can Adobe Firefly Do to Change That?Ashlee Harrell10 Aug 2023
- 10 Tips for Designing High-Impact MagazinesGrace Fussell11 Sep 2023
Grace Fussell
Graphic Designer & Design Journalist
Grace is a graphic designer and design writer, and heads up creative agency Blue Whippet Studio, based in Manchester, UK. A self-confessed 'print geek', Grace loves to share her experiences of graphic design with others and has written about creative trends and design history for a wide range of publications and blogs, including Adobe, Shutterstock, Envato and InDesign Magazine.Grace studied social anthropology and the anthropology of design at Cambridge University and UCL, before working in marketing and graphic design roles in agencies and in-house. Today she balances running Blue Whippet alongside top-ranking design blog InDesignSkills.com.Visit bluewhippetstudio.com and indesignskills.com.
