Color Trends: Mint

With the arrival of spring (kinda), comes spring fashions and color. Very popular this season is MINT. It is everywhere. This color always makes me want to dive into a large bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream.

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Trending in Monotone

Recently I have noticed some work that is utilizing monotone. Whether it is to save money, simplify design, or in order to break through the distraction of the loud and colorful advertisements that are flooding our environment. Using 1 or 2 colors were mandatory for beudget contraints 30 years ago, and that is just not true any more. I find that one color creates its own challenges, but that it can create a striking contrast to the mutlitudes of color overwhelming the market today.

Designed by EightHourDay

My lunch from Chipotle

Jones Winter Jumble by SuperBigCreative

Duct Tape & Glitter by Luke Bott

 

By Tang Yau Hoong

Getting the Angle on New Trends

Faceted Designs. Okay, this trend has been around for awhile, but it is lingering and becoming as prevelent as the chevron that has been styling our shelves for a few years now. Facets can add the appearance of depth, even when there is none, as well as create a depth of character when used with the human figure. Facets also bring the idea of jewels and jewel tones to the surface. The vareity of angles also ad a dynamic quality to these designs.

Found Here

Found Here

Found Here

Found Here

Warm and Cyan, Muted Filters, and Nostalgia

Lingering like the smoke of hooka "hip" photography has been utilizing warm muted palettes. Photographers and photo editors are trying to hit us at our most basic human emotion "nostalgia" all the warm fuzzy feelings of the past are projected to current trends.  Partly due to hipster fashion stores such as Urban Outfitters, appealing to the techy 20-year-old take s a backward step in time. Photography, fashion, and electronics are going back cir. 1970s for a perceived counter-cultural  style. But it is these persons who are inspiring current design trends.

Photographers have responded to this audience by provide images that feel more like film photography. Colors of the 70s of golden hues, cyan, and burnt umber are prevalent, as well as the use of grunge textures to give the image a sense of age. Instagram thrives on a series of nostalgia filters and trying to counteract its digital nature with film-like qualities. Should this trend continue to linger or does it need an exhaust fan?

Marbled Makes a Come Back

Marble paper was popular in the 70s and 80s; it has come back style. From paintings to lamps to fabrics the marble texture is here, for now. In general I am not a fan of this look, but hand dyed marbled paper can easily take my breath away and becomes an art that stands on its own. I prefer it as art or on handcrafted books, but not as wallpaper, furniture, or other decor. The look becomes too overwhelming and still feels 80s rather than modern. The prints and textures in these papers are absolutely beautiful.

Design Trends: Glitter

Glitter, Glitter everywhere. 

I might have said 'tis the season, but this trend has been going on for months. It is not just graphic design that is getting the sparkle effect. This past Halloween do you remember all the glitter pumpkins and decor that were filling the shelves? Glitter is big with big clunky jewelry that women are accessorizing with. The sparkle is fun trend and easy to do. Add it to your designs and too your wardrobe and sparkle this holiday season!

 

Home Trends: Typography

Trends are trends for a reason: they com ean dgo, but I found one trend that I want to hold onto:

Typographic Decor

I love type, so I want to be surrounded by it in my home. I found some great decor inspiration, most of it outside of my price range. For some of these I think I could go to the old standby of DIY. I hope to come up with a project soon and send it your way. until then, please enjoy!

FREE Mustache Rides

Thanks to hipsters we have a plethora of mustache designs and merchandise available. I wanted to share some of my favorite:

• Mustache Cookies: from a local bakery Cheri's Bakery. Their sweets are stunning, as well as, delicious.

• Fake Mustaches: from my favorite store the Paper Source. Don't have a mustache? Now you can just stick one on. These are fun to mess around with our friends will funny staches to match your mood.

• MustacheMug.com this site is dedicated entirely to various mugs that use different mustaches to decorate these simple mugs.

• Sweet 'Stache: a book showing you different staches distinguish the face.

• Candy Molds that resemble the well-liked bushy mustache style.

• The Classic Disguise will give you the perfect disguise for a dark room.

• Master of Disguise: a branding redesign in 2007. 

From Cheri's Bakery

 Have you you seen any ridiculous mustache memorabilia? Please share your favorite. Perhaps I should buy some of this gear for myself to show future generations what we had to give.

TRENDS cont...

Another trend that keeps popping up is rounded corners. This can probably be attributed to modern computer programs that make this as simple and creating any other basic shape, such as a rectangle. Also with html working its way into the market. It is not accepted in all browsers, but once it does it will be much easier to have rounded corners on the web. We won't have to mess with as much cds to get the same, or better results.

Perhaps this trend has several initation points, as well as inspiration points. An increased use of social media is being used by corporations to help them connect with their clients. Maybe this appeal to be more personal and friendly has inspired designers to incorporate curves into their designs to make shapes seem softer, therefore, more friendly. With the ease of rounded, and its slight addition to detail. I think this is a trend that is not going anywhere soon.

Of course there are those who work against popular just because they fads. Such as the designers working with very clean and sharp, boxy designs, but that is a blog for another day.

TRENDS

As we all know fads come and go; and can be defining styles of a generation. I don't have a crystal ball, so I don’t what the world will look like ten years from now. A growing trend currently popping up everywhere is all uppercase. A few years back I remember everyone doing all lowercase, so perhaps this movement is just a rejection of what has come before. These all uppercase designs tend to use condensed typeface and slender letterforms.

Falling into a trend isn't an evil, but may came back later to haunt our memories when years from now we look back at our design annuals. Trends tend to seep in to our work whether we want to or not. Trends can become appealing to our minds and we begin to use it in our work. And it is okay to let an elegant urgency enter our work in ALL CAPS.

Wichita "Home of the Grunge"

In school design was supposed to be clean and gridded. Here in Wichita designers and clients seem to lean toward texture and grunge type. Maybe its the "western" history of the midwest that makes this market want to feel grungy and dusty. Or maybe its that we want the texture to add further depth and natural elements to our advertisements and logos. Or is just the fad that was late to hit us and will eventually fade. It can be fun and fitting for the right client and audience, but it can't just be about local tastes it needs to be more useful than that.