Luxury Features

The Future of Digital Design: Exploring 2023 Design Trends & AI's Impact on High-Volume Creativity

Digital design does more than just beautify. Design communicates, evokes emotions and action, and helps shape society through its own subtle power. We believe the evolution of digital design trends is proof of the world’s cultural changes.

‍“I think that design trends are a reflection of the times. In a way, they’re quite journalistic,” says Uni Lin, creative designer for View Imaging. It’s an apt observation: Society has held its fascination with techno-futurism and bright, kitschy concepts since the turn of the century. Then, just a decade later, minimalism and simplicity rose to prominence—a startling contrast to its predecessor. Today, we see a concerted effort to strike a balance between these seemingly polar concepts.

The design industry is proving to be more dynamic than ever, thanks to cultural shifts, constant technological advancements, and social narratives. Trends are becoming more and more eclectic, and it’s a reflection of a design culture that never stops evolving.

Design
Trends in
2023

In recent years, high-volume creative design has taken on a more active role in helping shape society’s values. For instance, there’s a growing emphasis on diversity, accessibility, and sustainability. Trends can even reflect collective sentiments, such as nostalgia (e.g., Y2K and retro) and the value of simplicity (e.g., minimalism).

“I believe all design disciplines are manifestations of the zeitgeist. That is why we see art movements and cultural shifts moving in tandem,” said Lin. “They are one and the same. Nothing is ever created in a vacuum.”

The sphere of design continues to grow and evolve at an unprecedented rate. Here are a few design trends—both new and reimagined—that are currently making waves.

Y2K Revival: Future Nostalgia

Psychedelic art has never gone out of style, but in 2023, there’s a heightened reemergence of the love for futurism and tech-savviness. The revival of Y2K (Year 2000) is a retro-futuristic art style that evokes the nostalgia of the early 2000s. The Y2K era was the prime age of modern technology, such as flip phones, early computers, and other cyber-inspired media.

A sense of enthusiasm and fascination about the future characterizes the trend. “Y2K—the supposed turn-of-the-century bug that would bring our infrastructure to a terrifying halt—had failed to materialize,” wrote journalist Leigh Alexander for The Guardian. “For a brief moment, there was nothing but glittering utopian futurism and faith in a new age of boundless possibility.”

©NewJeans Instagram A K-Pop group putting a fresh spin on the Y2K concept.

Ironically, our rekindled love of Y2K design trends, which celebrates excitement about the future, is born of our nostalgia for the past—we are sentimental creatures, after all.

“The pendulum always swings back, and we call it ‘trend cycles’ for a reason. People tend to have a penchant for nostalgia,” Lin explained. “There is the commonly cited 20-year rule, which estimates that pop culture trends tend to come and go every two decades.” However, she adds, this cycle has diminished with trends “entering and exiting quicker” due to the advent of social media.

©Rad Makeup by Abduzeedo

Sheer
Minimalism
and
Authenticity

The age-old saying goes: “Less is more.” Such is the appeal of minimalism to many, where the focus is on simplicity, functionality, and space rather than abundance and embellishment. Minimalism is relatively new on a global scale, but it’s become ubiquitous in everyday life—from the homes we choose to live in and the clothes we wear to the consumer products we deem worthy of our digital baskets.

©Nécessaire

Business of Fashion

As a design influence, minimalism aims to capture what’s necessary. German industrial designer Dieter Rams abides by this idea of clarity and simplicity: “Good design is as little design as possible. Less, but better. It concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials.”

For this reason, minimalist design is typically characterized by muted color palettes, clean lines, simpler typography, and the use of negative space–enhancing functionality and emphasizing only the most fundamental aspects of a brand campaign. It communicates authenticity through its stripped-down accessibility, making it ideal for various applications in graphic design, including brand motion.

As straightforward as it may seem, minimalism requires a great deal of design skill and intuitiveness. Done wrong, it can look plain and unengaging. Done right, it can elevate to new heights. Veering away from stylistic logos and shifting to sans serif fonts, big-name brands such as Balmain, Yves Saint Laurent, and Berluti are able to communicate subtle sophistication with a mere glance.

Of course, it is exactly this newfound omnipresence that threatens to cause design fatigue. To avoid this, designers try to offset subtlety with starker elements, such as radial gradients and geometric outlines.

Expressive Artistry and Daring Typography

On the other side of the spectrum lies the maximalist approach: visual overload, multiple layers, multifaceted textures, eye-catching fonts, and bold color palettes. Daring, expressive designs aim to leave a strong impact from the get-go. It’s the polar opposite of minimalism’s self-imposed restraint.

Surprisingly, expressive artistry and typography continue to evolve parallel to minimalism. As it turns out, even simplicity can be oversaturated. Thus, some designers have turned to less conventional, more exploratory creative pursuits.

This design trend is a spectacle of chaos, experimentation is key. “Maximalism in graphic design is immersive, culturally vibrant, and fantastical,” wrote designer Paul Twa.

He also asserts that, despite negative connotations of being showy or excessive, “ornamentation and visual density provide a place for delight.” The trick, it seems, is to find balance and convey the right message.

©Andreea Robescu “Women in Bloom,” 2022.

AI Design: Meet the Digital Renaissance

AI, or artificial intelligence, generally refers to “developing systems endowed with the intellectual processes characteristic of humans.” This includes logical reasoning, data processing, and general absorption of information. Many have begun relying on AI for various solutions, and the digital design industry is no different.

Technically speaking, AI designs are automated designs based on several factors, including learned artistic concepts, intuitive data, and target audiences. It takes little time and effort to generate so-called “AI art,” which can effectively address high-volume creative needs and produce engaging visual content, often as a fair approximation of what's expected from traditional art.

AI has also given rise to a brand-new genre, now dubbed “experimental escapism.” According to Lin, AI has opened the door to greater artistic possibilities, including advancements in art direction, animation, and visual communication. One could argue that it has contributed to a new kind of creative democracy too.

Smithsonian Magazine An AI art generator shows how Van Gogh could have possibly painted the Faroe Islands.

“The advance of AI technology has made putting ideas to paper—or screen, in this case—more accessible,” she said. “Previously, even if one could imagine something vividly, they might not have had the skills to make it tangible.”

AI also has practical advantages. It has been leveraged to solve business problems, including refreshing branding and streamlining for efficiency, such as e-commerce retouching. Lin cites the Italian food company, Nutella, as an example. In 2017, the hazelnut-spread brand used an algorithm to create individual designs for seven million jars. Each jar was unique, save for the Nutella logo. In Italy, they sold out within a month.

“This absolutely would not have been possible with human designers due to scale and cost. What it did take, however, was a very strong idea from a human mind, materialized with some assistance from technology,” said Lin.

But these creative breakthroughs also come with a swath of ethical dilemmas. Lin succinctly defines the nature of AI as “a mishmash of aggregated data that pulls from existing work created by real people.” Endless questions on the technology then plague the world of design: Is AI art stolen art? Could it ever replace raw, human talent?

‍These questions call for nuanced thinking and deeper conversations. For now, AI—like any shiny, new tool—should be used responsibly and consciously.

©Nutella An ambitious campaign featuring seven million unique jars.

©Lil Yachty “Let’s Start Here” AI-generated album cover, 2023

Visual identity plays a pivotal role in shaping the public consciousness, which is why brands and campaigns are mindful of the creative content they put out. Social narratives are at the forefront of their stories. Moreover, social media has facilitated heightened awareness of the world’s most pressing issues, from cultural sensitivity to climate change.

“As we hurtle further into climate collapse, there is a general air of concern for the planet’s future, urging brands to shift towards climate responsibility and sustainability. In parallel, designs have shifted to embracing rawness and imperfection,” Lin observed.

Art
Grounded in
Advocacy

What Does the Future of Design Look Like?

The world has seen its most rapid and profound changes in the last few decades, and nothing reflects these as vividly as design. The world witnessed the flourishing of techno-futurism in the early 2000s. It had seen the rise of minimalism in the 2010s as people came to crave restraint.

Now, people are trying to navigate life after the shared trauma of a global pandemic. There’s renewed vigor and more room for optimism in creative expressions. “As we emerge from the pandemic and international travel is possible again, I’m excited to see a more global perspective when it comes to design,” Lin said.

The design industry is a playground. There’s room for experimenting, expressing, and creating. At the same time, designers are taking on a more deliberate role in cultivating communities. Regardless of the trends that come and go, these recent years are shaping up to be the most exciting yet for creatives.

However, these endeavors don’t necessarily end in good design. Maintaining consistency, especially at a high volume, is another challenge in itself. Producing tons of collateral is no small feat—even with advanced tools like AI. At the end of the day, the process needs refining, accuracy, and customization to suit your creative needs.

This is where we come in: Our mission at View Imaging is to “Make More Beautiful” and to empower your brand and campaigns with elevated content at any scale. Talk to us about your artistic setbacks, visions, and everything in between—we’d be glad to bring our expertise to the table, specializing in digital design, high-volume creative, art direction, graphic design, copywriting, animation, brand motion, engaging video content, and e-commerce retouching.

Additionally, inclusive design—which aims to consider and feature a wider range of the human experience—is flourishing across all disciplines. It tries to “address accessibility, age, economic situation, geographic location, language, race, and more.” The goal, ultimately, is to emotionally connect with as many people as possible.

A lot of inspiration can be taken from the state of the world, and while design may not solve its problems, it can empower in monumental ways. Indeed, there’s a booming trend of nature-inspired motifs and color palettes, illustrations of diverse human experiences, and so much more. Art is a responsibility now more than ever.