Design is inseparable from marketing, and the emergence and now widespread usage of visual platforms such as Instagram makes it truer than ever. As companies move online and pay increasingly more attention to the digital world, many businesses and professionals are beginning to understand the importance of this connection. It’s crucial to include this mentality in your employee onboarding process as well, so that everyone knows their ultimate goal. Therefore in this article, we dive deep into the impact of design on marketing. We also take a look at some of the marketing design trends you can implement in 2021 to elevate your marketing efforts.
Why Is Design Essential For Successful Marketing?
The role of design in marketing is not limited to the logo and the font. While it’s key for a successful design to look appealing, it plays a much bigger function than that. And unless your marketing efforts are limited to marketing strategies that don’t rely on design much, such as SMS marketing and messenger marketing, you need to be aware of those functions.
Helps Your Brand Stand Out
At the age of overabundance of information, your brand needs all the tools it can use to stand out. The number of ads and promotional content people see daily is increasingly growing. In this situation, when people spend less time looking at each post, a thoughtfully crafted design that matches your brand guide can differentiate your campaign even if the customer only glances at the visual. It can also show that you are putting effort into your brand marketing, as the low-quality design is easy to recognize. Whether you have an in-house design team or are using online design tools, have a set of pre-designed social media, mockups, or flyer templates you can use in any given situation to never compromise on your design quality.
Helps You Build Your Unique Identity
Your design helps the brand to build a unique identity and connects it with the audience. It accurately portrays who you are, what your brand is about, and what it stands for. Think of design as the personality of your band: just like your character traits make you unique, your design differentiates your brand from others.
Conveys A Message Better
The phrase “A picture is worth a thousand words” didn’t just come to be. A well-thought-out can do your message the justice it deserves by communicating it to the audience in a form of a clean, simple, yet eye-catchy design that hits home. Especially if your company is in industries that require a little more creativity like fashion, food business, toys, and more.
Graphic Design Trends in Marketing 2021
As you are now, hopefully, well aware of the impact of design on digital marketing, let’s look at some of the design trends that dominate the digital world in 2021.
Color Blocking
Looking to grow your brand online? In-feed color blocking on Instagram is one of the trends you should go with. This trend has been around during the past couple of years and is not going anywhere in the near future. It looks your account looks more professional and put through, showing your followers that you put time and effort into your Instagram feed aesthetics. Not to mention that a harmonious feed is much more pleasing to watch, and doesn’t tire the viewers quickly. You can achieve color blocking by going with tones that look balanced together or go with one or several dominant colors.
A great example of color blocking in action is the fragrance brand Jo Malone London. The dominant color of the feed changes every 9-12 posts. However, this change is gradual, and the transition is so smooth it’s easy to miss where exactly it happened.
Shapes, Shapes, Shapes
Another trend that has emerged recently and has been in the tall saddle in 2021 is the use of shapes in design. Geometric shapes, such as squares, rectangles, or circles each have a different meaning and role in the design, while abstract shapes leave more space for creativity and can be interpreted differently by the audience. From restaurant business to Bitcoin trading, shapes will help engage your audience more and in an effective way. No matter the shape type, one thing is certain: they add depth and character to the design.
Graphics maker Visme is embracing this trend and uses the power of both geometric and abstract shapes to tell about its product. If you think of implementing shapes to your design as well, you can experiment with tools such as random shape generator to understand which type of shapes you prefer and what speaks to your brand voice more.
Information-Rich Designs
Social media is no longer only about promoting your product. As people are consuming more and more digital content, they are looking for valuable educational content. And brands have been tapping into this trend, as they’ve realized that it’s a wonderful way to tell about the brand and educate the audience about the industry at the same time through in-app content. Therefore, carousel posts, information-rich designs, and long captions have been on the rise in 2021, and online course provider Udemy was one of the many brands that jumped on the train.
Mood-Boosting Colors And Gradients
Another trend that you should be keeping an eye on is colors and gradients. As the world was going through major changes during the past year, vibrant colors and mood-boosting gradients made a comeback. These two, paired with bold fonts and grainy texture make for eye-catching visuals with some retro vibe that are becoming loved by many brands since they also help boost your sales. An example of such brand is the Girlboss media.
Maximalist Typography
The last trend to make our list is typography. In 2021, simply using nice fonts to write text over your image simply won’t cut it. Typography has long proven that it’s a key element in design that deserves its own spotlight. This year, when adding text to your design materials, try to be bold, witty, and playful. Balance the style and strength with readability to make sure your message stands out but is also comprehensible. Canva is a great example of how the right typography can add flair and character to your design, and make it so much more interesting.
Key Takeaways
As a marketing specialist or a business owner, you should know about the importance of design for your marketing. Don’t underestimate what a beautifully crafted presentation or a banner can do for your brand. Keep an eye out for the developments and trends of the digital world, and use them to your brand’s advantage and to boost your sales in the long-term. However, make sure to always tie them to your brand style and message. Otherwise, you’ll lose your identity trying to chase a trend.
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