Apprentice voice: Digital design trends 2023
Hear from our design apprentice, Mark Sotto, on digital marketing design in the new year.
Motion graphics are telling more engaging stories
Following the rise of short video content marketing on platforms like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, motion graphics are finding their foothold. There’s no shortage of content on the platforms, so highly engaging formats are always a hot topic.
As a design apprentice, I’ve learned to create both static and animated graphics in different styles for several different clients. Motion graphics (like this one) will be a driving force throughout 2023 because they tell a story, and take users on a journey.
Static design works well for content that contains a short, direct message - like a store opening or a shopping discount code. However, longer, more complex messages make it difficult to retain eyes for longer than eight seconds. So, viewers lose interest and disregard any CTAs – making posts far less affective.
Motion graphics do the work for the viewer. They tell a story from start to end while conveying a message – no matter how simple or complex it is. This makes information more digestible and visually appealing, increasing the likelihood of greater engagement.
3D assets are pushing boundaries
Digital designers are pushing their creativity to new heights using 3D elements – something we’ll see more of in 2023.
When you think of brands like Duracell, Michelin, Coco Pops and Frosties what comes to mind? The brand mascots.
By upping the use of 3D elements, audiences can recognise brands without even seeing their logo. Like brand mascots, this technique pushes awareness beyond the digital screens and into real-life applications like billboards, murals, and packaging.
Creative 3D elements (like this one) show the importance of creating content that people actually want to reshare. We’re currently in a marketing golden age where all it takes is one moment of virality to turn content into a digital artifact and further reach across the globe. And for this reason, I see eye-catching 3D design as a huge trend digital marketers should track throughout 2023.
AI-generated art is on the rise
AI-generated art is bound for a big break this year. In the past few years, artificial intelligence has developed rapidly. More recently, it has been used to create art from users’ natural language descriptions on sites like DALLE 2. It has gained popularity due to its accuracy and the creativity of the final pieces of artwork. AI can create artwork in minutes that may usually take designers hours, if not days to make. This speed makes it a very time-efficient technique for fast-paced industries like digital marketing.
However, AI art has raised alarms in terms of copyright and intellectual property. It’s essentially creating imagery based on existing artwork on the web, which may cause serious problems for companies and agencies sharing this work publicly without crediting or even knowing who the original creator is. To combat this, companies like Shutterstock and OpenAI have partnered up to release their own graphic app and software that allows users to create art with technology that responds to text-based prompts reflecting the description. It then uses Shutterstock’s image library to source imagery for these creations. Shutterstock has indicated that one of their aims is to compensate original contributors for the sales AI content has made.
In a digital generation, I believe that AI art allows the designers and artists to use new age tools to their advantage - just like every other revolutionary step of technology. Some may argue that there’s a lack of creativity in AI Art – but I see it as a beacon of inspiration. It gives designers and artists fun, new and innovative ideas to push the boundaries of curiosity in a thrilling and futuristic way.