2022 is already breaking all the rules for graphic design.
The graphic design trends of 2022 are a ramshackle collection of styles when you look at them all in one place. Everything is permitted and it’s going to be glorious. If we can summarize the Graphic Design Trends 2022 in one sentence, it’s time to raise the game because the floodgates are open, bringing a mix of the unmixable, nostalgia, movement, and open-mindedness.
2022 will be the year of:
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90s nostalgia
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Expressive and experimental lettering
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Ukiyo-e flat design
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Daydream doodles
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Anti-design
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Escapism
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Y2K
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Parametric patterns
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Frasurbane
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Intricate maximalism
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Extreme bubble design
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Grunge revival
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2D/3D Mashup
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Fonts with a twist
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Glass & Crystals
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Candy Colours
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Riso print style
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Art Deco
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Paper cutout
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3D Characters
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Holographic Design
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Psychedelic
1. 90s nostalgia
It seems not that long ago that popular media like Stranger Things and It brought 80s nostalgia back into the mainstream, ushering in an era of gothic serifs, neon colours and vaporwave landscapes. In 2022, the retro comeback has finally landed on the 90s (having also recently been romanticized in Netflix’s Fear Street).
As we’ll see in many of the trends on this list, the 90s are coming back in a variety of incarnations. But this particular trend hinges on nostalgia—that longing, idealized gaze backwards. To this end, we are reexperiencing the 90s through Memphis design patterns, simple emojis and primitive internet frames. Fond childhood memories reign supreme through bright colour blocks and dripping slime. Whenever your design project calls for a sense of comfort with a touch of old-school cool, turn the clock back to the 90s.
By PANG3STU
By Jordan Jacob
– Joanna Alves, Creative Manager, Product Creation and Experience at Vista
2. Expressive and experimental lettering
As the world becomes more global and online, we can’t always rely on words to convey meaning from culture to culture. Far from being a setback, many designers see this as an opportunity. For 2022, we expect lettering that pushes the bounds of easy legibility, creating forms that are expressive in and of themselves.
![Colorful typography logo design of abstract letters]](https://i0.wp.com/99designs-blog.imgix.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/attachment_123620508.png?w=1080&ssl=1)
By erraticus
By KisaDesign
By Molecula
Because this trend is rooted in experimentation and personal expression, the sky is the limit as far as how it can look. Mismatched letter styles, mind-bending shapes and amorphous blobs are all on the table. All in all, these lettering styles challenge the distinction between abstract shapes and readable letter. This can be a risky trend—hard to pull off for audiences that are less interested in artsy experimentation. But it rewards those brave enough with freedom: unshackling meaning from any specific language.
By AysegulDere
By A&V
– adamk., Designer at 99designs by Vista
– Tang Shi Yang, Designer at 99designs by Vista
3. Ukiyo-e flat design
For years now, designers have been searching for ways to reinvigorate the flat vector artwork imposed by digital design standards. The designers of 2022 are taking their inspiration from past pioneers of flat design, specifically the Ukiyo-e artists of Japan’s Edo Period.
By ●GG●
Ukiyo-e is a style of printed artwork (though it was sometimes painted) using hand-carved woodblocks. One of the most famous artworks of the style is The Great Wave off Kanagawa. It often featured bold outlines, flat colors and limited perspective techniques—all of which are familiar to the vector designers.
Over a period of 300 years, Ukiyo-e artists rendered everything from landscapes to local celebrities to mythic scenes in stylized flatness. Though they mostly depicted everyday scenes that would resonate with its principle consumers—the merchant class—facial expressions and human poses were often exaggerated with a touch of fluidity. These days, creatives are utilizing similar techniques to give ordinary flat vector scenes the same extraordinary effect.
4. Daydream doodles
Doodles are more than meaningless shapes you draw when your mind wanders during a zoom presentation. What you doodle can actually say a lot about you.
These meandering drawings are intensely personal, and the designers of 2022 are injecting their professional work with a bit of their own abstract mindscape. Doing so can bridge the gap between digital tools and a human touch, creating designs that are approachable. At the same time, this does not have to conflict with digital design—tools such as animation are helpful for evoking the freeform-drawing nature of the doodling process.
By TikaDesign
– jiah.z, Designer at 99designs by Vista
5. Anti-design
Over the last decade, the app race has fostered strict design conventions focused on usability above all else. While this has created interfaces that any average user can easily understand, it has also led to homogeneity across the digital landscape. Many creatives have been pushing back by bending the rules. In 2022, some plan to break them entirely: enter the anti-designers.
Anti-design (related but not entirely synonymous with Brutalism) is what it sounds like: it eschews traditional design principles and conventional aesthetic tastes. It challenges us with asymmetry, clashing colours, bare interfaces, crowded elements and stark typography. While we see it most commonly in the digital sphere, its spirit of rebellion can apply in any design context. To its critics, the style is ugly for the sake of ugly. But to its champions, it creates designs that are liberated from beauty standards somebody else has constructed.
– Imogen Hoefkens, Art Director at 99designs by Vista
6. Escapism
2021 witnessed designers escaping stay-at-home orders through imaginative forays into the natural world. Since then, they have waded deeper into evermore fantastical worlds. The resulting designs reflect escapism in its purest form.
The appeal of escapism is not just in the getaway itself but in its inherent wonder. This trend is full of unexpected colours, tantalizing settings and whimsical character designs. It is a way for designers and viewers alike to experience an expansion of their imagination. While this is largely an illustration trend, it can be useful for background patterns on labels and websites. The key is to fill these worlds with dense intriguing imagery in which viewers will lose themselves as they explore.
– Alice Z., Designer at 99designs by Vista
– Alice Z., Designer at 99designs by Vista
By Yokaona
– DSKY, Designer at 99designs by Vista
7. Y2K
In a much more literal sense than today, the people of the Y2K era were certain technology would be their doom. When that proved untrue in the year 2000, the resounding sigh of relief led to an intense renewed technological optimism. But social media isolation and misinformation have dimmed that significantly in recent years. It’s no wonder many creatives are trying to reclaim that early sense of excitement—when anything seemed possible through technology—through Y2K-inspired designs.
This specific period, around the late nineties and early naughties, is characterized by crude interfaces, low poly CGI, bubblegum pinks, blues and iridescent colours reminiscent of the backs of CDs. In many ways, it approaches cyberpunk, but it is much more bright and innocently nostalgic instead of dark, neon and sleek.
– Justin Hamra, Art Director at 99designs by Vista
8. Parametric patterns
Patterns are a mainstay of graphic design. They are useful for breaking up solid colours and adding visual interest to a background. But in 2022 designers are bringing statement patterns to the forefront through parametric geometry.
Parametric patterns consist of intricate geometric structures, wherein each line morphs depending on its relative positions. Effectively, the style is based on the graphs of parametric equations. Although they are rooted in geometry, these patterns are fluid and three-dimensional, giving them a sense of movement as opposed to architectural rigidity. In the designs of 2022, parametric patterns are being used to represent the complexity of their subject matter, be it human communication or identity.
By BiltiliBlack via bojan crnić
– BitiliBlack, Designer at 99designs by Vista
9. Frasurbane
Frasurbane—a portmanteau of the 90s American sitcom Frasier and the word “urbane”—is another style that hearkens back to the 90s but from the point of view of the young adults. It considers the GenXers who, at that point, were settling down in urban areas and were finally earning enough money to indulge themselves in some high culture. Essentially, this is encapsulated by Frasier’s Seattle apartment—which included a grand piano, a modernistic fireplace and a statement column all within a general beige decor.
Although the trend has largely been having its moment in the interior decorating world, 2022 is bringing the Frasurbane to graphic design. Here, it finds expression through stately serifs, muted colours and carefully placed design elements. This is a trend that wants to have it both ways—to balance stuffy adult sophistication with youthful city-dwelling hipness. It does not eschew traditional aesthetics for messy chaos (the way youthful movements like anti-design do), but it is much more of a culture-loving showoff than minimalism. When it goes too far, the style—like Frasier himself—can come across as snobby and pretentious. When done right, Frasurbane can encapsulate a measured maturity.
10. Intricate maximalism
Although it is tempting to define maximalism by its counterpart “minimalism,” this trend does much more than you’d expect—true to its name. Maximalism isn’t just about filling space, but filling space with objects, colours and patterns that mirror the whim of the artist. It is like how hoarding can reflect a lifetime of keepsakes that mean nothing to anyone but the hoarder. The trend has been growing a while through related interior design movements like “grandmillennial.”
![Colorful illustration for football team]](https://i0.wp.com/99designs-blog.imgix.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/attachment_113673497-e1636497672530.png?resize=1080%2C726&ssl=1)
By mu-chang wu via typo/graphic posters
Essentially, the designer focuses on the individual pieces, and when we view the entire composition, we experience a jumbled smorgasbord representing their cumulative and sometimes clashing tastes. In this way, it is a style that lacks shame, putting all aspects of a designer’s artistic palate on display. While it is a trend, it has real staying power: so many elements competing for your attention means there will always be new discoveries waiting.
– Tristan Le Breton, Creative Director at 99designs by Vista
11. Extreme bubble design
Each year, graphic designers find a way to imbue their professional work with some much-needed fun. For 2022, we expect to find designers at play through reinventing rounded graphics and lettering styles.
By Nejc Prah via nejcprah.com
This trend is a very refined version of what you may have seen in a high school notebook.
– Arian Bozorg, Community Engagement Manager at 99designs by Vista
By TS Fonts via Behance
Bubble shapes have an undeniably positive effect, as circles often convey friendliness and levity due to their lack of corners. But unlike the typical bubble fonts and shapes (which often find their way onto products aimed at children), this 2022 trend revels in exaggeration through elongated forms and psychedelic colours. This makes these inflatable designs feel grown-up, even while they maintain that essential spark of childish glee.
12. Grunge revival
If 90s nostalgia is the child and Frasurbane is the yuppy adult, grunge is the destructive teen. Grunge is angst incarnate, and its return is a recognition of an out-of-control world. It is characterized by gritty textures, shadowed imagery and zine-like collages. This aesthetic oozes unleashed energy, as ink trails and splotches create an emotive feeling of movement. Its slapped-together also echoes the hurriedly edited videos younger audiences view on TikTok.
Most notably, grunge has a physical presence—through analogue elements such as tape, torn pages and scribbled handwriting—rebelling against the clean, flat graphics of the digital age. After a year of quarantine spent mostly online, this sentiment comes as something of a relief.
Go rough and really handmade to stand out in the crowd.
– c-artworker, Designer at 99designs by Vista
13. 2D/3D Mashup
The 3D design trend is still ongoing, evolving, and further establishing itself. As it offers limitless possibilities to designers, it gives room for anything you can imagine. From hyper-realistic 3D visuals that blur the line between digital and physical, to highly creative mashups with 2D and paper cutout elements. In terms of the latter, 2022 will show a great partnership between 2D and 3D that gives the best of the two worlds.
Scooters, Scooters Everywhere. by bitfuel
This trend is very adaptable to all formats from illustrations and animation, to web design and typography. It’s especially getting popular for app design.
Pineapple by Xochitl Castaño
Do you know, that you can animate characters with your cam and mic? Meet Adobe Character Animator
14. FONTS WITH A TWIST
This trend comes with typography that breaks the standards. It follows a similar to Riso print philosophy: something is beautifully off and imperfect. What exactly is that twist? Anything that breaks the order: one single letter might be upside down, bigger or smaller, in a different font, or completely missing. It could be a couple of letters in a small text, following a different pattern than the rest of the letters to reveal a different message. It’s the perfect way to make emphasize and bring attention to something specific.
Also, if you’re thinking of the Squid Game intro, you’re not alone.
Netflix Interface Design (Squid Game) by Ritik Sharma
This twist looks most impressive in kinetic typography where the messages get unveiled through motion. In a static digital graphic, logos and signature graphics often play the role of the “twisted” letters.
Example by Anton Aheichanka
Video Player
Example by Roman Salo
Example by Hrvoje Grubisic
Example by Helena Stretovych
Example by Luka Marr
Example: www.orderofthegooddeath.com
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15. Glass & Crystals
Last year, the gold design was a huge trend mimicking realistic physical gold and giving everyday items that extra special feel. The trend has now shifted to glass and crystal with incredible realism in 3D to bring the graphic design to the next level.
NHN FORWARD OPENING by Hayoung Lee
Glass Sculptures by Drake Smith
SLYCES by Stu Ballinger
Crystal by J.King Chou
COLLECTED • Explorations 23 by Wes Cockx
We’re going to see more of these transparent matters that complement the holographic and 3D trends, realistic frost glass backgrounds, and more. Not to mention the new Windows 11 also adopts the transparent glass trend.
GLASS-CUBE-7-5 by WantLine
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Voice morphing interface by Gleb Kuznetsov
3D Glass Card Illustration by M Wildan Cahya Syarief
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Letter Card by Nathan Riley
Logo animation by Sovery
Example by Varun Kumar
16. CANDY COLORS
As we’re constantly bombarded with digital content from all directions, it gets harder for designers to create artwork, websites, and apps that will stand out from the clutter. This is why visual appeal that will grab the viewer’s attention while scrolling is as important as the quality of the content.
And what are the best ways to ensure your design stands out? Vibrant eye-candy colour schemes. Skillful designers and digital artists who know their color theory already roll their sleeves to create bold and striking graphic design creations with beautiful candy colors.
Don’t get us wrong. Pastel colors are still our favorite, but if you really want to make a bold statement and spread even more positivity, candy colour schemes are a good choice.
海洋#babe by X Five
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Creative Minds by Johana Kroft and Maxim Kroft
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NoriQ Channel Branding by SangHee Choi and Youngdo Kwon
DASH by Estudio Ronda
Monsters and Creatures 3. by Mariano Garza
Playground Serenade by Mariano Garza
In these examples, we can see how candy colors translate into multiple fields of graphic design, such as illustrations, web design, typography, and animation. It draws attention in a good way, with a strong and yet friendly atmosphere, a little bit psychedelic, and quite a lot mesmerizing.
O Meu Lugar by Kenzo Hamazaki
Example by LowFiveBrewing
Video Player
17. Riso Print Style
As the trends to go bolder and to go decades back in time resonate perfectly, it’s no surprise that the risograph art makes a comeback both physically and digitally as an aesthetic. The decades-old risograph was originally created for office copying and administrative use. However, the model soon became a tool for artists and designers to create beautiful abstract artwork, posters, and ads that are impossible to look away from. There are two reasons for that. First, we have these unique vivid colours other printers can’t produce. Second, the prints often come out with slight imperfections such as ink bleed, inconsistent colours, unpredictable alignment issues, or rough textures.
In case you need a recap, the technique is similar to digital screen printing. You scan an image and first make a paper stencil that wraps around the ink drum so the printer could make a stamp of each individual colour and put the puzzle together to greater a slightly imperfect vibrant image. This unpredictability makes the Riso art challenging and adventurous as even if you plan your layers to perfection, you will still get something unique and unexpected.
Graphic designers find clever ways to recreate the risograph print effects digitally and give the style a strong comeback as a trend of 2022.
Santed Tokyo Special Edition by Magdalena Skala, Mox Gebhardt and Kiyoshi Stelzner
501 WORK-SHOP by Mobills-group
36 Days of Type 2021: 80’s Trip by Gian Wong
Risograph Calendar 2022 | Sights of Hungary by Renáta Farkas
Experimental Project_DH001 by Dennis HSU
Almanaque Bate-bola by Paula Cruz
36 Days of Type 2021 by Hiromu Oka
It looks incredible not only in packaging and print but also in animation, typography, and web design. If you’re interested in trying out the Riso style in Photoshop for your design but you’re not sure where to start, let us know in the comments. We might be following with a cool tutorial.
Maison Marou Thao Dien by Daniel Keeffe
SASA LELE by Rafael Neder and team
RISO PRINT – THE TOBACCO by Hiromu Oka
Kaleidoscoping by Carla Lopez
18. Art Deco
Amongst the vivid colours, damaged aesthetics, psychedelic design, and wild movement, one upcoming trend differentiates itself with clean, strong lines as an organizing design principle.
Of course, we’re talking about Art Deco, packing both class and machine-age streamlining sleek geometry.
The art style appeared in the early 20th century as a direct response to Art Nouveau and the old ways. Its philosophy is all about innovation, modernism, and looking forward with sturdiness, quiet dignity, and resilience. With everything that’s been happening for the last couple of years, there’s no surprise such philosophies find their way back to art and graphic design.
So, what exactly is Art Deco?
The easiest way to recognize the comeback of this beautiful style is to look for symmetry, geometry, and simple but aesthetically pleasing works. Art Deco takes the unapologetic and anti-traditional and turns it into geometric forms and bold outlines. Think The Great Gatsby aesthetics.
Hotel Metro – Branding by Brooke Burge
Cocktail Kits Business Cards by Cody Petts
Dinning Deco by Demiana Reda
Metrópolis Branding by Alfonso Pereira
Discover Curitiba (Art Deco inspired illustration) by Mariana Zanatta
Graphic designers, as usual, found a creative way to bring this movement in decorative arts and architecture into the digital. We see gorgeous posters, illustrations, business cards, and websites in Art Deco, and we can’t get enough.
DYNASTEA Tea -Packaging Design by Wei-lee Cheng
Art Deco style illustration by Dongkyu Lim
Vintage Air Travel by Dongkyu Lim
SWALLY Illustration Project -by Dongkyu Lim
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19. Paper Cutout
Another traditional art that found its way to the digital is paper cutting. The craft has roots in the Han dynasty in the 4th century AD after the invention of the paper by Cai Lun. A simple symmetrical circle seems to be the very first surviving paper cutout, marking the beginning of this form of art. Throughout history, we can find paper cutting in all cultures with one thing in common: each design is cut from a single sheet of paper as opposed to collages. Of course, when it comes to the digital, graphic designers use both techniques to create amazing pieces of art in all forms of graphic design.
Paper Cutouts are most popular for branding, especially business cards, pamphlets, and package designs. We also see them in wishing cards, books, and recently in animation and web design.
Paper forest fairytale by Elena Cherniavskaia
5 | 36 days of type by Marlena Stawarz
Winter Landscape Papercut by Vera Cotuna
PIANO MUSIC by HICACTUS STUDIO
20. 3D Characters
To complement all the trends with the last one in the style of GraphicMama, 3D characters have invaded the graphic design space in apps, websites, and animation. These characters adapt to 2D design, holographic, candy colour design, and everything we’ve talked about in Graphic Design trends of 2022. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here are some amazing examples of the 3D characters trends we can all enjoy.
Characters by Crystal Yumumu
Ready – Brand Characters by Leo Natsume
Task & Project Management App by Conceptzilla
Step-up by Nguyen Nhut
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Example by Phil Borst
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21. Holographic Design
“Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.” is a 3D image of Princess Leia projected by light beams. In short, it’s a hologram. This diffraction of light is very attractive and has climbed to rival the top trends in graphic design.
Recently we all could find the holographic trend in stationery, product design, fashion design (especially bags and shoes), and so on. However, this trend is so appealing, it’s no surprise it has reached web and animation design as well. Not to mention apps and logos.
3D FLUID SHAPES by Wannathis
4D Iridescent waves animation by Sunal Sood
Ozon — New product vision by Febber
What we can all agree on is that holographic design looks very High tech and futuristic with its mixture of high-gloss multidimensional pastel highlights. The best part is these highlights give the impression of moving even in static images.
3D FLUID SHAPES by Wannathis
Reflections by Webshocker – Matjaz Valentar
Holo Switch by Christina Young
holo greetings by Maximilian Chanba
22. Psychedelic
The twisting, melting and distorted aesthetics of the psychedelic 1960s changed design forever. As an immortal trend, these visuals always make a comeback with the rise of each new counterculture. Mimicking acid trips with mind-bending colours, the psychedelic trend that started as an art form with Wes Wilson and his famous rock posters, is now back to reflect the chaos of the confounding times.
TRANCE by satheesh sankaran
GIF by Taoufik Ajdour
Animated Patterns by Anita Gwara
Ryuichi Sakamoto – Exodus by Rhox
Weird dreams – 01 by Gurika for PING PONG
Weird dreams – 03 by Gurika for PING PONG
Just like in music and fashion, psychedelic in graphic design mirrors the carefree spirit that craves to break the shackles by drawing strength from within. The results in animation, web design, typography, and motion graphics are incredible and entrancing. We’re about to see a lot of these trippy designs in 2022.
Final Words
So there it is. A Palette of trends, styles and influences to use this year. Predictions are always in the laps of the gods, and never more so than in the present times. But the world doesn’t stop and neither does the need for the next new exciting innovation, the next big thing. The world of graphic design is a world that is experiencing unprecedented growth, a world in which if you want to be on top you have to keep running. Tastes change, technology moves forward, and we either ride on their coat tales catching up or we push onto the front.
2022, will be nothing if not interesting, so let’s look forward and push on.