Current Design Trends For 2022 and 2023

What's happening in graphic design, interior design, and beyond?

Wide trends are cultural, so they show up everywhere. There are parallels between graphic design, photography, interior design, fashion, and every other facet of design. Where they differentiate is by medium, leading to unique approaches and sub-trends.

The main current trend is to have things loosely based on 90s aesthetics: more color, more personality, and less polish. Recent years saw a huge push for minimalism, heavily polished designs, globalism, and debranding. The pendulum is swinging the other way now. What people want now = comfort and authenticity.

Graphic design trends

Depending on the person/brand, there are three main schools of thought driving simultaneous trends.

1. Looking back

2. Looking to the now

3. Looking forward

In all cases, there’s a renewed emphasis on color, illustrations, and typography, making things bigger and bolder.

Looking back

There’s a large shift toward 80s/90s nostalgia and retro designs, including candy-inspired colors and pastels or muted colors. Bold choices, bigger fonts, wonky patterns with geometric shapes, etc. Things can continue to be relatively minimal, or brands can push the envelope toward maximalism, or designers can look for a balance between the two.

Things like vaporwave are a bit played out in certain spheres, but they’re still an indicator of what people are thinking about. Some artists go more recent to the Y2K era, but that’s not really old enough to be nostalgia bait.

Looking to the now

Keywords: local, handcrafted, artisan, homemade, DIY, natural, handwriting, earth tones, small batch, farmer’s market, craft fair, etc.

At the small business end, this is the “my neighbor/friend made this beautiful ___” category. Emphasizing authenticity and community.

At the corporate end, it’s more in line with past trends of minimalism. They don’t show a DIY approach other than maybe hand-drawn illustrations that don’t appear to be stock imagery. Maybe a new retro-inspired color palette. What they’ll usually focus on is the “eco-friendly” approach with simplified designs and colors, less packaging, etc. Environmentalism and social causes are a big focus for corporations because of DEI and ESG nonsense.  Hopefully that’s on the way out too, as big business focuses on profit margins during the economic downturn.

Looking forward

The digital frontier of NFTs, blockchain, and the Metaverse are driving some ideas. This actually includes some elements of looking back, like vaporwave and punk styles. People are trying to push the envelope, sometimes with “anti-design” thoughts like glitch, grunge, surrealism, psychedelia, asymmetry, unusual colors, clashing stylistic choices, etc. The key is experimenting with different principles.

3D is big too: 3D lettering, objects, and illustrations, often abstract or collage-like or within patterns. Some people mix 3D or animation with 2D elements.

Large corporate brands aren’t really going for this because it’s not “safe” enough. At most they’ll add more color, including gradients and holographic appearances. They’re most likely to hit on the nostalgia angle.

Overall 

Nothing is perfectly cut-and-dry. Designers may mix and match from multiple trends or schools of thought. The common thread is color and personality making a comeback.

There’s an interesting push-pull going on between maximalism and minimalism. There are several different lines of thought here. Maximalists are drawn to the nostalgia/retro trends; influences come from cyberpunk, vaporwave, collages, the psychedelic, etc. Minimalists prefer simplicity, comfort, and classical stylings. Both can include a heavy emphasis on color. The former tend to use broad palettes, while the latter stick to a few bold color choices.

In all cases, there’s more experimentation in finding the next big trend in typography. Recent trends have been logo-based, with debranding and a newer push against it. Type is next up to bat, except it’s a little more wild. Some people may look to Art Nouveau and Art Deco for inspiration. Others mix and match styles for visual breaks. Some people called this “twisted typography.” Partially cut off text is another option.

Interior design trends

Previously, people were going nuts for design trends like Modern Farmhouse, minimalism, open-floor plans, etc. Of these, minimalism is now the most disfavored.

We haven’t swung over to maximalism though. We now have a pretty fair balance.

2022-2023 is bringing more influences from the outdoors. Earth tones (especially green, blue, and brown) and plants, organic materials for natural warmth, more wood, curved shapes, more textures, etc. 

Bold colors appear in homes too, not just branding. Many homes still have an emphasis on neutrals and grays, but they’re cold and increasingly unappealing. Minimalism isn’t comfortable. Boxy Ikea-type stuff is out (it always has been, in my opinion) and there’s less focus on purely functional aesthetics. Form matters too. Always has.

Like in graphic design, there’s also a push for authenticity in having a home that feels lived-in, with unique decorations from local artisans or otherwise handcrafted goods. Cheap mass-produced junk is out. There may be country-specific themes for people who didn’t get to travel as much as they would’ve liked in recent years. Or mixing and matching from different regions.

There’s more emphasis on the mood a room can create. They may vary compared to each other - cozy living room, energetic study, calm bedroom, etc. A home can mix materials and styles even in the same room, not just different rooms. This ties in with the eclectic collage style in graphic design, except more reasonable. People aren’t snatching up useless knick-knacks. That went out of style decades ago.

Some people are going for nostalgia and picking up furniture with vintage appeal. The vintage era depends on the person’s taste and can be from any decade. Unlike graphic design however, interior decorating is more likely to look at the 60s/70s than 80s/90s. (Unless it’s something like a gaming room.)

Overall there’s still lasting influences from minimalism. A modern home is neat and balanced - not so minimalistic that it’s sterile, and not so busy that it appears cluttered. Much more moderate than graphic design, which is freer to be overly expressive.

Fashion design trends

Frankly I don’t pay much attention to what’s happening in fashion. BowTiedGerman is keeping a closer eye on which way the winds are blowing in the fashion department.

Although some things come in and out of style, I believe 80% of fashion can be timeless. Be in shape, wear well-fitting clothes, keep it simple and high-quality, etc. Get your foundations in order and expand from there.

Being in shape continues to be a status symbol. That’s not going away, especially as obesity rates rise.

In the broader sphere of things, there’s still a push toward comfort, which began with the pandemic. Athleisure, looser fits, etc. As with graphic design and interior design, there’s more emphasis on color than neutrals, and a bit of retro style.

The world of aesthetics is constantly in flux. I’m thinking I should do a trend writeup like this every 6-12 months. What do you think?

This is a reader-supported publication. For further support of my work:

• I sell physical artwork at ApolloGallery.org with more to come

• I have a masterlist of 100+ AI-related tools on Gumroad

• You can hire me for graphic design work