Design Bridge is a global design agency with studios in London, Amsterdam, Singapore, New York, and Shanghai.

Visual styles in the foreground in 2021

Visual styles that could have been considered niche will be supercharged into the foreground in 2021 thanks to the pandemic. As an escape from the screen and our always-on work-life balance, simple, soothing visual styles will gain popularity.

“Naivety”, “purity”, and “innocence” will be keywords, with illustration and collage providing contrast in our mostly digital worlds. Muted, barely-there colour palettes and the reassurance (even nostalgia) of more traditional serif fonts will support, creating moments of calm and freshness away from the ‘madness’ of world events.

Building meaningful connections between brands and audiences

The switch of budgets from traditional to digital comms was fast in 2020. We expect this to further accelerate, with a focus on localisation and personalisation to build stronger, more relevant connections between brands and users.

Ways of working have also changed, and we have found new ways to collaborate, to create, and to produce. This has, in turn, led to new avenues of creative expression. Perhaps the constraints that Covid-19 has put upon us has actually encouraged (and will continue to encourage) greater creativity?

Impactivism is an emerging design aesthetic

“Impactivism” is a term we’re using to capture the emerging design aesthetic of the Covid-19 crisis. Airbrushed visual norms are no longer relevant. Realness is in, gloss and polish is out. From Fenty’s plus-sized male models to campaigns created entirely from home, forward-thinking brands are creating an inclusive and diverse realness that we can all relate to. The handwritten and spontaneous, combined with found and plundered images and graphics, encourages an often gritty and authentic real-world design aesthetic.

From BLM activism and Thai anti-monarchy protestors to the salonnieres of Yoni Circle, real life movements with meaning are fuelling this aesthetic, and their leaders are our new influencers.
— Put together collaboratively by Creative Directors Carla Traini, Dan Bull, Fabio Milito, Nik Bedford from the Amsterdam Studio.