Every year new trends come to light; previous trends may stand the test of time while other may wither away after not too long. As seen all across the internet we see many bloggers and designers report on the possible trends for the upcoming year; 2017 we saw new trends emerge or grow within animation: motion graphics, illustration, virtual reality and augmented reality. Overall visual design such as the use of “Colour surge”, minimal design, and the evolution on flat design aka flat design 2.0 also made an appearance this year. Here are just some of the current and upcoming trends that may affect animation over 2018.
Dynamic Typography
Typography has always been a huge part of design and has always been a long standing trend that won’t be going anytime soon.
While typography has always been a huge part of web and poster design, animation is now combining with typography to create beautiful, flowing messages as another way to convey the message of the animation. Imagination is the only limitation when it comes to animating typography and with the variety of font and styles, dynamic typography with is a big winner in animation in 2018.
GIFS
GIFs have blown up in the past couple years, thanks to the popularity with social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter allowing users to use this medium effortlessly to improve their posts and convey specific emotions and reactions that an emoji might not allow.
Animation is able to take hold of this popular use of GIFs to be more creative in what they are trying to say and is a great way to display humorous, yet simple illustrations.
Retro
We saw the a retro style in both graphics and animation make a rise during 2017 through both animation and motion graphics, however with the release of the second season of Stranger Things back in October has only aided to sky rocket the popularity of this trend extending its stay through to 2018. Animation gives a refreshing update to the style yet still maintaining that nostalgic feel, and is an effective way to convey a message to an audience.
Yeaaah! Studio Spring 2017 Lookbook:
Double
2018 we’ll be seeing double because of these upcoming trends seen all across design and could also be effectively used in illustration and animation.
Double exposure: This trend has been around for a few years now it still can amaze an audience when used correctly and has begun to evolve to maintain interest.
Double Light: This is an effective way to transform simple, boring graphics into something new and modern. This can be achieved through channel splitting, or using two sources of coloured light.
Double Exposure Duotone: This is an example of the evolution of “Double Exposure” spoken about earlier. This is the combination of Double Exposure and Duotone (Which was also quite popular over 2017), this can be achieved by overlapping two images and two colour channels, creating a bold image.
Glitches
A trend that has taken the digital world by storm, what was once annoying and unwanted is now sought after. A popular use when it comes to horror, it has also started to be used in animation, effectively used in 2D animation where it would seem more likely for a glitch to take place and is something that will be seen in the upcoming year.
An incredible example of this effect taking place in animation would be “I am Here” by Eoin Duffy, he brings a whole new feel to 2D animation with the correct use of glitching to build up a tense atmosphere:
Colour transitions/ gradients
A trend that was first seen back in 2016 when Instagram changed its logo to its now colourful gradient, although at first it received mixed opinions nobody would have guess its rise in the coming years.
Now that flat design has begun to bore audiences, they are craving for something new from this trend to continue to grab their attention.
Colourful gradients are one of the simpler, yet effective way to add a fresh coat of paint to minimal, flat design when using bold combinations.
