design trends

To help inspire and find that perfect combination of creative and lucrative, here are 5 graphic design trends continuing to make headway in 2011 that look like they’ll be sticking around for a while.

1. Minimalistic and clean: Designers everywhere are taking the hint from Apple that this approach is working, and has been for several years.
2. Illustrative or hand-drawn effects: An increasing number of companies are turning toward a more hand-drawn or hand-written look, finding beauty in the rustic imperfection of something handmade. Some prime industries making use of this trend include bohemian-style clothing companies like Anthropologie or handmade-focused websites like Etsy, and the trend can even be found in unexpected places like electronics advertisements by Casio.
3. Print typography on the web: Many websites are now using resources like cufón to convert otherwise pixilated Web fonts into smooth, print-like fonts without the worry of browser font support. This has enabled web designers to use a wider variety of fonts in a more dynamic way, helping their web work to more closely mimic print work.
4. Business Cards that Go Beyond: with the explosion of social networking on the Web, the seemingly humble business card is getting a jolt of creative attention to show that it still…well, means business! Creative approaches like die-cut cards, tear-off coupons, irregular sizes (like Moo.com’s popular mini-cards), cut-outs, pop-ups, stickers, plastic, recycled, you name it; anything is fair game for business card design.
5. Social Media is everywhere: Twitter and Facebook iconography are nearly impossible to escape. The great news is that since these are so popular, there are button/widget/badge designs in virtually any style available to seamlessly incorporate in website design, or to even print onto that creatively quirky business card you’ve been working on!