Graphics are two-dimensional visual elements. In this category we talk about them not as referring to trends within the field of graphic design, but how graphics are used throughout the design industry. For example, the shapes of car headlamps, tail-lamps, and door cuts are referred to as graphics. Even though they have three-dimensional form, they are two-dimensional boundaries on a three-dimensional surface. Graphics also refers to traditional graphic categories such as print, digital, and packaging design. In recent years, prominent graphic elements have emerged as key stylistic themes within the product design field, with designers leveraging bold uses of type and vector-based elements.
The halftone pattern has been a staple of the graphic and print disciplines for over a century. It is typically defined by a repeated geometric dot pattern that fools the human eye into perceiving a gradation of color or value. In its purest use, the halftone pattern is meant to...
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We’ve posted several trends about the interplay between the digital and physical worlds. One aspect of the digital aesthetic that has emerged, coinciding with a broader revisiting of 1980’s design cues, is the Vector Line. Originally, this element was introduced via early 1980’s (even late 1970’s) arcade graphics: Asteroids, Tempest,...
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Iconic designs can embed themselves as powerful symbols in our minds, having the mental stickiness to persist for decades in our collective memory. An icon can be created via any type of design element: pattern (like Burberry tartan), color (Kodak Yellow or John Deere Green), or brand mark (the Google...
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The use of hexagons, alone or in a repeating pattern, has long been the stuff of sci-fi set design. Nothing says moon colony (to someone familiar with ‘70s or ‘80s sci-fi) like a nice array of hexagonal windows peering into space. However, they have evolved in recent years to become...
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The nature of most technology, be it a plane, a building, or a computer, is to hide the scary complicated internal workings within a simplified outer shell. For the most part, this out-of-sight-out-of-mind approach removes the level of intimidation most users feel when interacting with technology for the first time....
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Technology is increasingly becoming a visual motif in our lives. Just as the ancients adorned their objects with natural images of their surrounding environment, we are seeing visual representations of the digital age become ornamentations. In every product category, the most readily recognizable embodiment of this is the flowing, jogging,...
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