Content is no stranger to going with the flow with trends, it is one of the important aspects of it. However, keeping up with what’s trending and what’s not isn’t that easy, especially when we narrow it down to the realm of only social media.
Social media content is all about somehow breaking through the massive clutter of big competition, and an interesting or bold image is an important element.
To help marketers out, here are our predictions for 2019’s social media design trends.
Open Compositions
For many years now, brands and designers have been putting frames to brand their social media posts. For some, frames meant reminding audiences of the brand while others felt that putting a frame made a post feel complete and finished.
While there will be many who will still feel this way, many are starting to branch away from the tight closed frames and embracing more open and airy compositions.
Open compositions make designs seem incomplete, as if there is more happening off screen.
Designers and brands can use this in many ways to develop and encourage curiosity, as well as continuing onto other designs such as for carousel ads.
These designs may look chaotic, broken or cut-up, but it takes a very good designer to implement a beautifully crafted open composition without making it look like an actual mess.
For social media, there are many ways to use open compositions. From canvas ads to a story/design led series of Instagram stories, these aesthetically pleasing and curiosity building designs will help bring a fresh look to your social channels, as well as bring more depth into your brand.
Colorful Minimalism
Coming back from last year’s list are block colors with minimal design.
It is no surprise that this fun trend of simple and colorful design continues to grow, and it seems it will stay that way for a long while.
Bright block colors will pop right out of consumers’ newsfeeds, grabbing attention from other saturated imagery because of its strong and powerful impact. It will also help in building a bright and highly-visible presence online.
Mentioning last year’s list, several major brands rebranded last year to fit the trend including confectionary brand Molto and Supermarket chain Metro.
Shapeshifting Logos and Designs
While this may seem like this should be in an article called “Branding Design Trends,” a brand’s logo is an important element in all platforms, including digital and social. If you are willing to play with your social media posts, you could consider this playful and persona-building trend.
A Shapeshifting logo is about creating multiple variations of your brand’s logos to keep things fresh, interesting and flexible to not only optimize your brand on different platforms and devices but also keep consumers on their toes.
We can see multiple major brands doing this already, and using them on social media.
One of the most notable, and basic, uses of this trend focuses on dynamic brand logos according to the platform and size of display. We can see this being used with brands such as Coca Cola and Walt Disney.
For your social pages, you can play with the same trend. Build a brand personality by playing with your logo’s shape and even changing it completely to be almost unrecognizable (it’s a thin line, so watch out). This will keep your loyal brand lovers a fun change of pace, and grab the attention of new potential brand enthusiasts.
You can also add the same method of thinking with posts; with GIFs becoming more and more popular, play a bit with the countless possibilities and shapeshift designs to keep audiences interested.
Broken Grid Layouts
If you haven’t noticed yet, it looks like 2019 is going to be a great year to really break out creatively as a brand on social media.
For those aiming towards more younger audiences, a broken layout/grid may be something to look forward to in breaking through the social clutter.
While everyone else is structured and safe, break out into a wide array of unstructured and broken-looking designs to bring attention to your brand and your messages. These designs are striking, unusual and prominent on social media, and will bring a sense of awe to branded posts.
Broken layouts can create depth to your social pages, while still being clean or messy, depending on what look you’re going for.
Complimenting open compositions, this design trend will definitely make people stop their scrolling for a second look. Just like open compositions, it takes a talented designer to get this right, but don’t worry, a little tweaking and practice goes a long way.
Simple Instagram Photography
As we mentioned in our Digital Marketing Trends to Watch Out for in 2019, Instagram Shopping has finally made its way to MENA and will be pushing e-commerce or commerce brands to focus more on the photo sharing platform.
Using various trends throughout the article, brands and agencies can create beautiful eye-catching imagery to use for Instagram shopping.
With the product as your hero, create bold, colorful, fun and trendy photography for the already color-saturated application. You can even try the Split Page Design we mention in last year’s list as a cool hero post for your favorite product.
Remember to keep your photo clear from too many distractions to really pop through social media.
Modern Collage
While not a trend that could grow exponentially this year, this trend is worth taking note of as more and more brands are breaking out into more modernist stylings.
We can see the modern Avant Garde trend growing each year during Ramadan ads, and social won’t be an exception for long. With brands such as Mega, Gloria Ceramics and Palm Hills taking the plunge to break out of modern minimalism, we can see them taking it a step further with this social media design trend.
Bold, colorful, playful and eccentric, this is a trend that only courageous brands might go for, but one that will be a well-appreciated break from reality and normal social media posts.
