Jake RheudeThe “creative rut” is something that many graphics designers dread. It is when you are stuck not doing something, looking for inspiration and have no graphic design ideas within reach.
Whether you want to sharpen your skills or have a project to finish, we suggest that you push forward with that creative block! You might be surprised at how this lull of creativity can actually stretch your imagination and help you complete a project.
That being said, we’ve listed 7 graphic design ideas to get you out of that creative rut, so you can start or finish that dream project. If you’re in need of a tool to help streamline your project, ReviewStudio have just what you need.
So, are you ready? Let’s dive in!
Muted Color Palettes
Muted colors and muted color palettes took over the graphic design world a year ago, and it has no sign of stopping anytime soon.
If you are unfamiliar with muted colors – vivid colors are infused with black, white, or a complementary color, resulting in a more relaxing hue. Working with color is one of many great graphic design examples that can make you stand out from the crowd.
Muted colors can be ideal for multiple types of graphic design – whether you’re trying to convey nostalgia and safety through your work, or want to make your art look natural and organic.
A muted color palette also tends to blend well with texts, even when using light font colors. For example, small, white texts can still be easy to read even on a pale, muted background.
Trends come and go, but when it comes to graphic design, it usually takes about 3-4 years for color palettes to be overused. Don’t be afraid of switching your color palette into something more muted and more on-trend – it will take a while for it to go out of fashion!
You could even use your brand colors as the main focal point, developing secondary, muted color palettes that you will then use for your visual content.
Geometric Shapes
Last year, many designers were utilizing flowy and abstract shapes as part of the latest design trends. However, modern graphic design has been replaced by rigid, geometric shapes that are hard-edged, with more and more brands starting to integrate geometric shapes into their designs.
With solid, geometric shapes, it’s a lot easier to add consistency, order, and structure to your graphic design. Geometric shapes tend to be exact and precise, so they create a lot of great contrast when using a more muted color palette.
If you paired a geometric shape with a muted color palette, you can play with this contrast and make a really eye-catching visual. You can also utilize geometric shapes to add more depth and structure to your graphics or even make it the focal point of your illustration.
Flat Icons and Illustrations
Suppose you have been creating a lot of visual content. In that case, flat icons are excellent because they can be integrated into many different cool graphics, which includes social media posts, infographics, and presentations.
Flat icons are also relatively easy to consume: even if you’ve come across these visuals without text or content, you can understand what the graphic design is trying to tell you.
Mind you, flat icons and illustrations allow you to put complex thoughts into context, which explains why graphics are best used for data visualization e.g. used in online courses or webinars.
The best part of creating flat icons and illustrations is that you can easily switch their color, size, or orientation. Doing so makes it easy even for non-designers to come up with compelling visuals.
Website Mockups
Sometimes, having a creative rut is the best time to create mockups. For one, it lets you see what colors and fonts can make an ideal pair, and maybe even allow you to start a few new trends!
Second, it enables you to look at a project from a technical point of view. For instance, does the icon make sense, or should that section be placed above the other?
Lastly, it allows you to hone your design skills – giving you a reservoir of web design ideas, whether it’s for a blog or an e-commerce site.
Social Slide Decks
Social Slide Decks are created precisely how they sound, and they were made for sharing on social media. To understand and use social slide decks, you really don’t need to have a graphic design background.
Simply put, social slide decks are usually shared on social media sites like LinkedIn and Instagram, and they are pieces of content mainly made up of images. Although they can still work well with other social media platforms, the emphasis of the viewing experience is on imagery.
Creating a social slide deck is a great graphic design idea, simply for the amount of engagement your deck could bring! You can fill each slide deck a ton of handy information, and without listing it all at once in a single slide. You can also integrate static images with videos to provide your audience a more engaging experience.
On Instagram, you may notice influencers use carousel images to share more information. Nonetheless, there is consistency in the visual content they share. Be it through the template or color palette they use.
These kinds of slide decks are taking off, mostly because they are relatively easy to create. It also engages the audience in a way that it’s easy to share.
The chance of other users reading your entire slide deck on Instagram is also pretty high, especially if you compare it with just a caption. No matter what type of industry you are catering to, there is no doubt that brands can take off using slide decks!
Text Heavy Videos
People will likely continue to work remotely this 2021, and regularly shooting new video content will be far too tricky.
It can be challenging to jump straight into your video room and shoot a video with your team – hiring a freelancer with the right expertise may be just what you need in a remote world to get the best out of your day.
If you’re working alone, however, video content will likely lean on text and motion graphics this year, as it’s much quicker and easier to create.
For instance, Slack has recently been leaning on text-heavy videos on their social media accounts. They have managed to develop simple videos that utilized their brand colors, graphic design fonts, and voice. This helped them create a unified brand.
These kinds of videos do not need an entire production team to shoot, which means a quicker turnaround and faster engagement!
Instead of getting the whole team to shoot, all they need to have is a few team members to pitch in an idea, so they can come up with material in just a couple of days.
Social Media Graphic Design Ideas
Social media is a platform that is highly driven by content. How do you make other people pause enough to engage with your content or listen to what you have to say?
Come up with graphic designs to post along with other content that you are publishing. Get creative and mix it up!
Here are also some tips for a great social media graphic design:
- Use a logo: You are probably aware of how important a logo is. For a brand to be recognized, it needs to be included with social media graphics. Just ensure that your logo stands out, especially if you intend to use it as a foreground for another vibrant graphic.
- Keep it simple: Although your designs need to be eye-catching, they should not distract users from your content. Remember that graphic design is meant to enhance and not take it away from the content.
- Use various shapes, colors, and texts to help you get started: Multiple colors and fonts can also enhance social media posts.
Heavy (But Relatively Simple) Fonts
Minimalist and handwritten fonts have lost their spark over the last couple of years, especially for larger brands. Now, bolder and heavily weighted fonts are starting to gain a lot of traction.
Weighty fonts are usually in bold or extra bold fonts that give a relatively “weighty” appearance. Using these kinds of fonts can give your designs a more modern and contemporary feel, allowing greater contrast in your graphics.
Let’s Wrap up
If you have been running out of ideas lately, now is the time to work on a new project – get those creative juices flowing and stretch your imagination! We hope you find the time to try out some of these graphic design ideas and see what you can create!
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