Keeping up with the latest branding trends helps to secure the success of your marketing strategies as a long-term solution. What is the importance of branding in a modern market? It’s crucial you’re knowledgeable of brand and design changes in your specific marketing field. This should be from a competitive and profit-orientated point of view. Brand trends are forever altering. Assessing these alterations from year to year puts you in control of maintaining a flow of business. You can then adapt your branding strategies to remain current. Forget the trends in 2021, this blog looks into the brand trends for 2022.
Why is branding so important?
Brand building is one of the most crucial steps when it comes to portraying what your company is about. The first step when designing your brand is identifying what it stands for. After all, it’s exactly this that explains the story of your product or service. Not forgetting why you have put it on the market and why it’s the most beneficial product for your target audience. Branding is something that must be at the forefront of your mind no matter what stage you are at with your business. Reassessing your branding is also important for medium-sized businesses, too. This is why a top business will always design, evaluate and redesign its brand. A business does this so it remains current and effective. A strong brand identity makes your business more saleable from a visual design point of view. It does this through telling your story to potential clients. This helps to create lasting and loyal customer relationships that promise you repeat sales and success.
Following the latest branding trends with your target market in mind
Branding your business effectively means creating a memorable impression on those that encounter it. Do you want to appeal to the appropriate market? You should make it your priority to design your brand with a set target audience in mind. When preferences or priorities change amongst this target audience, it indicates it’s time for you to change with it. For this to happen, you need to have an effective but adaptable brand strategy already in place. Responding to these changes in the market is where the following of brand trends comes into play.
The importance of following the latest branding trends
Identifying the latest brand trends and graphic design trends is your step to getting ahead with your marketing. The rise of social media has meant that marketing is more competitive than ever. Big brands will identify brand trends that are relevant to their target audience. This is to ensure they can be ahead of the game. Especially when it comes to challenging competitors in the ever-changing landscape that is brand design. Identifying design trends outside of your main competitors is crucial in ensuring you cannot be side-swept. Therefore, it’s most important to keep tabs on the wider picture as consistently as possible. Identifying what design elements are becoming more popular amongst consumers aids you in keeping your nose ahead of your competitors. On the other hand, it keeps you current and in touch with your own target audience. Therefore, you’re able to adjust your branding to gain and maintain those valuable relationships with your customers. This helps to ensure your business continues to strive, no matter what your size is.
Following the latest brand trends is a beneficial skill
Being able to identify brand trends is an incredibly beneficial skill. This is not only for businesses looking to achieve the aforementioned goals. Equally, it’s for businesses that have altered and grown in recent months or years. What should these businesses do as a result of their growth? They need their brand design to adapt to new and improved company values, ethos, and goals. After all, your branding should reflect you in the most transparent and honest way. This is so you can effectively market your product or service. Are you looking at how to refresh your brand in order to market more efficiently? Identifying previous trends and how they have moved forward will give you the best indication as to what trends will be most popular in the future. For instance, trends in design in 2021 will give the best indication of what trends are up and coming in the branding scene.
So what are the latest branding trends?
1. Brand Activism
A trend that will continue to be most important to get on top of, Brand Activism was a key player design trend for 2021. Subsequently, it will continue to be this year. Why is Brand Activism so important? It’s the collective term for wearing your heart on your sleeve when it comes to branding. Inciting Brand Activism within your business actively portrays your company values and beliefs. This is done through every element of your design strategy. In the current social climate, the relationship between business and consumer is becoming more and more vital. Customers want to know your views, values, and beliefs so they can form a connection with your brand. Convey an overlying message through each design choice. As a result, you’re actively portraying your company’s core values in a way that resonates and inspires customers. They will be inspired to, therefore, build long-lasting, loyal relationships.
2. Nostalgia
As consumers, one of the most enticing forces is the use of nostalgia when it comes to parting without money. Brands are beginning to use fonts and colour schemes that we would commonly associate with previous decades that invoke a certain level of nostalgia. 
Hits and references to design elements of previous pop culture are also being seen throughout a multitude of company’s branding methods going into 2022. This is a genius way to attract customers as you can zero in on your target audience to tailor your marketing, playing to their emotions and fond memories to establish a connection with your product or service.
3. Minimalism
Minimalist design is something that has gained traction in the 21st century and has been maintained through 2021 branding techniques. It will undoubtedly continue throughout the design landscape of 2022. Utilising a colour palette of a limited number of shades often appeals to a mature audience and creates a sense of calmness and control within your branding. Minimalism can also be seen in logo design with marks becoming simpler to work across a variety of marketing channels. Less is more in this super busy world we live in. Companies adopting a minimalist branding design often opt for the most modern and functional approach when it comes to web design. At times, they’re offering the alternative of a dark mode on web pages as an alternative to lighter colour schemes as well as creating separate mobile and desktop website designs. Due to this, minimalist designs are great for those companies looking to maintain an aura of sophistication. This is ideal for those companies offering more professional services such as accounting, law firms, etc.
Recent rebrand for CGP was based on a minimalist design with monochromatic colour palette and simple, less-is-more layout for the website. Click on the image to view the full case study.
A minimalist design is also a great way to direct your customers to a particular focal point of your branding or services. For example, using a minimalist design to maintain focus on a certain area of your website. Or, a social media advert can pull focus and entice potential customers to click on a particular online location, allowing you to create your own funnelling system that directs a potential customer through to securing a sale.
4. Quirky + Immersive Designs
Creative and abstract designs are becoming more popular amongst the latest branding trends. They are definitely a route to consider taking when branding a newer business or refreshing your brand going into the new year. Particularly the German concept of Bauhaus. Using strong lines and geometric shapes to invoke an abstract, retro feel, is becoming an especially prominent and leading method of branding within the design trends of 2021. 
These more abstract methods of design offer an eye-catching and intriguing brand image. Therefore, enticing potential customers due to adopting a modern look whilst adopting some more retro designs. As a result, this method of branding offers a fresh and inventive look whilst still achieving to attract a customer’s sense of nostalgia. The result? It creates the previously discussed connection that entices business on a personal level. Are you a start-up brand looking to create an inventive and immersive brand? Utilising quirky and abstract design features can offer you an edge when it comes to establishing a fresh and unique look. Why not try out with a brand logo as a starting point? Using this smaller project as a basis, you can have a play with certain designs to see what works for you and portrays your company best.
Check out Envato’s blog for more graphic design trends for 2022.
Who can help you with your latest branding trends strategy?
For support in creating or adapting a brand design, you can look into hiring in-house help or exploring freelance web designers or graphic designers. When it comes to employing in-house, it can get expensive. However, an in-house team of experts in marketing and brand design can support you sufficiently when it comes to building and adapting a brand for your specific target market. Being part of a wider team means you are working collectively towards one set goal: the success of your business and its saleability. Employing a team of experts that work solely for you can be beneficial when it comes to focussing branding and setting out particular aims. When it comes to employing the help of freelance designers, a common misconception is a lack of personability. At az.design, however, we make it our goal to get to know your business’ values on a personal level. Subsequently, ensuring your branding is always uniquely tailored to you and focuses on the success of achieving the gain of customers within your niche target market. With years of valuable experience, I offer you support through a range of design needs. We are equipped with the knowledge and skills to help you adopt the latest branding trends and remain ahead in an ever-changing market landscape. We also work alongside some fantastic people who help with web and development, brand strategy, photography, and copywriting.
Check out our az.design associates. For more information, visit the contact page on our website for a free consultation with Angela to discuss how we can address all your design needs.
