Bridgeman Images Visual Trends for 2019
Trends can be powerful tactics for designers, strategists and creatives alike. The opportunity trends offer us to reach a new audience, refresh a brand/product or even add some fun on social media are becoming invaluable ways to connect with our audiences. Trends can play a part in helping brands be a part of events and conversations, rather than simply interrupting them.
The choice isn’t only can you use the trend or not, but rather can you predict and shape where the trends are going in the coming years and move your brand ahead of the curve. Not every trend will work for your brand, but as companies create more and more micro-content to target individual customers the opportunity and potential for trends to be utilised in a strategic campaign are increasing all the time.
We live in a world that continues to change at incredible rates and every company, brand, and product has to develop ever increasingly engaging, relevant and breakthrough work to be seen and heard. A trend based campaign for a brand can make it relevant and topical whilst still adhering to the brand’s overall strategy. For example, using trends that tie into major events or anniversaries is an annual trend we see with our partners every year.
From Pantone’s colour of the year to the influence the Olympics in Tokyo 2020 will have on the worlds campaigns and products, the team at Bridgeman Images have been scouring the world to bring you a condensed group of hot visual trends we expect to see this year and next. Let us know if you have noticed any interesting trends we have not listed, we’d love to hear your thoughts.
1) Pantone Colour of the Year: Pantone Living Coral
When the first announcement went out about the 2019 Pantone Colour of the Year: Living Coral, there was an audible purr around the office of happiness and joy that this colour delivers. Pantone Living Coral is a ray of joy and the internet is already alive with praise for a certain trend that looks to be a hit in all sectors.
View a selection of images for the Pantone Living Coral trend
2) A trend we have shaped throughout history: Metal
From printed foil, textured metal fabrics to imagery that uses metals, we are seeing this trend everywhere at the moment. With printing techniques on fabrics and textiles evolving all the time expect to see more uses of metal popping up in all kinds of packaging, fashion, and even digital experiences. Metal textures can elevate design to luxurious levels and our society has always had an affinity with shaping, texturing and decorating our world with every type of metal that we have discovered or manufactured.
View a selection of images for the Metal trend
3) Diving into a trend we’re calling, Under the Sea.
Nature is going to be a huge topic again this year as more and more attention is brought to the environment and environmental causes. One trend we noticed and called last year was ‘Under the Sea’ which was a just a ripple, but is beginning to make waves this year.
We have seen a heavy focus on the sea in particular with documentaries raise awareness about the dying or bleached coral reefs, plastic bags harming wildlife and the general waste we are seeing on every shoreline. Our love of the oceans is something that should always be trending as it’s importance to our world can never be underestimated. With all the beautiful colours and textures beneath the surface, we will see all types of influences being seen this year. So get ready to dive in!
View a selection of images for the Under the Sea trend
4) The Floral trend continues to blossom
The floral trend has been growing strong over the last couple of years and we don’t see this wilting any time soon. In fact, the floral trend seems to be gathering pace and we have seen a huge influx of floral content from our artists in every style you can imagine.
It’s easy to understand why florals would be so popular, and this trend is going to bloom again in 2019. We see the floral trend moving into Japanese inspired styles by the end of 2019 as we get closer to the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, which leads us nicely to our next trend…..
View a selection of images for the Floral trend
5) Land of the Rising Influence: Japan
The Brazil Olympics in 2016 saw creatives embrace a tropical trend where some of the executions were developed to carnival extremes, as only Brazil could influence. With this in mind, We see the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 provide a Japanese influence to products, fashion, and creativity over the next year and a half.
The Olympics, just like the FIFA World Cup, capture the world’s attention and therefore brands will look to capture the hype and attention with influences from Japanese type styles, visual treatments and patterns from the land of the rising sun.
View a selection of images for the Japan Trend
6) We’re going wild over the Animal Print Trend
Nature’s bounty knows no bounds and animal prints are influencing the fashion world again. Thankfully, it is not the real thing as none of us condone the use of real fur. But the influence of the animal kingdom has always inspired our fashions, which are usually the first telling sign for an upcoming trend. With nature and the environment coming under threat it is only natural that people want to show an affinity with the animal kingdom.
Animals have incredible ways of displaying emotions and messages through scales, fur, and plumage that each pattern and texture offers a world of expression for us as humans. Our animal archive of art, illustration, and photography is an endless adventure through styles and techniques so we have created a mere glimpse below that shows some of the diversity in this animal print trend.
View a selection of images for the Animal Print trend
7) There’s nothing square about the Geometric Trend
Geometric patterns have surrounded our lives throughout history in areas of architecture, fashion, art, and design. Product designers are again turning to geometric patterns and influences to provide their business more dimension. This Geometric trend is being used in interior design, corporate offices as well as retail spaces to emphasize the use and power of pattern across the entire brand. A number of interior design and branding agencies we are working with around the world have been downloading images from our archive at a rate of over 250% based on previous years.
View a selection of images for the Geometric trend
8) Going back to our roots with the Hand Drawn/Craft trend
When the personal computer came into our world it brought a clean, sharp and almost clinical look and feel to the design, advertising, and creative industries as we pushed and pulled at the wonderful capabilities new technology offered. What we have seen over the last couple of years is a resurgence and appreciation for the hand drawn or handcrafted arts and this will only continue this year. Our content on this trend stretches from the earliest cave drawings to some of the most promising and rising artists in the contemporary art world.
View a selection of images for the Hand Drawn/Craft trend
If there are any trends that you have seen that you feel will emerge this year or have any comments on what we have chosen for 2019, please let us know, we’d love to hear your thoughts.
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