Do you remember the big hair, neon kicks, bright sweaters, and the giant boomboxes of the 80’s? Me neither, I was just a little girl and the only evidence I have of the 80’s are my baby pics with my mom rocking her mile high hair. If you missed the 80’s the first time around, good news, they’re are back! Dust off your boombox because cassette tape sales in the U.S. have more than quadrupled since 2011.* So what can we expect to see with a resurgence of the 80’s? Lots and lots of bright and brilliant colors, in social media, online, in print, everywhere. We’re also likely to see a resurgence of bold geometric prints. Think highlighter yellow diamonds with cyan circles and neon pink triangles.
Simultaneously we see a trend that seems to contradict the busy bursts of color of the 80’s, the idea that less is more. I’m a big champion of simplicity and believe that the more simple you can make it, the better for your audience to understand. Recently this trend has been about sleek lines, sans serif type, black and white slim line text, often all caps, and a sleek modern aesthetic, sometimes using one or two bright colors. So many designs have fallen into this category over the past few years and I believe we are in for a big departure.
The combination of 80’s influence and the less is more movement will lead to simple yet bright designs and color combinations that will refresh the modern aesthetic. Yet the simplicity of this movement will remain intact creating a very bright 2019 indeed.
These themes will unite to design for a greater cause. The 115 congress is the most diverse the U.S. has seen and the senate has a record breaking 21 female leaders. Our nation is in a politically charged state and as the social movements calling for equal representation and rights increase so will the posters, the social media, and the brand of a movement. This will give women and minority designers the backing and the platforms to design for social change.
In 2019 we unite to design for social change. It will be a year of beautiful, passionate & brilliant artwork both in content and color.
* Source: Grammy.com 1/14/2019 www.grammy.com/grammys/news/record-store-day-2018-inside-comeback-cassette-tapes
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