19 Eye-Catching Graphic Design Trends for 2018

19 Eye-Catching Graphic Design Trends for 2018 Graphic design seems to be a skillset that will never go out of demand and is increasingly becoming a learnable field by the technically untrained designer. From small business owners to authors, more and more entrepreneurs are turning to graphic design as a way of learning a new skill for their personal edification, or to save costs in their business. Here are 19 trends that were huge this year, and show no signs of stopping going into 2019:Creative typographyWhen it comes to branding or titling, one of the first things to meet the eye is the message. What is a brand, a title, or an advertisement saying? This year, graphic designers took this to a new level by getting creative with typography and fonts. Some trends showed creative effects, like pouring paint over letters, words that look like bent silverware, dual color schemes, and more. Additionally, cropped typography, where certain parts of letters are erased but the word remains readable and clear, remained popular. Book covers seemed to favor chaotic typography, where letters were misaligned or manipulated into arcs or curves or other strange shapes.Negative spaceThis is a popular trend that shows no signs of slowing down. Simply, an empty space in a design that forms a certain shape is considered a negative space design. Designs of a wide variety utilize this popular graphic design technique, as its versatile, endlessly creative, and frankly, super cool to look at. Along with negative space designs, an emerging and increasingly popular trend is negative space typography. Reference the covers for A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald or Mamita by Inez van Oort and Mirjam Bleeker.Double exposureWhats better than one awesome image? How about two? Double exposure is not a new technique in photography, film, or graphic design, but has ebbed and flowed in popularity over the years. Luckily, its flowing again, and designers are creating ultra-cool images using this technique, which is simply combining two exposures of a n image or images, and creating a single image from them. Check out this example.DuotoneAn easy way to brush up a photo or logo is the relatively simple technique of duotone, where the image has just two predominant colors. A red or blue color is overlaid on a grayscale image to produce this effect.Double exposure duotoneCombining the two aforementioned techniques into one produces an uber-modern, futuristic effect. Two images, either the same one doubled or two different images are layered in monochrome colors. The resulting effects are striking, especially when combined with one of the typography trends mentioned above. The poster for the film Flatliners makes excellent use of this.Double lightIn the same vein as double the pleasure, double the fun, double light has been trending heavily. Color channels are split around a single image and layered together to create a modern, trendy, retro feel to a photo. This lends itself well to fashion. Band photos are known to make use of this technique, also. With the right color scheme, it works well to create an interesting sci-fi feel to an image, too.Glitch effectDo you remember back in the day when TV sets (yeah, sets) had little antennas on them, and when they got disturbed or so much as one drop of rain fell from the sky, the picture would go glitchy and weird? That has translated into some of the most interesting graphic design effects on this trends list. With the advent of digital images, this effect is no longer an annoyance, but something that can create a truly interesting piece of art.Ruined effectAnother effect that creates a disturbance in an image is the ruined effect. This particular technique creates some of the most interesting and unique images you can find today. Splashing, tearing, slashing, breaking, layering- its all fair game with this technique. And if you can layer in different textures, colors, and patterns, even better. Photos can look like cut-out collages of the nineties. You remember you r dream board, dont you?One-color 3D designWhat good is design technology without making use of 3D effects? The one-color 3D design technique uses the same color as the featured image in the background. Sounds plain, but it actually helps enhance the featured image and makes it pop. Dimension, shadow, and texture all help to create the separation of the image from the background, and done masterfully, creates a pleasing, eye-catching image that works well with advertisement.Colorful 3D substanceOne of the top crazes in the graphic design field is combining bright colors and textures in a 3D environment. Images take on new dimension, texture, and shape in unique and utterly beautiful ways. This technique lends itself well to just about any feasible concept- movie posters, book covers, science imagery, food, and especially art.Digital handworkThis seems like a step backward as far as design advancements go, but combining digital graphic design technology is actually an on-the-rise tre nd. Where Photoshop paintbrushes once took center stage, hand drawings can now be converted to a digital space, where unique effects- such as the ones on this list- can be added for extra artistic enhancements.Illustrations and digital drawingSpecifically, layering an illustration over or under an image. Remember that 1980s music video Take On Me by A-Ha, where the animated guy followed the real woman? Back then, everyones minds were blown at the combination of the real and the animated, but now, the two worlds are meeting more often than ever, and in far more lush colors and settings than just black and white.Bright color gradientColor gradients arent necessarily anything new, but they remain a popular technique used widely in graphic design. Depending on the color scheme, different moods can be created- dark, childlike, ethereal. Two-tone gradients are also growing increasingly popular.Metallic elementsNothing says luxe like a bit of gold! Or silver, or bronze, or rose gold. When added to regular photos or images, metallic elements add a certain pop that results in, at least, a beautiful image, or, at best, a stunning, jaw-dropping visual. The light-reflective metallic adds dimension to any image. This technique can be used in successful combination with most of the other techniques on this list to create a unique image.MinimalismThe adage less is more applies here. Though trends tend to favor fancy graphics, clever design tricks, and eye-popping colors, its rare that anything beats good, old-fashioned minimalism. This is especially useful with sales- advertisements, book covers, posters. Minimal designs get the message across quickly, with stark colors, clean lines, plenty of white space and a minimum of text. Clean, concise, and clear will always rise above complex graphics and loud colors.Movement/animationThere was a time when words werent enough to convey feelings- we needed emoticons. Then emoticons evolved into emojis. Then the advent of memes explode d, combining image and text for a variety of situations and moments. Then, the moving meme, or GIF, emerged. GIFs, or rather, the concept behind them, can lend itself in a fresh and innovative way to logos, branding, and other design concepts to be used on a variety of platforms like websites, social media, newsletters, and more. Check out this site on how to animate the Google logo.BrutalismIf the name of this design technique sounds imposing, its images are, too. Its basically exactly what it sounds like- bold, simple colors, straightforward typeface, low effects, in-your-face messaging. Its the antithesis to the artistry that automatically accompanies the phrase graphic design, but that doesnt mean its any less effect. Like minimalism, the less is more ideal applies here, too, and while a bit riskier than minimalism- some viewers and consumers may be turned off by the colors and typeface- its no less effective. Its been called the punk rock of the web, and it might just be the pu nk rock of graphic design, too.3D still lifesThe use of 3D has grown over the last few years, and designers are finding new and innovative ways to harness this effect. One such way also happens to be one of the coolest graphic design trends, and it shows no sign of slowing down. Textures, effects, and depth all contribute to incredible images that make the viewer think it had to be a photo taken in real life. The possibilities with this technique are endless, and can be used for a variety of concepts. It seems to work especially well with fashion and home dà ©cor/design. It can also make for a stunning visual piece for your apartment wall, too. Have a look at some awesome renditions here.Isometric projectionFor super-cool, futuristic effects, isometric projection is a technique quickly growing in popularity. It presents 3D objects in 2D, and when combined with gradient colors, bright colors, and different uses of filters and hue/saturation to create depth, the results are often bre athtaking. Used across photography, digital design, illustration, and more, the effect of the images can vary, but the results are the same- evocative and awesome to look at.

Comparing Essays by Amy Tan and Adrienne Rich to My Own Experience †English Essay

Comparing Essays by Amy Tan and Adrienne Rich to My Own Experience – English Essay Free Online Research Papers Comparing Essays by Amy Tan and Adrienne Rich to My Own Experience English Essay Having immigrated from Malaysia, I find myself sometimes embarrassed of my Asian heritage. I would have moments like where I would be uncomfortable by my mother’s imperfect or â€Å"broken† (Tan, 261) English. This is similar to Amy Tan. In her essay, â€Å"Mother Tongue,† describes this discomfort vividly as she grew up. Being born in America but having immigrant parents from China, she showed scenes where she felt isolated by the cultural gulf that existed between them especially in their differing skill levels of the English language. Adrienne Rich, although having no such language barrier between her parents, faced her own similar problem. In her essay, â€Å"Split at the Root: An essay on Jewish Identity,† she illustrates her confusion at being half-Jewish and half-gentile. She did not completely belong in either circle and even showed scenes in which she denied both of her backgrounds. Eventually however, both authors found some semblance of peace in their cultures and embraced them. It was only with time and the experiences that came along with it, that the authors accepted their cultural backgrounds as an identity. In her childhood, Amy Tan was ashamed of her mother’s language. To her, her mother’s English â€Å"reflected the quality of what she had to say. That is because she expressed them imperfectly her thoughts were imperfect† (Tan, 262). Tan reiterates this point by showing general examples of the backlashes of her mother’s bad English, â€Å"(it was the reason) that people in department stores, at banks, and at restaurants did not take her seriously, did not giver her good service, pretended not to understand her, or even acted as if they did not hear her† (Tan, 262). However, later on in her life, Tan realizes she had perceived her mother wrong. She understands the English language more so than her speech might let on, â€Å"you should know that my mother’s expressive command of English belies how much she actually understands. She reads the Forbes report, listens to Wall Street Week, converses daily with her stockbroker, reads all of Shirley M aclaine’s books with ease † (Tan, 261- 262). Although humiliated earlier on in her life by her mother’s speech which she judged to be a sign of her stupidity, a keener observation by Tan revealed an intelligent, literate person despite her dialogue. This ability to see beyond the superficial passing of judgment by an immediate sense of hearing and truly grasping a person’s persona by her actions came only with age, evidenced by the contrasting views that Tan held during childhood and adulthood. Therefore, it was time that allowed the author to accept her mother’s speech. Similarly, Adrienne Rich found it difficult understanding and accepting her parents’ deficiencies. As a child, she had the part of Portia in the play The Merchants of Venice. When she spoke her lines to her father she was told to convey her lines with â€Å"more scorn and contempt with the word Jew†¦ I was encouraged to pretend to be a non-Jewish child acting a non-Jewish character who has to speak the word Jew emphatically. Such a child would not have had trouble with the part† (Rich, 209). Rich, whose father was Jewish, did not understand his reactions even stating her similarity with her character, â€Å"As a Jewish child who was also a female, I loved Portia† (Rich, 209). She however did notice â€Å"a kind of terrible, bitter bravado about my father’s way of handling this† (Rich, 209). It wasn’t until after her freshman year in college that she discovered answers about his feelings towards his own background. When questioned by R ich, her father replied, â€Å"I have never denied being a Jew† (Rich, 212). Despite this statement however, he still showed signs of bitterness towards his own religion evidenced by his anticipation and eventual frustration on not obtaining a promotion in his workplace, Johns Hopkins, â€Å"the appointment was delayed for years, no Jew ever having held a professional chair in that medical school. And he wanted it badly. It must have been a bitter time for him, since he had believed so greatly in the redeeming power of excellence†¦ with enough excellence, you could presumably make it stop mattering that you were Jewish† (Rich, 212-213). Rich’s initial confusion later evolved into an understanding of her father’s struggles of being Jewish. She recognized the reasons for his bitterness and scorn for his and ultimately her own background. Similar to Tan, it was only with age that she was able to acquire such insight. Therefore, only time aided in unders tanding and accepting her father. Where Amy Tan and Adrienne Rich differ is their stance on the role stereotypical assimilation has played in their personal identity. Amy Tan believed the stereotype of all Chinese being involved in science and math related careers fueled her to a career with English. Growing up, Tan scored higher on her math achievement tests than her English, â€Å"While my English skills were never judged as poor, compared to math, English skills were never considered my strong suits† (Tan, 263). She admits to the fact that the Chinese students have test results similar to hers â€Å"Asian students, as a whole, always do significantly better on math achievement tests than in English. And this makes me think that there are other Asian-American students who English spoken in the home might also be described as â€Å"broken† or â€Å"limited† (Tan, 263). This, however, did not stop Tan in pursuing a writing career and with time she became more strongly associated with her eventua l career, â€Å"I became an English major in my first year in college, after being rolled in pre-med. I started writing non-fiction as a freelancer the week after I was told by my former boss that writing was my worst skill and I should hone my talents toward account management† (Tan, 204). Although Tan’s tests showed a different variety of skills than the ones her career she eventually sought required, which were stereotypical for her race, she did chose to ignore them. She did not embrace the stereotype; different from embracing her culture. To have accepted her stereotype would have meant assimilating more into what the American society viewed the Chinese should have been doing, â€Å"Teachers†¦ steer (the Chinese) away from writing and into math and science† (Tan, 264). With age, she moved further away from the stereotype, being fueled by them at the same time. As a result of this time, she became a unique Chinese woman accepting her Chinese culture but not accepting her stereotype. Rich, in contrast, seemed to have been lost in her assimilation throughout her life. In her freshman year, she blatantly denied her Jewish culture to an immigrant Jewish weaver when asked about her background due to the â€Å"eighteen years of training in assimilation (that) sprang into†¦ reflex† (Rich, 211). This trend of denial due to her assimilation continues when she recounts a letter her mother had sent her which stated that Jewish woman were â€Å"fascinating† (Rich, 213). Although Rich agrees with her statement, she becomes conscious of the possible consequences of identifying with them, â€Å"I wonder if that isn’t one message of assimilation – of America – that the unlucky or the unachieving want to pull you backward, that to identity with them is to count downward mobility, lose the precious chance of passing, of token existence† (Rich, 213). Her assumptions of assimilation come to a head in the conclusion of her essay where s he states, â€Å"I feel the history of denial within me like an injury, a scar. For assimilation has affected my perceptions; those early lapses in meaning, those blanks, are with me still† (Rich, 215). This last statement, which states her admittance of the negative outcomes of her assimilation, still shows her realization of the denial of her culture after years of living through it. She states, after that statement that the essay is not a conclusion but â€Å"another beginning for me†¦ it’s a moving into accountability, enlarging the range of accountability† (Rich, 215-216). Therefore, although her assimilation had prompted her to deny her Jewish heritage, time had allowed her to realize this fault and rectify her mistakes. In both essays, the writers start out ashamed and afraid to let the world know about the backgrounds. For Amy Tan, it was her mother’s imperfect English. For Adrienne Rich, it was her Jewish background. Both writers matured later own and accepted who they are. I too had a situation similar to the writers. Today I no longer care about hiding my mother’s English. I accept that her English is not perfect and no longer do I feel ashamed when she is in front of my friends. As time passes, I think everyone matures and accepts their identities. 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