Graphic Design Trends I Actually Want to Try in 2026
- Deena Englard
- 6 days ago
- 6 min read
There are always dozens of articles out there listing trends that are on the rise (and those that have been for a few years now, but are still going strong).
So instead of rehashing what’s already pretty well-hashed out in those articles, I’m singling out the ones that I personally want to try out this year.
Below are all of the other forecast lists so that you can get your fill of all the various ideas out there. Some I didn’t include in my list because they’re so cool that I already know my clients won’t “get” it 😆. Some just don’t have practical use in my corner of the marketing world. But they might still be useful for you! So feel free to peruse and take in the inspiration.
As always, remember that not every concept and style matches every client and goal, so utilize trends with discretion.
Design Trends I’m Excited to Try Out
1. AI - Create the Unexpected
While AI is a helpful tool for speeding up mundane tasks like removing unwanted objects from photos, what I’d love to try out this year is using it to create something completely new and creative.
I love seeing the way people have been using AI to combine two separate ideas into something new (see images above):
There’s so much vivid imagery, sensory detail, and deep symbolism. It feels like you can reach in and touch these.
I’m not sure how and when this will be useful, but it looks so intriguing and eye-catching that I’m going to keep this in my back pocket as a potential concept for a future campaign down the line.
Also, creating custom mockups using AI. I haven’t found a use for it yet, but I’m keeping this tutorial in the back of my mind in case I ever need to pull it out for a future project.
2. Anti-AI/Hand-Made
(Image above: Have you seen the new AppleTV intro created by hand out of millions of photos and real live effects? Even more important, have you seen the massive amounts of positive publicity they've received by doing it by hand instead of with AI?)
In a world becoming increasingly saturated by cold, generic, unemotional AI slop, it’s no wonder that there’s a resurgence in the value of human, hand-made design. While AI can create some cool things that would otherwise take years for humans to make, it doesn’t retain that emotional connection that people have.
We’ve all subconsciously started judging every image we see to determine if it’s real or AI. Similarly, I’ve started feeling way more connected than ever to art created by human artists, perfecting their skills and vision over thousands of hours of practice, working with intention and deliberation to craft a specific experience (just like us designers!).
And it’s reawakened my own love of drawing from way back when I was in high school and used to doodle my way through all of my classes. I’ve started practicing ink drawing and watching tutorials. It’s changing the way I see objects, light, and texture and making me more confident when editing illustrations and creating my own icons or design elements for clients.
And I think we’re going to see a lot more of the hand-made approach in the future as generic AI imagery begins to oversaturate the magazines.
If marketing is about standing out, then when everyone uses AI, being deliberately human becomes a solid strategy, despite the time and money it might take to execute.
You can read even more about this concept in this article from It’s Nice That.
Some ways you can put this idea into action:
Showcase the behind the scenes of the making of an illustration or photograph in a design. This is becoming increasingly important for artists, to prove that their work is in fact not made with AI.
Use hand-made effects and photograph them. For example:
This new book cover illustration was created in real life out of paper craft and then photographed to be used for the cover
Rosa Seidenwar’s hand-crafted stop motion animations
Remember when we were all creating text out of ingredients like honey or flour? (circa 2015 😆) (image source)
Pro tip: doing this as a collaboration with an artist and/or photographer also expands your marketing reach when they publicize their work done for your client. You've now doubled or tripled the social media audience for this piece of marketing!
Olly Richards, the CEO of StoryLearning, a multi-million dollar company, said that in his own weekly nurture emails, he’ll sometimes deliberately slip in a small typo or grammatical error just to ensure people realize that he’s writing these emails himself and not using an AI to do it. (Side note: I’ve been predicting that this will happen for probably over a year now! So I feel very proud about it lol)
3. Type as Design
We’ve been seeing this coming on for a while now - typography-centered design where the font and the words are the hero and if there’s any imagery even at all it’s much more of a supporting character.
As someone whose favorite aspect of design is typography, I’m all for this trend. 😂Let’s get some cool typefaces going!
4. Glass/Holographic Objects
I’ve been trying to find a way to work these amorphous, glass-like, semi-transparent, holographic blobs into a design for probably over a year now. And to no avail! I have not yet found a way to integrate them into a campaign in a way that makes sense conceptually and adds to the message rather than detracting (as all good design elements should).
But I fully expect to keep trying them in 2026 as well 😂
5. Colors of the Year
While Pantone’s color of the year is just a white-ish cloud which isn’t really a leading color for a palette, there are other top color trends for 2026 that are intriguing.
Comparing Coloro’s predictions with Pinterest’s, I see a bunch of overlaps that I’m interested to try out this year:
Greens - Transformative Teal, Deep Green, Wasabi, Meadowland, Green Glow, Jade, Mint
Purples - Lilac, Fresh Purple, Plum Noir
Blues - Luminous Blue, Cool Blue, Blue Aura
Bright Red - Energy Orange, Persimmon
Purples have been trending for a few years now and I'm loving it! A good lavender adds so much to a palette, adding a pop of color and a surprisingly modern twist on classic palettes.
And if you know me, you know my favorite color is green so those are right up my alley 😁
6. Logos
I tend to create quite a lot of logos each year - from brands to campaigns - so having some new ideas and techniques up my sleeve to try out can be handy when brainstorming and sketching (yes, I sketch the old-fashioned way and highly recommend it!).
Here are some trending logo techniques I’d love to try out this year:
Scalers - I can see this technique working well for a brand that represents change or transition, visually showing the change they bring. It’s not a new idea, though these executions of it look quite modern. I actually did something along these lines for the Chesed Chicago logo. I guess you can say it uses the Shmokie style as well.
Crossovers - that overlapping twist looks so visually interesting! I’d love to find a way to tie it into a brand’s concept so that it tells their story in their icon.
Sprinklers - while a lot of these trends feel so busy that they defy the simplicity you typically want in a logo (something that even a layman can sketch quickly with a pencil), this has a feeling of depth and complexity while still being simple to draw.
Feast your eyes on trend forecasts from across the internet.
These various articles explore many other trends that have either been going strong for the past few years or are emerging now, to give you inspiration, ideas, and keep you on your toes.
CreativeBloq
Design style focused
Jukebox
A bunch more styles with great visual examples
Digital Synopsis
Even more styles, with more concrete examples
Satori Graphics
For those of you who prefer watching and listening to reading, he also explains the “why” behind the trends
Creative Market
A focus on stock illustrations and elements
LogoLounge
Logo-focused
ReallyGoodDesigns
More web-focused
Vistaprint
More print-focused
Adobe
More focused on social templates
Canva
All about the Anti-AI style of imperfection to show humanity. I thought that was a bit ironic coming from a design template tool with a major AI integration 😂
This article took you 6 minutes to read, but it took me 6 hours to put together. If you enjoyed, please consider sharing it with others.
