RE: 2013 Design Trends in Print

So, after looking at the blog Stephanie posted and doing a quick design trend google search, I found a few more trends. The one that seemed to be popping up most (outside of the 5 Stephanie already listed) was print design using illustrations rather then photography. I think that this trend pretty much goes hand in hand with Stephanie's number 1 on her list, the trend of flat design, but hey, not all illustrations are flat so I am going with it as a different trend (and I think you guys should too...good discussion point *wink,wink*).

It just so happened that I went to NYC this weekend - what luck - a great chance to take photos (extra credit Stephanie) of billboards, advertisements, and other print design around the city. Too bad I had camera issues the entire trip which resulted in me discovering one of the things I am putting on my holiday wishlist. Because of this, I wound up taking photos with my six year old "dumb" phone. So, please bear with me on these somewhat blurry and small photos.

The first set is from Grand Central Station, where they use the illustration of a clock as the main artwork/logo (besides bold typography). While it turns out the illustration is flat design, the choice of an illustrated clock over a photograph of one or even photography of a train(s) was a definitely a conscious design choice to mold to the trend. The decision to then make it "flat" was a second conscious decision to follow the trends of today even more.

The second piece is a banner advertising CBRE, the worlds largest commercial real estate services firm, that was hung on lamp posts. The designer again made the choice to illustrate rather then photograph building windows and the statue of liberty hand, and mesh it into one image. A photographic mosaic of this just would not have had the same effect.

Any-who, sorry about the hard to see photos. I hope you get the gist and can see it well enough to let me know what you think about the designs I have chosen to share.

Oh, and I also found this blog link that discusses design trends of all types of media and formats that I thought was pretty awesome and informative (if they are accurate, but after all, "I found it on the internet and everything on the internet is true..." another funny video to be watched.)