Illustration and graphic design trends for 2024 center on five directions: commercial brutalism, Dadaism, geometry nodes in Blender, activism, and anti-AI art. Together they show a shift toward raw and provocative visuals, customized 3D tools, social messages, and a push back against automation.
What was popular yesterday is quickly forgotten, and as an illustrator, you have to follow the trends in graphic design to keep your work fresh and engaging for an audience whose tastes keep changing. Together with Shakuro’s team of illustrators, we explore the emerging art and graphic design trends for 2024 and how to use them in real products. For interface-specific shifts, see our overview of UX design trends.
Below, we look at each trend with examples, commercial brutalism, Dadaism, geometry nodes in Blender, activism, and anti-AI, and then at how to take advantage of the upcoming illustration trends.
Commercial brutalism
Brutalism in graphic design is an expressive style with rough shapes, a lack of patterns, and the use of raw materials. This aesthetics focuses on straightforwardness and honesty while emphasizing the power of products.
You can use it in web design, posters, and advertising, adding an edgy and avant-garde character. Some companies use elements of brutalism in their logos for bold and modern brands to stand out among their rivals.
Poster by Los Caballos
Dadaism
Dadaism is a provocative anti-art, counterculture, and a protest against recognized artistic standards. The movement was born in the club Cabaret Voltaire. In their works and performances, the club participants tried to capture the absurdity that gripped Europe during wartime and express disgust at the bloodbath.
Posters for the transport museum by Oleg Borodin
The Dadaists considered one of the main reasons for the outbreak of the First World War to be the degradation of bourgeois consciousness, the apathy of high society who had forgotten how to formulate meanings. Through their performances, the avant-garde artists wanted to give shock therapy to world culture, to return to the state of a “blank sheet” and start talking about life.
All these trends in graphic design arose as a manifesto for everything bourgeois, pompous, and overly decorative. As the world around was changing towards simplification (especially after the appearance of the first canvas at the Henry Ford plant), the world of art was changing too.
Using this trending design, you can break free from traditional constraints and experiment with unconventional and unexpected visual elements.
Geometry nodes in Blender
This is not an innovation, but rather a very popular tool for modification. A lot of authors make 3D add-ons or material packs and publish them in the public domain. It often happens that you like the add-on but you need a few tweaks. Blender is a powerful 3D modeling program that is used for creating motion and graphics. If you have a basic understanding of geo nodes in Blender, you can edit the add-ons to your taste and make cool customized things.
However, just like in any other type of illustration, you need to level up the basic skills first: composition, design, color, light, post-processing, observation, and technical knowledge of the instrument itself. The rest is just seasoning.
Activism
In 2024 and upcoming years, more designers using their platforms to address social and political issues. They highlight trendy topics in ecology, economics, etc., and spread the word to attract others to the problems through visual communication. This trend reflects a growing demand for authenticity and purpose in design, as consumers seek out products and experiences that align with their values.
The arts supporting activism are heart-touching pictures, full of creativity, with short mottos, bold typography, and vibrant colors. They make you think about world issues, inequality, and injustice.
Illustration by Alex Nabaum
Anti-AI
Artificial intelligence and smart algorithms have become an integral part of our lives, a technical trend that’s being adopted by all businesses. They automate most of the minor tasks, speed up the working processes, generate images and videos, and brainstorm ideas. For many people, this AI expansion is a threat: some have already lost their jobs and are replaced by smart algorithms.
53% of Americans say Artificial Intelligence is doing more harm than good. So more and more designers and artists go against using AI. While fighting the automation trends, they even create special tools like Nightshade to spoil their digital art and ‘poison’ the training data for machine algorithms. As a result, AI makes more and more mistakes during text-to-image generation. We can only guess how many artists are going to use the tool, and how this race between AI and humans will go.
Image that shows the poisoning process (taken from the official research)
FAQ
What are the illustration trends for 2024?
The main illustration and graphic design trends for 2024 are commercial brutalism, Dadaism, geometry nodes in Blender, activism, and anti-AI. They combine technology, unconventional creativity, and a heightened sense of social consciousness: rough and provocative styles, customized 3D add-ons, visuals that address social and political issues, and artists who resist using AI in their work.
What is brutalism in graphic design?
Brutalism in graphic design is an expressive style with rough shapes, a lack of patterns, and the use of raw materials. It focuses on straightforwardness and honesty and emphasizes the power of products. Commercial brutalism is used in web design, posters, and advertising to add an edgy, avant-garde character, and some bold modern brands use its elements in their logos to stand out.
What is Dadaism in design?
Dadaism is a provocative anti-art movement, a counterculture protest against recognized artistic standards, born in the Cabaret Voltaire club. Its artists captured the absurdity that gripped Europe during wartime and wanted to give shock therapy to world culture. In modern graphic design, the Dada style lets you break free from traditional constraints and experiment with unconventional and unexpected visual elements.
What is anti-AI art?
Anti-AI art is a response from designers and artists who go against using artificial intelligence, as 53% of Americans say AI is doing more harm than good. Some artists fight automation with tools like Nightshade, which spoils digital art to poison the training data for machine algorithms, so AI makes more mistakes in text-to-image generation.
How do illustrators use geometry nodes in Blender?
Blender is a powerful 3D modeling program for creating motion and graphics. Many authors publish 3D add-ons and material packs in the public domain, and with a basic understanding of geometry nodes, an illustrator can edit those add-ons and create customized results. The basics still come first: composition, color, light, post-processing, observation, and technical knowledge of the tool.
Take advantage of the upcoming illustration trends
The future of illustration and graphic design is set to be defined by a fusion of technology, unconventional creativity, and a heightened sense of social consciousness. As we move into 2024, it’s crucial to embrace these graphic design trends and use them as a springboard to create designs that resonate with your audiences on a deeper level.
Implementing the latest trending designs into projects requires experience and skill. Contact us to create apps or websites with meaningful art corresponding to the tendencies.
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