2019 Graphic Design Trends and 31 Templates to Nail Them

You can rest (work?) easy knowing that every time you launch Adobe Express you’ll be greeted with thousands of on-trend, relevant templates. Our designers scour the Internet for the latest content and social media trends so you don’t have to! That said, a little background can help you employ 2019’s top graphic design styles like a branding pro. Here’s a look at the visual trends our content designers have spotted across industries and platforms. Start communicating in style by editing any of the templates in this post—just tap to add your own words and imagery in seconds.

Maximalism and Layering

Maximalism throws the adage “less is more” out the window, and instead uses bright colors, lots of layering, and bold text to grab attention. We’re seeing this trend pop up all over Instagram, perhaps in response to the minimalism that swept the platform the last few years. Maximalism done well makes a bold visual statement that has the potential stop thumbs in their tracks. And it’s pretty fun to discover all the cool design ingredients in Adobe Express’s icon library to help you accomplish a loud design. Paint splotches? Check. Comic strip dots? Yep. Brush strokes? Oh yeah. Search for “textures” under “add icon” to open up a world of design possibilities. Other easy ways to get the maximalist look in Post: apply color filters, expand text by dragging the corners, or tap duplicate to easily layer type.

Unconventional Color Schemes and Bold Palettes

These templates employ opposite colors in a variety of shades to create surprising combos and vibrant high-contrast palettes. To accomplish this look, pick colors that are complementary (meaning those on opposite ends of the color wheel) and then pull in variants of those shades, both lighter and darker. Make sure your text and its background have the highest contrast for readability. Don’t know anything about color theory, but still want to win at this trend? Tap throughAdobe Express Post’s smart color palettes to get inspired and land on unconventional color combos.

Brutalist Layouts

Brutalist design comes from the French word, meaning raw. It breaks traditional design rules by using jarring layouts and often employs utilitarian colors and fonts. While brutalist designs share a boldness with maximalism, this trend forgoes frivolous decoration in favor of no-nonsense communication. If you’re drawn to this style, figure out which piece of information is the most important to your message and focus on making that part of the graphic the boldest.

Bauhaus Style

The Bauhaus design movement has been influencing everything from architecture and city planning to typefaces for the last 100 years. The term, put simply, refers to a school of thought that outlines the theory that form follows function. When applied to graphic design, the Bauhaus style lends an abstract look to your communications—and lately, we see it used successfully to convey academic sophistication. Bauhaus favors simple fonts, such as Futura, sparse, open compositions, and strong geometric lines and shapes.

Asymmetry and Overlapping Elements

Orderly grids and symmetrical designs are giving way to something a bit more unconventional. Though the rule of thirds still applies and grids can help lend a sense of order and balance, you can give your design extra allure by placing type outside of grid lines or “breaking” the grid in some way. Want to nail this advanced technique? Start with one of these designs or pick any grid layout in Post’s inspiration wall and simply remove elements and adjust grid lines to make it a little funkier. Shapes, placed across the canvas such as the following designs, also do the trick.

Negative Space

While maximalism seeks to stand out by filling the canvas with content, the use of negative space grabs attention for its unconventional use of empty space. A blank center or sparse layout creates a sleek, modern look with less. Still the whole canvas is used, such as with shapes or text bumping up or overlapping with the frame, which creates an open, almost continuous, feel to the design. You can accomplish this clean effect by focusing your main message off-center or in a corner. Get subtle with your typography and bold with your shapes to encourage eyes to linger on your design.

Bold, Experimental Type

Get funky with your fonts! These designs look professional, but they’re actually quite simple and effective thanks to the messaging being the star. Play with breaking up words on different lines, using Adobe Express Post’s cutout feature to fill type with photographs and textures, and hitting the duplicate button to layer and stagger text. If you employ the last tip, just make sure your words are simple and concise to aid legibility.

Old Time-y Fonts

Ready for a quick Typography 101 lesson?n A “serif” is the little mark at the end of the lines on some fonts. There are two main buckets of fonts: serif and sans serif. Serif fonts tend to look more ornate or old fashioned, while sans serifs (aka “without” serifs) have been sweeping the graphic design world as the modern go-to because they tend to be easier to read on screens. Perhaps nostalgic for flowery, ornate fonts, we’ve been seeing an increase in old-timey serif fonts like, Playfair and Abril Fafta. They work great for invitations and short lines of text when you want to impart a classic, old-fashioned, or ornate vibe.

Diverse Photography and Community Values

The need for authenticity in our communications and imagery continues to heavily influence graphic design. Make sure your imagery is representative of your audience and the breadth of its diversity.

Stories that spark Interaction

Similarly audiences turn to social media for connection, so content that invites your followers to comment or take part in the creation process is becoming ever popular. Interactive content, such as polls or fill-in-the-blank Instagram Stories, helps you use social media for relationship building rather than one-way advertising.

See 9 more fill-in-the-blank templates