26.02.2024
Design 2024 – Opulent, narrational and a feast for the senses
The trend I find most remarkable right now is the Frutiger Aero look, which very well reflects the needs that concern us in a politically and socially challenging time. Its escapist-idyllic-world style which came into being for digital media in the 2000s can be playfully transformed into a contemporary aesthetic.
Roughly speaking, this is a creative screen design style that emerged in the noughties. Analogue objects were digitally simulated with the purpose of reducing fear of the virtual world at the time. The on-screen designs were futuristic, hyperreal compositions. They showed a beautiful, intact and yet accessible-surreal world in which people, nature and technology enter into a perfect and harmonious symbiosis. It was an inclusive world, open to everyone. If you look at the current developments with ChatGPT, Midjourney, Sora & Co., we are again facing a time of radical, digital upheaval that brings with it a fear of enormous changes. It's no surprise that this style has a wide following and has influenced many areas of design.
This union of polar opposites leads to surprising new outcomes which find expression in an orgiastic fusion of the analogue and the digital. Expressed through futuristic graphics paired with haptic elements and retro typography, it also strikes a balance between maximum contrasts, creating something beautiful and playful.
On the meta level we will see – and I believe this applies to all styles that will shape design in 2024 – the search for an aesthetic that touches the senses: cheerful colour spectrums providing us with optimism and confidence; imaginative illustrations and photography that form collages, whisking us off to other worlds. During the pandemic, there was a clear need for bold and simple design language which enabled consumers to quickly find their products. Design in 2024 will be opulent, sensual and narrational!
This article was published on the German design platform Designbote.com.