12 popular trends in modern design

We will tell you the features of different design professions and what knowledge they need.

 If you are thinking about a career in design, you are likely looking for answers to the questions: what professions are needed now, and which ones will be relevant for a long time to come? What exactly do you need to know and be able to do in each specialty? What is interesting in different areas of design?

Graphic Designer

A graphic designer creates ideas and images that draw attention to a product, service, or event:

• logos and identity;
• promotional materials;
• packaging;
• digital content for websites or social networks.

She can also work with printed products, design books, and magazines.

What you need to know

• Navigate different visual languages ​​and styles, which will require developing observation.
• Invent images and metaphors, and translate the verbal into the visual.
• Work with composition and color schemes, typography, and modular grid, and know the layout principles.
• Apply knowledge of printing technologies.
• Understand the design of digital layouts and have the skills to work with landing pages.
• Work in graphic editors Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, CorelDRAW, and Affinity.

What is the buzz of the profession?

There are many specializations and directions in graphic design: you can try different ones – branding, packaging design, and working with websites or social networks. And this profession allows you not to limit your creative self-expression.

Font designer

This specialist works with a separate area of ​​graphic design – the design of printed text:

• designs and produces fonts and signs for Cyrillic, Latin, and other forms of writing;
• creates corporate fonts that reflect the nature of the brand and become a fundamental part of the identity.

What you need to know

• Navigate the history of type and various artistic styles.
• Understand typography, the laws of composition, and color techniques.
• Work with graphic design, print design, and navigate branding and communications design.
• Create sketches by hand and on a tablet, and do lettering and calligraphy.
• Work in FontLab, FontCreator, Fontographer, and Adobe Creative Cloud programs.

What is the buzz of the profession?

Fonts are the foundation of communication. A type designer creates something that conveys a message more effectively than the letters and words themselves: the structure, aesthetics, and writing style directly affect the perception and set the mood for the whole message. In this profession, there is a place for creativity or routine drawing and deep analytics of a person and social processes.

Commercial illustrator

Illustrators create images that complement the meaning of the text, tell stories metaphorically or directly, explain complexities, and evoke emotions. Illustrations needed:

• for websites and periodicals;
• when creating images in advertising and identity;
• for the design of instructions and infographics.

Drawings do not just decorate booklets or magazine pages: this communication tool greatly influences how the reader and viewer perceive the information and image of the product.

What you need to know

• Come up with visual metaphors.
• Constantly develop insight.
• Draw by hand and on a graphics tablet in completely different styles.
• Use the laws of color theory, the rules of composition, and the psychology of image perception.
• Work in graphic editors and applications Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and Procreate.

What is the buzz of the profession?

Illustrators have much creative freedom: everyone can form and develop their unique style, for which there will always be customers. And working with different techniques and styles always allows you to try something new and develop new skills.

Motion designer

A motion designer is a professional who animates illustrations and graphics. His task is to create dynamic images that bring the graphic idea to life and draw attention to the product. It can be:

• interface elements,
• screensavers for streaming shows,
• movie graphics,
• television programming,
• infographics,
• commercials.

What you need to know

• Invent plots, make storyboards, create graphic images, and translate static images into dynamic plots.
• Create illustrations and graphics.
• Do compositing, keying, and color correction.
• Work in Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere, Cinema 4D, Blender, Maya, 3ds Max, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and Principle.

What is the buzz of the profession?

Motion designers are also in demand in the design of digital products in design studios and online videos in communication agencies. Therefore, today you can animate a large cartoon splash screen, and tomorrow you can work on interface elements. Different scales of tasks will require a different approach, so it definitely won’t be boring.

Visual communications designer

Communication designers work closely with marketers. They create and develop the visual language of brands in all channels of interaction with the client:

• make an identity for products and services;
• create advertising campaigns and merchandise concepts;
• develop a vision of digital communications on websites, social networks, and applications;
• draw up internal communications — training materials and presentations for employees.

Visual communications also include the design of public navigation – signs and signs in the subway, shopping centers, or stadiums. But sometimes, navigation design is taken out as a separate profession.

What you need to know

• Communicate information through graphics and have storytelling skills to create engaging presentations and campaign concepts.
• Analyze the target audience and know how different marketing channels and promotion methods work.
• Make a selling design and work in tandem with a marketer.
• Work in graphic editors, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW, and Adobe InDesign.

What is the buzz of the profession?

A visual communications designer turns marketing strategies into concrete images that evoke the audience’s emotions and spur action. This means that this profession makes it possible to influence people’s decisions and even change the world for the better.

Web Designer

Web designers develop visual elements and page layouts on the Internet:

• sites,
• blogs,
• online stores,
• promo pages and landings.

Thus, it is up to web designers how millions of users see the Internet daily. These experts’ design is interactive: users interact with it by scrolling through pages, clicking buttons, and making choices. Therefore, a web designer not only works with aesthetics but also must consider the usability of his digital product – that is, usability.

What you need to know

• Apply the basics of usability and navigate the principles of adapting sites for different devices.
• Use knowledge of typography, layout, and color theory.
• Draw simple vector images and animate them.
• Design site structure and create layouts for Tilda, Readymag, Webflow, or WordPress No-Code platforms.
• Work in Figma, Sketch, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe XD.

What is the buzz of the profession?

Web designers don’t have a professional “ceiling.” Technology is rapidly evolving, and new tools are emerging, so you can constantly expand your skills and grow. And since digital development does not require personal meetings with the client and offline interaction with the product, you can do web design from anywhere in the world.

UX/UI designer

UX/UI designers are responsible for the usability of apps and websites. These specialists design the architecture and design of digital products in such a way that they are easy to use. All elements and logic of actions are clear, and the interface is beautiful and consistent with the business objectives. To do this, UX/UI designers:

• conduct research on user behavior and requests,
• define scenarios for their interaction with the interface,
• create concepts and prototypes of websites and applications,
• develop the design of all elements.

What you need to know

• Conduct audience research, analyze user behavior, identify working hypotheses, and conduct A/B testing.
• Create mindmaps and interaction scenarios in Excel, Miro, XMind, and Canvanizer.
• Make an animation, master typography, and know the basics of color.
• Create concepts for websites and applications, design wireframes, and prototype user interfaces.
• Make interface prototypes and design them in Figma, InVision Studio, Sketch, and Adobe XD.

What is the buzz of the profession?

UX / UI design works not only for the benefit of business and sales growth. It is needed to solve specific people’s real problems and make services understandable and accessible. This profession opens up opportunities to make the digital world not only more beautiful but also more convenient.

Multimedia designer

Such designers create multimedia projects that combine engineering and computer technology, interaction design, animation, computer graphics, and art. Most often, multimedia designers are the authors of lighting performances at large concerts and festivals; they create interactive installations and physical reality.

What you need to know

• Bring objects to life with light, color, movement, reflections, shadows and textures, and computer animation.
• Design engineering structures for a specific space.
• Work with Kinect, Leap Motion, and Magic Leap devices.
• Create animation, projections, holograms, and augmented reality: work with 2D and 3D graphics, typography, and animation in Adobe Creative Suite, Cinema 4D, ZBrush, Blender, Marvelous Designer, and Unreal Engine. Also, use neural networks.

What is the buzz of the profession?

It is difficult to master the profession of a multimedia designer, so the demand for such specialists is always high, and their wages are high. And although this work has a lot of programming, structural design, and engineering solutions, the result is art.

Full stack designer

It is a multidisciplinary profession that combines the roles of developer and designer. This means that a full-stack designer can create a digital product completely from scratch: not only design the structure of a site or application and determine the design of elements but also independently build its architecture and user interface.

What you need to know

• Design interfaces according to the principles of UX / UI design.
• Work with MySQL, MongoDB, Redis, Oracle, and SQL Server databases.
• Program in Python or JavaScript and create interfaces in Vue.js.
• Work with graphic design, typography, and animation in Adobe Creative Suite, Cinema 4D, ZBrush, and Blender.

What is the buzz of the profession?

Becoming a full-stack designer is difficult: you need to master many skills in design and programming. But this makes such universal specialists very popular and valuable. In addition, in this work, there is a place not only for focused programming but also for creative self-expression.

industrial designer

Industrial designers create things that people use in everyday life:

• transport — from cars and planes to scooters;
• gadgets – computers, smartphones, audio, and video equipment;
• household appliances;
• furniture and interior items;
• Sports Equipment;
• tools;
• perfume bottles and children’s toys.

They develop the design of objects in such a way that it combines aesthetics and convenience. In addition, industrial designers’ projects necessarily consider the technological capabilities of production.

What you need to know

• Understand the needs of a person and find solutions to his everyday problems.
• Analyze existing products’ characteristics and physical properties and determine how they can be made more convenient or simpler.
• Calculate the cost of production and determine the necessary engineering solutions.
• Manually produce three-dimensional layouts and prototypes.
• Work in programs for visualization of ideas and 3D modeling – AutoCAD, SolidWorks, LabVIEW, Rhino, Arduino IDE – and Adobe Creative Suite applications.

What is the buzz of the profession?

This work allows you to turn ideas into material objects that will bring others benefit and joy. In addition, industrial designers can create practical and necessary items right now and design future objects or focus on environmentally friendly inventions.

Interior designer

The task of interior designers is to make the premises comfortable, safe, functional, and aesthetically attractive. For this they:

• engage in space planning;
• think over-engineering and technical solutions;
• select building materials, furniture, and decor;
• create harmonious color and lighting solutions;
• supervise repairs and decoration.

What you need to know

• Apply knowledge of various architectural styles in your work.
• Navigate the catalogs of finishing materials, furniture, decor, and textiles from different manufacturers.
• Build projections and read drawings, visualizing the real appearance of objects.
• Use modern construction and engineering technologies, GOSTs, and SNiPs.
• Work in ArchiCAD, 3ds Max, SketchUp, and Layout programs.

What is the buzz of the profession?

Interior designers turn gray walls into comfortable spaces that delight people for a long time. This profession is creative and engineering; it has a place for focused work on drawings and rich customer communication. And the routine tasks of calculating the volume of building materials are combined with an exciting search for incredible decor items.

landscape designer

Landscape designers are engaged in the design of parks, gardens, and squares to ennoble them and make them functional and harmonious:

• select plants and soils;
• plan the location of paths, ponds, and small architectural elements;
• design engineering communications – water supply, storm systems, and lighting.

This work’s main task is to improve natural areas for the benefit of people.

What you need to know

• Analyze the requests and behavior of those who will use the territory.
• Apply knowledge in architecture, ergonomics, horticulture, urban studies, and social sciences.
• Understand building materials and technologies, crop production, and soil science.
• To know different varieties of plants, the features of their flowering, and care for them.
• Create design concepts for territories and supervise their implementation.
• Design spaces, make drawings in AutoCAD, SketchUp, and Realtime Landscaping Architect programs, and read project documentation.

What is the buzz of the profession?

The work of landscape designers benefits both people and the environment: they are able not only to create beautiful areas but also to restore or maintain fragile natural ecosystems artificially.