THE BIGGEST
DESIGN TRENDS
OF 2022

SO FAR

We’re already halfway through 2022, and it’s clear what digital design trends are leading the way so far.

A silver, chrome, 3D arrow pointing downwards indicating to scroll down.

In 2022, digital designers are going all in: on color, experience, and on creating rich spaces for our ever-more hybrid way of living. And while the rest of the year is still loading, here are the undeniable design trends taking over our screens right now.

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A strip with four white vector images. The first image says DT2022 and has an arrow pointing diagonally towards it. The second is a series of squares in a 3 by 6 grid. The third is a barcode and the fourth is a print mark.

THIS YEAR'S TRENDS IN REVIEW

01 in a silver, chrome, 3D font

METAVERSE MAYHEM

1. A screenshot of Nikeland, a destination in the metaverse created by Nike.
02 in a silver, chrome, 3D font

DIGITAL FASHION

An animated fashion model with bright white, long hair in buns. They’re wearing a baseball jacket and a visor on their eyes with ROWW written across it.
03 in a silver, chrome, 3D font

WEB KITSCH

Illustration of two outstretched arms holding pearls emerging from a pink clam shell
04 in a silver, chrome, 3D font

3D INTERACTIVE ELEMENTS

A model of an abstract sphere with different hues of purple and pink
05 in a silver, chrome, 3D font

DOPAMINE COLOR PALETTES

The word “mire” on a gridded background of differently-sized rectangles with rounded corners. The rectangles are brightly colored and include greens, pinks and blues, and the “mire” text has the opposite color of its background on the color wheel.
06 in a silver, chrome, 3D font

3D LETTERING

“Born Electric” written in an all-caps 3D, metallic, pinkish-purple font. The “o” in “born” has been replaced by the BMW logo.
07 in a silver, chrome, 3D font

ZEN ENERGY

A digital painting of a stand of yellow, pink and orange wild flowers against a black background, brightly lit by a light source above and in front of them, giving the appearance of a evening setting after dark.

TREND NO. 1

METAVERSE MAYHEM

A white barcode.

METAVERSE MAYHEM

A 3D illustration of an outstretched hand that appears to be made of chrome. The index finger is pointing forwards and the other fingers are relaxed.
A 3D illustration of an outstretched hand that appears to be made of chrome. The index finger is pointing forwards and the other fingers are relaxed.

Close your eyes and click, and you’ll likely land on some brand activation in the metaverse.  While the sector is still in its early stages, brands are seeing big opportunities, and the hype is everywhere. Companies as far ranging as Wendy’s and Gucci are creating VR experiences with Meta’s Horizon Worlds and gaming platforms like Roblox. Investment in the sector is expected to balloon to the hundreds of billions by 2030. Get all the details on metaverse mayhem here.

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NIKELAND

Images: Nike

A aerial view of Nikeland, a metaverse experience from Nike. The image shows a multi-block sports campus with an intersection of dark orange roads in the middle. There’s a purple sports stadium and an outdoor basketball court under a blue sky. Image via Nike.
NIKELAND

O2

MUSEE DEZENTRAL

Images: Musee Dezentral

An installation from the Musée Dezentral, a virtual NFT museum. The exhibit is made up of several floating white spheres of different sizes set in an immersive virtual museum space with dark wood floors and white walls. Image via Musée Dezentral.
MUSEE DEZENTRAL

O3

WENDY’S

Images: Wendy’s

The shopfront of Wendy’s in the Wendyverse, a metaverse experience by the fast food chain. Image via Wendy’s.
WENDY’S

TREND NO. 2

DIGITAL FASHION

A black barcode.

DIGITAL
FASHION

DIGITAL FASHION WEEK

NEW YORK

2022

Digital clothing has been around in some form since users first started logging online decades ago. But the pixelated, 2D outfits of the early 2000s are a crude comparison to 2022’s high-res, pixel perfect collections, which are getting major buy-in from IRL brands like Nike and digital fashion houses like Genies and the Fabricant. Fashion shows aren’t just in New York, Milan, and Paris anymore, either: this year, virtual platform Decentraland held its first metaverse fashion week. Get all the details on digital fashion here.

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METAVERSE FASHION WEEK

Images: Decentraland

An animated model with bright white, long hair in buns. They’re wearing a baseball jacket and a visor on their eyes with ROWW written across it. Image via: Decentraland
METAVERSE FASHION WEEK

O2

DIGITAL FASHION WEEK NYC

Images: Tony Murray to.mu.lab

An animated model walking the runway in NYC digital fashion week. The model wears black pants and a black coat with an oversize, opalescent puffer collar and sleeve cuffs. Image via: Tony Murray to.mu.lab
DIGITAL FASHION WEEK NYC

O3

INFINITE PASSERELLA

Images: Lusion

A body-less model on the Infinite Passerella runway. Their outfit appears to be made of bronze balloons. Image via: Infinite Passerella
INFINITE PASSERELLA

O4

CONCEPT CLOTHING

Images: Hayden Clay Willams

A transparent puffer jacket that appears to be filled with water and goldfish hovering in front of a beach background. Image via: Hayden Clay Williams.
CONCEPT CLOTHING

TREND NO. 3

WEB KITSCH

A black barcode.
A browser window with the URL webkitsch.com in the top bar.
Illustration of a silver, chrome, 3D ring.

Web kitsch

Black text that says WWW beside a globe icon with latitudinal and longitudinal lines.
Black text that says Y2K to the left of a 3 by 6 grid of black squares.

Fashion and web design are also colliding when it comes to aesthetics: Y2K nostalgia is everywhere. Designers are taking on the less-polished aesthetic of the early days of the web—when it was less templatized, less corporate, and decidedly more weird.

A browser window with a lime green and white gradient top bar. Within it, an open flip phone is illustrated with neon pink, green and orange highlights.

That means web design that’s intentionally low-fi: default fonts, patterned backgrounds, old-school browser windows, simple layouts, and decorative sticker icons like smiley faces and butterflies that convey an amateur look—even if the designer is anything but. Get all the details on web kitsch here.

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RYAN HASKINS PORTFOLIO

Images: Ryan Haskins

Illustration of two outstretched arms holding pearls, emerging from a pink clam shell.
RYAN HASKINS PORTFOLIO

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KURT CHAMPION PORTFOLIO

Images: Kurt Champion

Various panels from Kurt Champion’s portfolio including plain text, photos, work examples, and an “about me” hyperlink next to an emoji wearing sunglasses. Image via Kury Champion.
RYAN HASKINS PORTFOLIO

O3

ESTHER RUBANOVICH PORTFOLIO

Images: Esther Rubanovich

Horizontal banners with words followed by corresponding emojis. The first reads, “the method” followed by a smiling emoji. This is an image from Esther Rubanovich’s personal website. Image via Esther Rubanovich.
ESTHER RUBANOVICH PORTFOLIO
A silver, chrome, 3D arrow pointing upwards, surrounded by a circle of text. The text reads “back to top” three times with a dot between each.

See how this page came to life at our on-demand webinar.

Watch Now

TREND NO. 4

3D INTERACTIVE ELEMENTS

A black barcode.

3D INTERACTIVE
ELEMENTS

This year, interactive 3D renderings are becoming even more commonplace, as designers bring the IRL feeling of physical products to 2D screens. The popularity of these elements is also a sign of things to come. Fueled in part by pandemic restrictions and new AR and VR tech, our real and online worlds are becoming one holistic space, where the internet is more three-dimensional, and our everyday that much more clickable. Get all the details on 3D interactive elements here.

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FROM SCOUT

Images: From Scout

A key displayed in a grey box with a sticker of a psychedelic smiley face placed in its top left. The words private key are written over it in an outlined font. Image via From Scout.
FROM SCOUT

O2

CHIRPLEY

Images: Chirpley

A cartoon, orange bird with a speech bubble attached that contains the Instagram logo followed by the number 700. The bird is surrounded by cut-off illustrations of pigeons. Image via Chirpley.
CHIRPLEY

O3

BLOBMIXER

Images: 14 Islands

A model of an abstract sphere with different hues of purple and pink. Image via 14 islands.
BLOBMIXER

TREND NO. 5

DOPAMINE COLOR PALETTES

A white barcode.
A multicolored, thick, wavy line made up of a gradient of bright green, purple, pink and orange. There are white dots placed at random along its length. The phrase dopamine color palettes is written across it.

DOPAMINE COLOR PALETTES

A white dot with a white, circular dotted line surrounding it. When the cursor hovers over it, a color card opens.

VIVID PINK

#D447ED

A white dot with a white, circular dotted line surrounding it. When the cursor hovers over it, a color card opens.

ORANGE

#DF6725

A white dot with a white, circular dotted line surrounding it. When the cursor hovers over it, a color card opens.

MIDNIGHT BLUE

#1C51EF

A white dot with a white, circular dotted line surrounding it. When the cursor hovers over it, a color card opens.

TOXIC GREEN

#68E348

A white dot with a white, circular dotted line surrounding it. When the cursor hovers over it, a color card opens.

DARK PURPLE

#8C5BA2

A white dot with a white, circular dotted line surrounding it. When the cursor hovers over it, a color card opens.

HOT PINK

#FA3044

First, there was "dopamine dressing"—dressing in colorful, happiness-inducing hues. Now, the trend is making its way from fashion to our screens. Bright, bold, and vivid color palettes are all over the web right now, and that makes sense considering how exhausting and demoralizing the past few years have been. Inspired by the reemergence of 70’s-era psychedelia and a need for happier hues, sites are serving a rainbow of colors to dazzle and delight the eye. Get all the details on dopamine color palettes here.

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PAARD PUSH FORWARD

Image: PAARD Push Forward

A vibrant set of four squares with different, chunky, colorful arrows placed in each. In the bottom left square there’s a smiley face whose eyes are replaced with euro symbols. Image via PAARD Push Forward.
PAARD PUSH FORWARD

O2

MIRE DESIGN STUDIO

Image: Mire Design Studio

he word “mire” placed on different rectangles with rounded corners. Where the rectangles intersect, any part of the letters placed at that intersection is a different color than the one it’s connected to. Image via Mire Design Studio.
MIRE DESIGN STUDIO

O3

DECENTRALISED

Image: Somerset House

A screenshot of a website designed in the style of the early web. It reads “A decentralised archive” in a thin, italic, all-caps, sans serif font across the top over a vivid green background. There are two rectangular images of blue skies with clouds behind the wording and on the right. Toward the bottom of the page there is encircled text that reads “pick a category” and “pick a category” respectively. Below that there is a menu of four bright yellow buttons. Image via Somerset House.
DECENTRALISED
test 3 neww_edited.png

TREND NO. 6

3D LETTERING

A black barcode.

3D LETTERING

MATERIAL FUR

WEIGHT MEDUIM

The words “type hype” in block capitals. The letters seem to be made of purple fur with a green, fuzzy outline.
The words type hype in all caps. The letters are bright green and the font effect makes the letters look like they’re made of slime.
The words type hype in a silver chrome font with exaggerated swashes. The letters appear to be made of liquid metal.

In 2022, designers aren’t restricting type to two dimensions, either. 3D lettering is breaking type free of your design book’s kerning and leading, and is being used as yet another way to catch the eye of users. The shift is also a continuation of a larger expressive design trend we’ve seen emerge in response to years of staid, corporate minimalism, making appearances across sectors, from nonprofits to the automotive industry. Get all the details on 3D lettering here.

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FLUTTER

Images: Flutter/The Jacky Winter Group

A chunky lowercase e in silver with an orange outline. The letter has the same appearance as an inflated, foil helium balloon. Image via Flutter/The Jacky Winter Group.
FLUTTER

O3

HOME

Images: Kushagra Gupta

A 3D animation of the word “home”, depicted in blobby aqua letters with a liquid-like sheen. The letters themselves have green and purple blobs that move across them as the word slowly spins 360 degrees. Image via Kushagra Gupta.
HOME

O2

BMW

Images: Alex Valentina

“Born Electric” written in a 3D, purplish-pink metallic font. The “o” in “born” has been replaced by the BMW logo and there is a butterfly sitting on the “r”. Image via Alex Valentina.
BMW

TREND NO. 7

ZEN ENERGY

ZEN ENERGY

1. A rotating, large circle made of an abstract gradient of vibrant green, orange and pink.
A slightly opaque square turned on its side with the circle gradient moving behind it.
A small circle made of an abstract gradient of vibrant green, orange and pink.

Mental health has become part of the zeitgeist in 2022, and we’re seeing that manifest on the web, too. Designers are manifesting the look with calming color palettes (Pantone’s pastel purple color of the year), soft light, biophilia, and muted gradients and interstitials. Considering the stress of the past few years, it makes sense that calming aesthetics are emerging online, beckoning users with the appeal of a softer place to rest their eyes. Get all the details on zen energy here.

ZEN ENERGY

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BLOCK

A 3D, abstract prism on a blue and red gradient background. Image via Block.

Image: Block

BLOCK

O2

FLOWERS FOR SOCIETY

1. A pastel pink chair made of flowers. There are white columns and cherry blossom trees in the background. Image via Build in Amsterdam.

Image: Build in Amsterdam

FLOWERS FOR SOCIETY

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MOOOI

A digital painting of yellow, pink and orange flowers surrounded by greenery with a dark background. Image via ASTRAL Kreativ GmbH.

Image: ASTRAL Kreative GM

MOOOI
A silver, chrome, 3D arrow pointing upwards
An abstract hourglass shape depicted in a rainbow gradient from bright green to pink, that spans the entire screen. It sits over a black background.

WHAT'S NEXT FOR DIGITAL DESIGN?

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