The State Of Design and Branding Industry in 2018

With globalisation and technological advancements in areas such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine learning and Virtual reality, the branding industry has gone through rampant changes in recent years. With smartphones becoming dominant in the modern era, businesses are focusing on Mobile-first design for their brand websites. The design industry has been witnessing consistent changes and businesses are increasingly focusing on using novel technologies like Artificial Intelligence to come up with brand identities rather than using traditional human designers. The latest trends in the branding industry 2018 are listed below,

Significance of Social Media Presence

Social media presence is becoming essential for businesses to constantly engage and interact with their customers. Brands should be present in all the social media platforms which are used extensively by their target audience whether it’s LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Google+. While Facebook dominated the advertising world in past year, currently newer platforms like Instagram and Snapchat have become popular among users. Customers are paying more attention to images and businesses have started recognizing the importance of visual branding.

Importance of Mobile-first Design

Another emerging trend in the design industry is to have a mobile-first design for websites, blogs and social media pages. Customers are extensively using smartphones and tablets which have made mobile-first design an essential aspect of enhanced user experience. If your target audience is predominantly mobile-used, you should make a creative and fully-functional website which is compatible with all mobile platforms. Also, brands prefer modular and responsive design nowadays to offer seamless user experience across desktop and mobile devices.

Evolution of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality in Design Industry



With the evolution of latest technologies like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), brands have started adopting 3D designs and visuals to tell their stories in a more engaging and immersive way to their target audience. E-commerce companies and businesses in the travel and fashion industry are experimenting VR technology to help their customers have a realistic view of the products before actually buying them. Augmented reality and Virtual reality can be used to visualize products and provide an immersive experience for customers to view them as if they are in the showroom. Automotive brands and real estate brands are using VR technology for marketing purposes and to give their customers a realistic view of vehicle and property interiors.

Dominance of Artificial Intelligence in Branding and Design Industry

The recent years have seen a huge growth in Artificial intelligence and many new inventions taking place in deep learning and machine learning. Modern branding platforms are using machine learning algorithms to instantly create logos, business cards and other promotional materials for customers based on simple inputs. Gone are those days where businesses have to hire expensive human designers for creating their brand logo. Now anyone can subscribe to an AI-based branding and logo design company and design their company logo, website landing page and social media pages at an affordable price with minimal effort. You just have to provide inputs like the company name, tagline and description about your business. These innovative platforms use sophisticated machine learning algorithms to come up with customized logos for your brand. You can later edit the colours, styles and fonts of the logo according to your requirements.

There are also advanced platforms which can be used for designing a website without the need for any technical knowledge. You don’t have to hire expensive web designers for creating your company website. AI-based platforms like Wix and The Grid have become popular nowadays and start-ups can come up with attractive websites using these tools at an affordable price. 

Use of Big data and Data Analytics Tools

Branding involves understanding the changing customer sentiments and trying to adapt to those requirements. Use of Big data and other data analytics tools have become popular in the branding industry to understand user behaviour and to get cognitive insights about the target audience. This can help businesses in catering to the changing needs of their customers in a better way and win their trust for building long-lasting relationships. Currently, brands are using data analytics tools to track their social media performance and consumer behaviour. This helps them to provide relevant and customized content to their target audience and to increase their brand visibility.

These are some of the latest trends in the branding industry in 2018. Use of Virtual reality and augmented reality help brands to incorporate sophisticated and immersive storytelling techniques to convey their brand values. Machine learning and AI-based platforms have made design and branding cost-effective for small businesses and start-ups who can’t afford to hire in-house designers. We can expect a lot more changes to happen in the branding industry in the upcoming years.

Featured image: Shutterstock
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