Depositphotos recently posted an interactive data visualization, displaying potential creative trends that we’ll be encountering across 2022.
2021 is finally behind us now, and we must set our eyes towards the horizon in anticipation of what may come. What I see first is, well, the Omicron variant gaining a lot of traction, but let’s just push that to a dimly-lit corner of my mind until later. Next, I see a lot of new avenues that the tech world is going all-in on, and many of them being VR/AR oriented. With social media platforms having spent much of 2020 and 2021 in testing out new virtual applications of technology, Snapchat leading the charge on that front, it’s fun to imagine what 2022 will look like from a purely visual angle. As technology continues to permeate real life, how much will these new commodities and advancements challenge our senses? Well, Depositphotos, a very popular online source of stock images, is here to answer that question. By consulting with various experts in the field, the online platform has assembled an infographic depicting the top eight trends we can expect in coming times.
Kicking us off is an upcoming virtual platform that might honestly have made a third of all of my written content in 2021: Meta’s Metaverse. While VR social media platforms aren’t necessarily a new or unique feature (virtual chatrooms have existed as far back as Oculus’s introduction of commodified headsets) the Metaverse is garnering all of this attention solely on the basis of its scale. Parading as a social media experience the size of sister platforms Facebook and Instagram, the Metaverse seeks to enhance the overall experience by adding in an interactive world via which fellow users can play in mini-games or explore an immersive over-world. Details on what the Metaverse will offer have been reticent yet, but it’ll be fun to experience for oneself.
Psychedelic art has been a thing since the 60’s (thank you LSD I guess?), but the accessible nature of modern software such as Adobe Photoshop, combined with 3D assets easily encountered online, there’s a lot that an individual can do. Artists such as Beeple have made entire careers out of psychedelic art, but there’s been a relative sparsity of such individuals. However, with artistic sensibilities moving further and further towards abstraction, there’s a lot more psychedelic art that we can expect online in the near future.
A feature that I’m not particularly hyped about, yet can be expected nonetheless, is the further integration of AI-generated music in the future. While AI-generated content has already carved out a fun little niche for itself on the internet, with users utilizing the technology to make bizarre skit scripts or visual art, music isn’t all-too commonly encountered. However, it’s just easier to generate music than it is to pay someone else to make that music for you, and with content creators growing in size at a pretty impressive rate, there’s not much one can ultimately do. It’s just a source of minor annoyance that with pop music already having such an industry-generated feel to it, AI-generation will only further remove musicians from the creative process. We need more individuals actively interacting with the field, not less.
The infographic also predicts that Y2K aesthetics will be making a comeback in 2022, which means we’ll be going back to the visual sensibilities of large, bold lettering, neon lights, and just a general vibe of the 90’s being shed off. Which, even as an individual who spent much of their youth in the 90’s, I cannot be happier about. Now, if only we could get Outkast back together again.
Speaking of old-fashioned trends making it back into the limelight again, we’ll be seeing a further growth in more simplistic photographic sensibilities. In stark contrast to the Y2K designs that posters will develop, pictures will be simple, minimalistic, with a touch of natural lighting and candor. Remember scenic polaroids or candids from the 70’s? That’s the sort of touch we’ll be expecting.
Read next: The Anatomy of a Great Business Website
2021 is finally behind us now, and we must set our eyes towards the horizon in anticipation of what may come. What I see first is, well, the Omicron variant gaining a lot of traction, but let’s just push that to a dimly-lit corner of my mind until later. Next, I see a lot of new avenues that the tech world is going all-in on, and many of them being VR/AR oriented. With social media platforms having spent much of 2020 and 2021 in testing out new virtual applications of technology, Snapchat leading the charge on that front, it’s fun to imagine what 2022 will look like from a purely visual angle. As technology continues to permeate real life, how much will these new commodities and advancements challenge our senses? Well, Depositphotos, a very popular online source of stock images, is here to answer that question. By consulting with various experts in the field, the online platform has assembled an infographic depicting the top eight trends we can expect in coming times.
Kicking us off is an upcoming virtual platform that might honestly have made a third of all of my written content in 2021: Meta’s Metaverse. While VR social media platforms aren’t necessarily a new or unique feature (virtual chatrooms have existed as far back as Oculus’s introduction of commodified headsets) the Metaverse is garnering all of this attention solely on the basis of its scale. Parading as a social media experience the size of sister platforms Facebook and Instagram, the Metaverse seeks to enhance the overall experience by adding in an interactive world via which fellow users can play in mini-games or explore an immersive over-world. Details on what the Metaverse will offer have been reticent yet, but it’ll be fun to experience for oneself.
Psychedelic art has been a thing since the 60’s (thank you LSD I guess?), but the accessible nature of modern software such as Adobe Photoshop, combined with 3D assets easily encountered online, there’s a lot that an individual can do. Artists such as Beeple have made entire careers out of psychedelic art, but there’s been a relative sparsity of such individuals. However, with artistic sensibilities moving further and further towards abstraction, there’s a lot more psychedelic art that we can expect online in the near future.
A feature that I’m not particularly hyped about, yet can be expected nonetheless, is the further integration of AI-generated music in the future. While AI-generated content has already carved out a fun little niche for itself on the internet, with users utilizing the technology to make bizarre skit scripts or visual art, music isn’t all-too commonly encountered. However, it’s just easier to generate music than it is to pay someone else to make that music for you, and with content creators growing in size at a pretty impressive rate, there’s not much one can ultimately do. It’s just a source of minor annoyance that with pop music already having such an industry-generated feel to it, AI-generation will only further remove musicians from the creative process. We need more individuals actively interacting with the field, not less.
The infographic also predicts that Y2K aesthetics will be making a comeback in 2022, which means we’ll be going back to the visual sensibilities of large, bold lettering, neon lights, and just a general vibe of the 90’s being shed off. Which, even as an individual who spent much of their youth in the 90’s, I cannot be happier about. Now, if only we could get Outkast back together again.
Speaking of old-fashioned trends making it back into the limelight again, we’ll be seeing a further growth in more simplistic photographic sensibilities. In stark contrast to the Y2K designs that posters will develop, pictures will be simple, minimalistic, with a touch of natural lighting and candor. Remember scenic polaroids or candids from the 70’s? That’s the sort of touch we’ll be expecting.
Read next: The Anatomy of a Great Business Website