Recently, several web design trends that have emerged are spilling over into printed design. As most companies combine both online advertising with print advertising in their marketing campaign, many have begun to merge online design trends with print design to save money.
Here are some of the most common trends affecting printed design today:
1. Simplicity
Web designers have begun to do away with the busy look of websites in the past. In an attempt to make websites more user-friendly, designers have shifted to easy-to-read layouts, such as separating content into columns. This has influenced column layouts more than ever in such print materials as postcards, flyers, door hangers, and brochures.
2. Lots of White Space
White space also contributes to a less cluttered look. Websites have begun to incorporate plenty of open space around images and sections of text. Brochures and other information-packed print materials have cut back on too much text and too many images.
3. Introduction Blocks
Most websites include an introduction block in the upper left hand corner to give viewers a brief overview of the content or company. Some printed designs are copying the introduction block look by using colorful boxes with a brief synopsis of the message.
4. Large Text
Because text is difficult to read online, websites have begun incorporating larger-sized text for headlines to up the readability of their message. Large, bold text quickly draws viewers’ eyes from graphics to the headline. Although print materials have used this technique all along, recently more printed advertisements have begun enlarging headline fonts more than the normal 2 pts. larger than body text.
5. Letterpress
The graphic design effect in which letters appear to be “pressed” into the background imitates letterpress print techniques. Many websites have begun incorporating letterpress designs in the last few months, and in an attempt to avoid expensive letterpress printing, printed materials have begun shifting to graphic design letterpress instead.
6. PNG Transparency
Semi-transparent backgrounds are now appearing on websites actually as a result of copying printed materials, especially magazines. As a result, more print materials other than magazines have begun to use the same transparency techniques, incorporating graphic images beneath text, especially in posters and brochures.
7. Large and vivid images
Huge images with vivid colors incorporated into websites have also begun appearing on printed materials that need to capture attention, such as with postcards or printed posters. Bold, realistic designs have replaced the flat, muted images of print materials in the past.
8. Font Replacement
To make websites more unique and appealing, designers have started replacing selected text with symbols. Since this is very often done in the headline or logo, designers retain the font replacement within a company’s print materials as well to maintain brand consistency.
May 8th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Sorry, but nothing in this article substantiates the premise of the headline. The author fails to cite even one example of a company or publication that has altered its printed materials in response to a change in web design. None of the seven techniques mentioned are new to print design, and all have been used extensively in print for many, many years. While it’s true that both web and print design are constantly evolving, it seems that web design is being influenced by print more than the other way around. For example, until recently, many web designers didn’t feel that the spacing between lines or paragraphs was significant. Print designers were paying attention to those types of details decades ago.
May 14th, 2009 at 2:00 am
@rjb – The premise of this article, as stated in the title, is that web designs influence print designs today. I can see where I might not have made my argument clear enough. Maybe this information will help make it more apparent:
I agree with you that many of these points that I addressed have been a part of print design for a long time, but, as I pointed out in some of my sections, these online trends have an influence on print in one of three ways:
1. That these trends are expanding to all areas of print design, rather than just a certain type of print material. For instance, large and bold images, especially 3D graphics, used to be mainly found in poster designs, but have expanded to other print materials such as brochures for the purpose of making the information presented more interesting to readers.
2. That these trends are becoming more prominent in print than they were in the past because of the popularity of these trends online. For instance, brochure designs in the past were crammed full of information – a wall of text from margin to margin – but today they have become much more simple, and in my opinion it partly has to do with web designs.
3. That with so many businesses conducting their entire company online, they design their webpages and advertisements first; therefore, many online businesses incorporate designs into their print advertisements based on their online designs, as I stated with the replacement text point.
In some of the points I made, though, these trends seem to have begun online first, such as large and vivid images (by this I mean 3D images – I should have pointed this out in the article, for which I apologize) and also letterpress effects.
When online businesses and web advertisements first came to exist, definitely print designs were doing all of the influencing. But today, the influence seems to have shifted somewhat. Of course, online and print designs are so intertwined that both sides of this argument can be seen to have valid points. So maybe it’s better left to a matter of opinion.
In looking back over this, maybe my subheadings should have been on those three points above. So, thanks for the criticism as it has revealed the weaknesses of this article and helped me to better state my argument.