Shutterstock Announces Top Creative Trends for 2020

Shutterstock has launched its ninth annual Creative Trends Report, identifying global and local trends that will influence design aesthetics and visual culture in 2020.

According to eMarketer, growth in average daily time spent with video increased by 11 per cent among users in 2018, making it the fastest-growing digital media activity.

The increasing consumption of visual media challenges brands to keep up with sharing compelling visual content that engages their target audience.

This report provides data-led insights for brands, marketers and creatives to keep their content fresh and relevant, and to drive better performance for their marketing campaigns.

The three major creative trends for 2020 include:

The Roaring 2020s –– A century after the loud and lavish 1920s, the look that defined an era is back and on the centre stage globally in 2020. Searches for “gold pattern” are up 4223 per cent year-over-year and ‘‘20s retro” saw an increase of 189 per cent from the previous year.
Occulture –– Alternative faiths and age-old beliefs are enchanting Millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha, showing renewed interest in mainstream channels and on social media networks in particular. Customers are searching for keywords like “magic” and “spiritual” an impressive 525 per cent and 289 per cent more respectively over last year.
In Full Bloom –– Forget elegant arrangements and delicate displays. The floral visuals of tomorrow are big, bright and in full bloom. The 141 per cent surge in searches for “flowerscape” and 136 per cent uptick for “bloom” make this a vivid trend for the year ahead.

“This year’s data points toward the pursuit of meaning, happiness, and opportunity in new creative projects — traits that may be reflective of the uncertainty in our climate and the year ahead,” said Lou Weiss, CMO at Shutterstock.

“The analysis, which is grounded in data from billions of keyword searches made by marketers, social media managers, video producers and designers, provides a glimpse into the creative trends that we expect to engage consumers on a much bigger scale. It also serves as a source of inspiration for our customers and contributors as they develop creative projects in 2020.”

In addition to the three major trends, the report outlines local favourites in 25 countries around the world, as well as, five rising trends that promise to gain traction in 2020. Rising trends range from design mainstays like “minimalistic black” and traditional arts including “Chinese ink painting” to elegant photography and modernised visuals such as “wild life” and sports photography.

On Australia’s trend, Flo Lau, Associate Creative Director, Shutterstock said: “It’s not a surprise that Aussies love cake, so much so that they claimed the origin of the lamington as their own. With the rise in baking shows from The Great Australian Bake Off to Zumbo’s Just Desserts, it’s clear that the nation continues to be enraptured by the stunning desserts produced by everyday bakers.

“In 2019, we predicted “Tempting Typography” as a trend to watch and just last week, Justin Bieber released an animated music video that centres around both Tempting Typography and Decorated Cakes! From gifs of mirror glaze decorating to ASMR videos of influencers eating the 100-layer crepe cake, the dessert will continue to dominate Australia’s social media timelines in 2020.”

This year’s report not only offers hand-curated collections for each of the trends from Shutterstock images, video and music, but also includes images from Offset and Shutterstock Editorial as well.

The annual report analyses data gathered over a 12-month period from billions of customer searches for images, footage, and music content. The data, combined with analysis from Shutterstock’s internal visual intelligence panel pinpoint patterns and styles that have the potential to stand out. As themes emerge, the panel confers to determine the trends they expect to command creative projects in 2020.

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