6 visual trends to consider when designing creative in 2016

Getty Images identified these trends through its global team of visual anthropologists and art directors, the analysis of imagery in advertising and local insight from Getty Images’ teams. The forecasts also draw on customers buying trends worldwide from approximately 400 million downloads from the Getty Images website in 2015.

Andrew Saunders, senior vice president of creative at Getty Images, said in a release that the trends outlined are intended to be a "visual signpost for the coming 12 months and to generate debate and conversation around what’s driving culture and our visual language." 

The 2016 trends identified are below. The descriptions of each trend are taken verbatim from Getty Images. Campaign Asia-Pacific also requested for Getty Images to provide examples of ads in Asia that touch on each trend, which can be found along with the images.

Divine living

"As brands start to focus on values, as we shift our focus to more meaningful consumption, a surge of concepts such as goodness, intention and interconnectedness play out in the visual landscape. In an overwhelming visual world, brands and storytellers are placing purpose at the core of their narratives and must now appeal to our sense of worth, inside and out."

Photo by Stuart Hall

 

 

Memories Lab Hong Kong - Treasure Today:

Extended human

"Technology is changing the way we live our lives, share our experiences and take in our surroundings. This trend explores how tech is becoming an extension of ourselves and challenging our idea of what it means to be human, as technology optimizes our bodies, expands our capacity for memory and creativity, and affords total connectivity."

Photo by David Vintiner

 

 

Reebok Korea - Run the movie:

Outsider in

"People that push the envelope and visuals that break with tradition are being more widely embraced, as popular taste becomes more daring. As we become increasingly inundated with mass-replicated imagery and aggregated articles, our appetite for a unique point of view and standout visuals increases. This trend looks at unconventional thinking and disruption coming from outsiders in the form of rebels, oddballs, non-conformists and anti-heroes."

Photo by Felicity McCabe

 

 

Durex Japan - Karma Sutra, Real Love with Durex:

Messthetics

"A break away from predictability and a reaction to the perfection we often see in advertising imagery, the Messthetics approach to image making stands out in a busy market of sameness. The imagery is messy, grimy, sweaty, visceral, beautiful and ugly. It comes from our desire to break away from the sanitation and predictability of everyday life and revel in the physicality of human nature."

Photo by Andy Lo Pò

Yahoo Mobile Hong Kong - Coffee:

Silence vs. noise

"2016 is set to be full of visual extremes, big contrasts and contradictions in styles, and Silence vs. Noise can be seen as a counterpoint to Messthetics. The imagery is simple and minimalistic, with the opportunity for customers to create messages that are similar—succinct and uncomplicated but beautifully executed to stand out against imagery that’s more frenetic.Visually it says ‘less is more’ in both composition and colour.  The pictures are often quiet and restrained and are highly effective in a visually overstimulated world where a calm approach creates a welcome contrast."

Photo by Klaus Vedfelt

 

 

Shiseido Japan - The secret of high school girls:

Surreality

"Photographers are using new photo manipulation techniques to create playful and often surreal imagery. Sometimes looking like a 21st century version of '60s psychedelia, the imagery is also influenced by dreams, the subconscious, and the original surrealist movement. In response to a decade dominated by authenticity and realism, we now have a huge appetite for the surreal and unexpected."

Photo by Yagi Studio 

Shinfuro Japan - Synchronised swimming in hot springs: