Phoenix Illustration by Buttercrumble — Is Your Brand Ready to Rise from the Ashes?

Here is how your brand can adapt and succeed in the coming years, amongst the fallout of COVID-19 and economic downturn. Below, we share several key trends for 2021 - 22. From digital to physical realms, there is huge scope for brands. Better days are ahead.

An Introduction

Lockdown meant a break from many consumer habits, so the amnesia has kicked in. Brands may need to re-energise customers and rebuild loyalty from scratch, depending on how the previous year impacted business. How can you make your organisation matter again? It’s time to find a new route forward.

“Brands need to offer meaningful value, optimism and kindness.”

— Abigail Baldwin, Buttercrumble

Ogilvy states that brands need to understand we are in a “spending less, living well” era (Wiesser, 2020). Therefore, marketing efforts should be more transparent, open and collaborative. If you take one thing away from this guide, it is the need to be human-centric.

How has your brand fared recent ordeals? Different products or services will have found successes depending on:

Whether consumers see it as an essential or optional purchase
Suppressed demand or vanished demand
Its dependence on physical social interaction
Whether it is dispensable to digital alternatives

Key Trends

To make this content more digestible, we have added quick wins for each key trend. These may be function or form driven! After all, the practice of design is both of these. We hope these can spark the imagination for the future of your organisation.

Digital World

In today’s market, brands need to aim for a high share-of-voice (SOV) to boost sales. It can be a battle to grab the attention of any audience, so innovation is required. To achieve this, they need to look at new technology and platforms such as e-gaming and TikTok.

For example, Gucci recently hosted a fashion show in an esports virtual stadium and KFC and Hellmann’s Mayonnaise integrated their brand into the popular Animal Crossing: New Horizons game. These activations encourage conversation and increase brand awareness (Wiesser, 2020). It works because brands are not directly selling (a turn-off for many customers)!

Furthermore, technology has been a lifeline during the crisis. Without it, we would be unable to video call family members or join online yoga classes. Society’s digital confidence has grown, so these virtual activities are no longer novel. They are a way of life.

Click here to read more about our research into this topic.

Quick Wins:

Function: team up with AR/VR and game designers to create fun, immersive and digital experiences for your audience.
Function: hospitality, food and beverage brands, you could re-imagine dinner by encouraging dine-in dinners over Zoom. You could offer dual-shipping options so families on either side of the screen can have matching tablescapes and food.
Function: create how-to guides for creating and sharing special social media moments.
Form: when designing for digital, start with mobile in-mind first. It’s much easier to scale a design up to desktop than the reverse.
Form: conventions are important. Follow the standard user interface (UI) design practices to create an intuitive online experience.

Homeward Bound

To reduce exposure, consumers are investing in the take-home market and staying indoors. Yet, home as a sanctuary is not a new trend — it’s an increased focus due to coronavirus. According to Architectural Digest (2020), consumers now want to be soothed. Brands need to bring a sense of comfort and solace to this unnerving world.

Yet, the home is more than a relaxing nest. It is multipurpose as the boundaries between work, rest and play are blurred. For example, rigid office chairs are now adapting to domestic spaces. More seats will feature curves, upholstery and padding (Architectural Digest, 2020). Although this is an interior design example, we can expect to see this theme carried across all areas.

Home is also where we hit the shops. WGSN’s Re-emergence Report (2020) explained how many of us are no longer discovering products in-store. Instead, we look at apps and social media to recommend new products. This digital norm is here to stay as we will still be wary of crowds for some time. Brands need to bolster the online strategy to reach consumers at home.

Quick Wins:

Function: make it easy for consumers who are self-isolating. Offer one-stop-shop care and safety packages.
Function: use digital channels to educate customers about your products at home. For example, you could launch an online video channel hosting masterclasses and events.
Form: patterns and textures evoke a sense of touch, which therefore brings connection and warmth. It can be carried across digital and physical worlds, creating a strong visual identity for your brand.
Form: straight, jagged lines are out. Curves are in! 2021 design will certainly feel like a warm hug.
Form: to create a homely aesthetic, formality is out of the question. Design for conversation. You can go to town with the “friendly-factor”.

Wellness Awareness

It’s no surprise, there is an increased priority for our mental and physical health. Moreover, the popularity of self-care and fitness brands has accelerated due to the pandemic.

After the year we’ve all had, we're yearning for joy! So, prints will be bold, unapologetic and delightful. Shapes will feature squiggles and wriggles. Again, soft, natural shapes enhance our connection between our physical world and creativity.

This connects to the re-emergence of postmodernism of the late 20th century. PoMo arrived on the art scene as a reaction against the strict formality of modernism (Clever, 2020). Therefore, designers are expected to be playful with proportions, colour palettes and materials. Think of the 1970s and you won't be far wrong!

Lockdown has forced us to be introspective and we're looking for ways to express ourselves after a year of minimal social interaction. We know self-expression can improve confidence and wellbeing, so personality is to be crammed into every nook and cranny of our lives. We want to show our individuality, so personalisation is still a big trend.

With regards to physical health and safety, the global hand sanitiser market is forecast to increase from $1.08bn (2019) to $1.51bn in 2024 on the report of Fior Markets (WGSN, 2020). This shows how much we care about hygiene. It needs to be considered from top-to-bottom of your customer experience. From shopping to consumption — cleanliness and safety need to be a key part of the process and messaging.

Quick Wins:

Function: if your brand has many high-touch interactions, think about how contactless technology can reduce this and keep customers safe. For example, facial recognition and mobile ordering are here to stay. Moreover, searches for touchless products (on Amazon) grew by up to 2,000% in May 2020 (WGSN, 2020).
Function: it’s time for R&D. Can (or do) your brand’s products incorporate antiviral and antibacterial properties? Or plant-based ingredients? These will be a key selling-points.
Function: promote or introduce a customisable or bespoke offering for your customers. Be there to suit their individual needs.
Form: use squiggles, wriggles, soft and organic shapes within your designs.
Form: natural colour palettes combined with pops of joyful brights will delight consumers.

Make Do and Mend

It’s time to be future-proof. If we enter another recession, brands need to be offering value-for-money as household income decreases. This, combined with the climate crisis, means slow living is more appealing than ever. Much of society has discovered that consumer behaviour was about instant gratification, rather than long-lasting happiness (Wiesser, 2020).

When building a sustainable future, we can learn much from history. According to Gemma Riberti of WGSN, nostalgia will hold great precedence in 2021 (Architectural Digest, 2020). Many of us will don our rose-tinted spectacles and find comfort in the past. This, combined with sustainability means upcycling furniture and vintage style will be in.

Similarly, the Cottagecore aesthetic will see uptake as we enjoy quiet hobbies such as reading, baking and gardening. Homewares and fashion will feature ditsy floral prints and Victorian-inspired style. This is an ideal trend for soft, feminine brands (Architectural Digest, 2020).

Furthermore, you could ditch trends and fads all together! If you want to adopt a timeless image, look to ancient history. Greek columns and patterns will continue to influence design (Architectural Digest, 2020). This classical look reminds us that mankind has been around for many years. We are survivors! It provides comfort consumers (sometimes subconsciously) long for.

Quick Wins:

Function: be empathetic to budgets. Provide low-cost, financing and hire options.
Function: consumers will shop for true meaning and value. Ensure your campaigns are championing positive, social causes.
Function: when customers spend, they will want more “bang for their buck”. Products and services should be adaptable and multi-use.
Form: adopt a patchwork and “hodgepodge” style. Add charm to your designs through the use of collage and handmade texture.
Form: feminine brands could introduce ditsy florals to fully embrace the Cottagecore aesthetic.

Communities Matter

With all of this talk of “consumers”, we need to remember that brands are serving people. Brands are natural community builders as they bring together those with similar interests and goals.

This falls into the realms of psychology, where we can observe “Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs”. Love and belonging is an essential ingredient for happy humans! We all wish to be together.

Yet, the world is still divided, with 72% of people blaming politics (Sprout, 2020). It is believed that social media is driving this through fake news and heated arguments. However, there is hope. According to Sprout (2020), 91% of people believe in social media's power to connect people. 78% of people want brands to use social media so they can connect with like-minded individuals.

Real people are the key to building communities and authentic relationships. It sounds obvious, but so many brands fail at this. Please don’t hide yourself (and team) behind a cold, corporate facade. Instead, encourage the people behind the brand to be active on social media. You have a platform to bring people together and be the change you want to see in the world. Inspiring stuff!

Quick Wins:

Function: partner with a social network app to encourage local community experiences. For example, Peanut connects mothers.
Function: encourage and share user-generated content (UGC). This includes customer reviews, photographs and testimonials.
Function: help give back by partnering with local charities and make a meaningful impact in your local area.
Form: reveal photographs or illustrations of the team across social media and your website.
Form: ditch overly polished imagery and design. Instead, show real life and all of its imperfections. This authenticity breeds trust.

Rise Up and Above

As we tentatively venture into 2021 and 2022, there is an opportunity to use recent disruption to leapfrog into a more sustainable and sensitive future. Yes, it’s easy to fall back into old habits. However, those who manage to break the status quo by transforming their value proposition and customer experience, will be the real winners.

Use the above trends to direct your brand into a fresh position. Be present and solve the needs of your customers or clients. Be a brand of goodness. The promise of a stronger, more thoughtful society is just around the corner.

We hope you enjoyed this bumper guide on 2021 - 2022 brand and design trends! If you’d like to receive more creative insights and resources, please join the Buttercrumble Grapevine below:

References

Architectural Digest. 2020. What COVID-19 Will Mean for Design Trends in 2021. [Online]. [Date accessed: 30th December 2020]. Click here to access.
Clever. 2020. 6 Predictions for Design’s Big Trends in 2021. [Online]. [Date accessed: 1st January 2021]. Click here to access.
Sprout. 2020. #BrandsGetReal. [Online]. [Date accessed: 1st January 2021]. Click here to access.
WGSN. 2020. Re-emergence Executive Summary. [Online]. [Date accessed: 1st January 2021].
Wiesser, B. 2020. Fit-For-Growth Beyond COVID. [Online]. Ogilvy. [Date accessed: 1st January 2021]

Your Bumper Guide: 2021 - 2022 Brand and Design Trends

Contents

An Introduction