Have you encountered many brands adopting a quirky and vibrant approach lately? All credit goes to the blooming Gen Z. They are amplifying their presence to be very important as they are the ones who had a significant connection with the digital verse from their birth only. They might be unaware of dial-up but must have a great understanding of TikTok. So, the digital environment should prominently satiate their taste with unique graphics.
If you are willing to stretch the foundation of your business and want to encircle Gen Z to try your service, you have to make your graphic designing game strong. This generation resonates more with inclusive, authentic, and funky kind content instead of traditional minimalism. They are converting the brands to go crazy over bold style. As per the recent trends, around 89% of Gen Z users are on social media. So, it is your ultimatum to get into their heads. Gen Z has generally short attention spans. They mostly use consumer-filtered content.
If your designs do not grab their attention, they will discard visiting your site. They are majorly craving for realness and meaningful connections instead of made-up content. So, brands, you need to be alert! Now, traditional and polished advertisements are not going to work. Gen Z demands content that mirrors their values, culture, identity, and lifestyle. So, you need to understand this pace and design graphics that match the Gen Z aesthetics
In this post, we will explore some impactful graphic designing adoptions you can consider for Gen Z in your next project!
Inside the Gen Z Mind: What Really Drives Their Visual Tastes
Most people might think Gen Z is just like the other versions. But this is not true; they are built differently. Being digitally native, they are visually driven and understand the internet culture from the core.
Forget Millennials — Gen Z Is a Different Beast
From childhood, Gen Z grew up by incorporating continuous scrolls, which means they must have gone through major trends. So, while designing graphics, you need to be assured of hyper-personalized content. As they process the visuals from every angle, your designs need to be meaningful, effective, and, most importantly, engaging. The color palette, layout, and font should feel intentional and connect with Gen Z instantly. For a detailed approach, many leading companies adopt the help of graphic design services in India to get a creative flush.
In the recent era, nobody is demanding polished or single color-coded designs. Gen Z demands real and relatable designs. You must have encountered many creators and brands that show imperfections and t
What They Actually Want from Visual Content?
Realness over Polish: As discussed earlier, General Z mainly prioritizes authenticity. So, you don’t need to regard airbrushed perfectionism. Just go for raw and unfiltered visuals. The current trend is all about candid shots and user-generated content. So, as a brand, you should always remain true to yourself and amplify your precise goals through effective visuals.
Quick Impact Over Long-form Visuals: Your visuals have just some seconds to make an impression. So, your static images should be bold, upfront, and up to the point. At the same time, the videos should be engaging and goal-oriented. For immediate attention, you can include motion graphics, interactive elements, etc.
Purpose and personality over plain promotion: Gen Z doesn’t really connect with bland and generic graphic visuals. You can try the storytelling approach, where you must express your values. The graphic should prominently support the branding style or a social cause with engaging visuals. Some brands make the mistake of creating graphics with the intention of selling their products or services. However, Gen Z mainly ignores this approach.
Gen Z Aesthetics: Designing with Edge, Emotion, and Identity
If you want your graphics to make Gen Z happy, then it’s time for you to come out of your comfort zone. It is all about making a statement where the aesthetic will be expressive and bold. Gone are the days when only clean and minimal designs were winning hearts.
Welcome to the Chaos: Embrace Bold & Eclectic Design
Visual trends: Gen Z aesthetics are highly layered and depict great personalities. So, symmetrical and simple layouts won’t work. Consider visual trends that will showcase their values. A professional graphic design agency makes sure to use the Vaporwave trend, where neon-glitched visuals, futuristic cityscapes, and serene aesthetics are valued. With the Y2K Revival trend, you can acquire pixel art, metallic textures, tech-inspired designs, etc. Even handmade designs like doodles, collages, etc., also give a personal touch.
The aesthetic isn’t clean — it’s expressive: Many people think that aesthetic is something that denotes a clean and rectified visual. But, this is not the concept for Gen Z. The aesthetic should be expressive and should amplify the goals of your business in a trendy manner.
Typography & Color Palettes That Pop
Pastels, neons, muted gradients: You must have seen many ads that pop up on your screen that use many contrasting elements. So, this is something that Gen Z loves. The upfront color choices with a hint of different fonts create vibes. You can go for pastels and muted gradients for that calming effect. Neon or high-contrast shades can fuel up the designs with an eye-catching effect.
Serif + bold sans-serif combos: Many graphic design services in India have pioneered in winning the hearts of Gen Z with great typography combinations. They combine Serif and Bold Sans Serif font to mix that traditional with the modern vibes. Gen Z also values distorted and handwritten fonts as they add a touch of personality to the visuals. Further, overlapping and layering make the designs interactive.
Intentional use of whitespace and layering: Further, overlapping and layering make the designs interactive and deliver a dimensional impact. With the usage of whitespace, designers are engaging the users with better readability and generating a sense of balance. The whitespace can be of other forms as well, apart from being white. You can change its color, pattern, and texture at your convenience.
Platform-First Design: Meet Them Where They Scroll
If you want your graphic designs to be out of the box, you need to generate platform-specific visuals. This way, the Gen Z audience will ultimately find your content, and engagement will increase.
Instagram: Curated Meets Casual
Use carousels for micro-stories: As per recent trends, Gen Z is becoming more attracted to short and digestible content instead of long-format videos. So, to make your micro-stories engaging, you can use multi-slide posts. This can feature interactive storytelling, breakdowns, and explainers. Each slide should feature its own story.
Reels + motion graphics: Static visuals won’t be enough to drag the attention of Gen Z users. They are more interested in motion-based content that can boost their interest instantly. For better engagement, you can involve quick transitions, edits, memes, etc. The quicker you steal the attention of your audience, the longer the impact will be.
Add personality with branded stickers and GIFs: It will be better for you to personalize your designs, as Gen Z loves to get customized results. You can generate custom emojis, stickers, and GIFs for posts. With better interaction, your brand presence will be valuable in the digital world.
TikTok: Graphics That Move, Hook, and Hype
Motion is mandatory: If you want to create a valuable space in TikTok, then your video format should have some type of movement. Ensure your video consists of precise transitions, animated texts, and engaging shots for better relevance. For more views, you can go for GIFs, smooth transitions, and zoom-in zoom-out effects.
Add text overlays and use trendy visual cues: Include text overlays like bold captions and stylish annotations to increase engagement. You can also adopt Gen Z’s way of communication, like speech bubbles, think emojis, and call-to-action buttons.
Think fast edits, emotional resonance, and native formats: To make your content worthy, you can include some quick edits like split screens, jump cuts, etc. To create strong emotions, you should generate humor, hype, and nostalgic moments with your graphics. Most importantly, you should design for different consumer types.
Snapchat & BeReal: Raw and Real-Time Wins
Less polish, more realness: As we have discussed, Gen Z doesn’t crave perfection. All they desire is the personality of the content. So, make sure you use raw and unfiltered visuals. Go for relatable and quick content, and get rid of overly polished graphics.
Graphic design should enhance moments, not distract: Your graphic design should majorly enhance the story instead of completely overshadowing it. To highlight the emotional factor, go for playful elements like texts and stickers. The layout should be minimal to make your audience grasp the real essence of photos and videos.
Make It Personal: Let Gen Z Be Part of the Design
Gen Z mainly enjoys interactive content. So, if you want your design factors to be impactful for Gen Z, include them in your content. If they feel happy to be a part of the creative process, they will feel more engaged with your brand.
Design with Gen Z, Not Just for Them
Polls, sliders, “choose your vibe” posts: To increase the participation of Gen Z, make sure to use sliders, polls, and choose your vibe content. Custom filters and graphics make people get involved in your content. Customized visuals are more meaningful for the audience.
Encourage UGC and co-creation: You can feature user-generated content in your graphic design that shows real reactions, real people, and real experiences. This makes the visuals more interactive and relatable. Let them be a part of your creation through hashtag trends, duets, etc.
Foster two-way visual storytelling: Instead of just conveying your values, initiate a conversation with the help of artistic interpretations and reactions. As for their responses, make them involved.
Representation Isn’t Optional
Diversity in visuals must be intentional: The visual representations should be extremely authentic and diversifying. It shouldn’t look forced. Multiple ranges of aesthetics, expressions, values, etc., can attract more audiences.
Accessible design: Apart from aesthetics, you should be precise about usability as well. Make visuals accessible to all users and improve visibility through perfect color contrast and fonts.
Riding Trends without Losing Your Brand
It is important for you to follow the trend, but make sure not to lose the value of your brand. No matter what kind of trends you are pitching, it should blend effectively with your brand goals.
Be Trend-Aware, Not Trend-Obsessed
Follow trends via TikTok, Pinterest, etc.: TikTok, Pinterest, Instagram, Youtube, and FB can be your ultimate trend-spotting tools. So, to make your graphic designs relatable, you should prioritize designs that significantly match your values.
Infuse trending styles into your brand’s visual language: Don’t copy trends and try to initiate your own. Through this, you can experiment with different features and discover new trends.
Maintain brand consistency while staying culturally fluent: It is evident that you will experiment with new styles and elements. However, your audience should recognize you for your core functionalities.
Design Tools Gen Z Is Already Using — And You Should Be Too
Gen Z is very quick in adopting different types of design tools to initiate different types of interactive content. Here are some eminent tools they use vastly.
# CapCut: This is one of the foremost editing applications in the recent age. It is perfect for acquiring fast-paced and short-form content. It comes with multiple effects and comprehensive templates for better usability.
# Canva: This platform is mobile-friendly and comes with a vast range of templates for memes, TitTok, Instagram, Facebook, etc. If you have a team to initiate the design project, you can avail of the collaborative measures of this app.
# Figma: This is a great collaboration designing tool that leverages the perfect UI/UX design. Cloud-based workflow makes team projects more engulfing. It is also beneficial for creating interactive designs for your website.
# Photopea: It can run in the browser with no need for downloads and pricey subscriptions. If you value advanced editing and quick touch-ups, it can be a great option.
Your Audience Is Waiting — Let’s Craft Graphics That Speak Gen Z’s Language
Designing graphics for Gen Z is not at all easy. Being digital natives, they understand the authenticity of any content. So, you need to approach the best designs with some reliable steps. This includes understanding the trend, valuing the aesthetics, incorporating platform-first designs, customization, usage of effective tools, etc. So, instead of being a perfectionist, make sure to avail real content. So, test, learn, and adopt Gen Z to be a part of your creative initiatives.
