We’re almost halfway through 2018, and already we’re seeing some fascinating new design trends emerging.
Keeping an eye on visual trends helps us to keep our work fresh and relevant to our clients. We’ve picked out a few particularly interesting trends below, and we’ll be fascinated to see how these evolve into the second half of the year…

Red
Designs based on the colour red can evoke a number of moods, and red-heavy covers often have a bold impact.

Retro Elegance
Particularly associated with period fiction and female characters, we’re seeing a number of covers evoking the beauty and style of earlier decades. Attention to the details of immaculate hair and make-up is especially important.

Aerial View
Clean overhead and aerial views with plenty of copy space seem to be popular with designers at present. Small figures in empty landscapes is a concept we’ve seen in various guises.

Unsettling Legs
A recent trend in domestic and psychological thrillers is a focus on characters’ legs, often in the context of something surreal or disturbing.

Clean Still Life
Still lifes and objects are always in demand, but a recent variation has been very clean designs with neutral or coloured backdrops.

Windows At Night
Silhouetted figures against lit windows are a recurring thriller concept, but we’ve also seen night-time windows used to suggest a voyeuristic gaze, or sometimes simply another take on urban life.

Water
Water appears in many different designs and cover styles, but lately we’ve seen some interesting concepts where water or water textures saturate the design, sometimes engulfing characters or text.

 

Asymmetric Patterns
Irregular or asymmetric patterns are the basis of some intriguing cover designs – these often go hand in hand with paper constructions and collage effects.

We’re also still seeing examples of the trends we picked out for 2018 at the beginning of the year. Political turmoil, domestic disturbance and the 1960s are all popular concepts this year, and the drive towards greater diversity remains very much on the agenda. Click here to view the Top 10 Visual trends for 2018.

If you’ve you’ve got any interesting examples of the above trends, or if you’ve spotted any trends we’ve missed, we’d love to hear from you in the comments!