In today’s fast-paced world, the shelf life of trends seem shorter than ever, and staying ahead of the curve with creative communications can feel daunting. 

But being forward-thinking, innovative, and creative is key to standing out from the crowd and cutting through the noise. So… As 2022 comes to a close, we asked our creative team to predict what we can expect to see in 2023. Here’s what they said…

1. KEEP IT SHORT.

People get bored. They get bored fast. And can you blame them? There’s so much content! And now that we have TikTok, why would we spend 90 seconds on a video?

We mentioned in our strategic 2023 predictions that content output on digital channels is changing, and with that, short-form video content will be the go-to next year.

Audiences are shifting and want to be told lots of stories in unique ways that feel personalised to the story itself, rather than longer content trying to combine multiple narratives into one.

This also speaks to the desire for audiences to relate to other individuals, rather than brands and is an exciting opportunity to let real stories do the work.

2.MAKE IT REALISTIC – AND RELATABLE.

With Tiktok, reels and influencers becoming the go-to way of consuming content, how can your content feel more authentic?

We are all becoming obsessed with anything that imitates real life, and brands/organisations will need to find creative ways to make their message sound like it’s coming from real people. Super polished, clean, professional video content is out and ‘raw’; behind the scenes, self-filmed content is in.  

For example, showing the processes behind marketing, the ideas, the mistakes, the out-takes, and bloopers are trickling into how everyone communicates. Putting the people behind the brand and organisation at the front and centre – imperfections and all. It’s human. 

This poses an opportunity to really tune into the human voice of our partners and think about what they’re like on a personal level. However, it is also a challenge to maintain genuine authenticity in a market full of stories.

3. THINK ABOUT BEING PLAYFUL.

We’ve previously mentioned boredness. It’s our enemy. If we don’t get the audience to feel something, they won’t do anything. Then we’ve failed at our jobs… 

So how do we cut through boredom? With emotion! What’s one thing that sparks emotion? PLAY!  We believe playfulness is going to be essential to embrace in the impact space – both visually and in tone.

Trend-wise, the 90s and 2000s styling continues to resurface, bringing fun and pop energy and will appeal to overwhelmed and stressed audiences looking for a break from sacrifice and doom. We’re going to need to find the fun wherever possible.  

Part of this will be the popularity of abstract and absurdist creativity. We know Gen Z has been leading a new wave of absurdism across social media in response to an overwhelming world.

We’re also seeing the rise of 3D design in popularity within the creative sector; while this is more common in the commercial industry – we’re curious to see how it bleeds into social impact spaces. It’s quite literally breaking the mould. 

These more playful approaches will provide opportunities for organisations and the social impact space to engage with younger audiences over the coming year.

4. READING THE FUTURE.

We’re seeing more and more funky and distorted typography towards the end of this year, and we’ll see a lot of it in 2023.

Twisted letters, fading words, wavy warping – all of which speak to the kind of disjointed feeling of the world at the moment, like the increasing blurring between digital and real.

With metaverses and AI and the rise of tech stuff,  typography is finding cool ways to reflect the future while nodding to traditional fonts and design, creating modern visuals inspired by manual design processes like photocopying and printing.

5. HOW WILL AI IMPACT HOW WE CREATE?

With the rise of AI in creative and commercial spaces, we’re seeing a shift in the discourse regarding what this means for artists and the ethics behind AI in art.

While critiques surrounding the use of AI is nothing new especially in the context of privacy concerns, regulations and the impact it may have on the labour market. While they won’t replace the human creative process, some may believe that there is a positive side of AI generated art in sparking new creative ideas.

We expect to see a continuation of the current discourse on the ethics of AI-generated art in the context of artists and their role, in a rapidly evolving landscape.