When someone says they do design, you want to ask, “What kind of design? There are a lot of them.” We analyzed seven trends of digital design.
What is a Digital Design?
Digital design is the creation of images, graphic elements, websites, and entire products using special software. You can interact with digital products every day: listen to music, order food and cabs in apps and websites, play video games, and watch multimedia installations at exhibitions. Even the splash screen of your favorite video blog is also part of the digital product.
Buttons, icons, color schemes, fonts, images, and animations are all elements of design for digital products. They make the interaction between the user and the product convenient, interesting, and pleasant:
- An intuitive interface helps you quickly find the information you need and perform tasks without wasting a lot of time.
- Interactive applications and games allow you to learn with pleasure.
- Online stores and delivery services help you save time and receive services from the comfort of your own home.
- Digital design makes many services accessible to people with disabilities. For example, people with visual impairments can use the function of text voicing or font enlargement.
Types of digital design
When the internet started to grow rapidly, independent areas began to emerge from graphic design: web, UX/UI, AR and VR, motion, communication, and product design.
Web design
Web design is the creation of websites and lendings. For example, owners of an online store who need a design will come to a web designer with a ready-made prototype, where the user path and button locations have already been thought out. The IT designer’s job will be to render the layouts, select illustrations and colors, and then hand them over to developers and layout designers.
UX/UI design
UX/UI design is the creation of the logic and visual part of the user interface. The two areas are considered together because the interface should be not only visually pleasing but also user-friendly.
First, the designer creates a prototype:
- Thinks through how the user will interact with the interface.
- Designs the path the user must take to get the service or information.
- Highlights the accents the user should pay attention to.
When the prototype is ready, the UX/UI designer tests it on users and then draws the interface taking into account their comments.
Motion Design
Motion design combines graphic design and animation. It is used to create animated elements on websites, mobile applications, presentations, commercials, titles, and splash pages of programs, TV series, and movies. About every second request on the sites for freelancers looks like this: “Who can animate a logo for the splash page of a video blog or commercial? Or make an animation of up to 30 seconds for social networks?”.
3D design
3D design is the creation of three-dimensional objects and scenes in virtual space. It is used in movies, architecture, and interior design, but the most in-demand industry is the gaming industry. 3D designers create virtual characters and entire worlds for games.
Architects use 3D design to visualize projects, so they can design objects more accurately and avoid mistakes at the construction stage. In aerospace, mechanical engineering, and medicine, 3D design is used to create prototypes of products.
AR and VR design
AR and VR design are used to create interfaces and user experiences for applications and games with augmented or virtual reality technologies.
AR allows virtual objects to be added to the real world, while VR immerses the user in a fictional world – created from computer graphics. The task of IT designers who work with such technologies is to create the most realistic and user-friendly experience possible.
Communication design
Communication design uses the tools of other types of digital design to convey the right information and ideas to the audience. For example, graphic design creates aesthetically pleasing images using color, shape, and texture. Communication design uses these same elements, but with a more specific purpose – for example, to tell about the brand and its values.
Product design
Product design is more of a specialization than a major. It is impossible to come to product design after courses, just as it is impossible to come from undergraduate to graduate school. A specialist who deals with a product is already a solid middleman. He is responsible for the design, usability, and how the product solves the tasks of the business and helps it to be profitable. For example, you need to place an advertising banner in an app or on a website. A product designer needs to understand where to place it to increase conversion rates.
