Exciting advancements are affecting all aspects of our lives, including in marketing, design, and printing. Check out six hot trends that are coming in 2020.
1) Connection between Print and Digital
It seems both print and digital are here to stay, so now it’s more about leveraging their ability to work together and actually complement each other.
One example of this is the U.S. Postal Service’s new Informed Delivery, which allows users to digitally preview their mail. For companies, Informed Delivery has created an opportunity to provide banner ads within these emails.
In 2020, your online and offline tactics must speak to one another and support each other in order to provide a cohesive audience experience.
2) Virtual And Augmented Reality
Another exciting trend is augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) which have become increasingly popular as costs to develop them have decreased. Now, you can hire an AR/VR company and create a project for under $5,000.
AR adds digital elements to a live view, often by using the camera on a smartphone. In contrast, VR implies a complete immersion experience that shuts out the physical world. AR is expected to surpass VR in popularity, despite VR’s early lead, as it is more accessible. See our blog here for more details.
The massive furniture retailer, Ikea, provides a great example of effectively using AR. They have an app that allows users to visualize what a piece of furniture would look like in their home before making a purchase.
3) Interactive Content
Consumers are looking for interactive content; and shoppable posts, 360-degree video, quizzes, and polls deliver that.
In fact, 91 percent of consumers are seeking more visual and interactive content. The benefits to a brand of using interactive content are that it keeps visitors on your page longer and is more shareable.
The City of Rome has created a guided city tour that provides a great example of a 360-degree video.
4) Hyper-Personalization
Marketers know that personalization helps increase engagement. In fact, research shows that people are 80 percent more likely to buy something when a brand makes the experience personal.
An easy way to add personalization is to include the prospect’s name in an email. More advanced techniques include using retargeting and other similar technologies to offer consumers new items they might like based on other signals they’ve provided. Today, you can target based on location, behavior, content viewed, industry, segment/persona, browser, device, and more. Doing so enables more personalized advertising than ever before.
For example, by using a tool like Marketo’s Real-Time Personalization, if someone comes to your website from the higher education industry, you can begin to target them with ads specifically relating to higher education, making their experience more relevant.
5) Open Composition
From a design standpoint, throughout 2019, the open composition look was popular. In 2020, we’ll expect to see more of this in advertising, especially online.
What is Open Composition? Looking at the opposite helps to illustrate the design approach. Closed composition is a static image where the subject is neatly framed to be the focus on the image. All of the design elements are meant to draw your attention to the subject, which is usually close to or in the center of the picture.
In contrast, the open composition look is free of harsh edges, and elements don’t line up perfectly on a grid. Instead, the items are more fluid and are meant to work better on different screen sizes as well as on print applications like billboards and magazine ads.
6. Large Format Printing
In 2020, we’ll also expect to continue to see large format printing such as billboards, ads on the sides of buildings, and big banners at trade shows. These types of applications will continue to be popular as they grab attention so quickly.
While they are less targeted than online options or direct mail, large format print products also make up for that in the sheer number of users that see them. Expect images to become more realistic and even bigger. Trends such as full-page width backgrounds you’ve seen on websites will repeat on billboards.
2020 is sure to be an exciting year in the graphics industry!