It's always good to know what's trending, even if you ultimately decide to eschew the trends and go your own way. And if you were wondering what's hot in type right now, Monotype's typography trends report has just been released. It's got plenty of juicy ideas to sink your teeth into, whether you're a pro typographer or are still on the basics of our typography tutorials.
There's Match Maker, which is all about diversity and matching various styles together, there's Superhero, which is all about outlines and shadows, and then there's Pixel Play, which as the name suggests is all about the pixel. And that's not all, Monotype outlines 10 trends in total for this year.
Pixel Play and Match Maker (Image credit: Monotype/Future)
Among those ten, the one that's least developed is the trend for AI painting. You might not realise that AI painted letterforms already exist, but they do. And we've yet to see just how they might be used.
If you find yourself groaning at the very thought of AI having a part in typography, then here's some food for thought from the report: "The industrial revolution brought forth innovations in manufacturing that, at first glance, seemed to promise us less time at work and more time to play. But those productivity gains and efficiencies were gobbled up by corporate profit and growth. We spent the same amount of time at work, just with faster, more productive machines. Will AI give us more productivity and speed than we can handle?"
AI painting and Liquify (Image credit: Monotype/Future)
If you don't want to think about AI and instead want to ogle some beautiful letterforms, then this report has them in spades. Our favourite is probably the barely legible Liquify trend, which is a continuation of trends from previous years.
Rosie Hilder is Creative Bloq's Deputy Editor. After beginning her career in journalism in Argentina – where she worked as Deputy Editor of Time Out Buenos Aires – she moved back to the UK and joined Future Plc in 2016. Since then, she's worked as Operations Editor on magazines including Computer Arts, 3D World and Paint & Draw and Mac|Life. In 2018, she joined Creative Bloq, where she now assists with the daily management of the site, including growing the site's reach, getting involved in events, such as judging the Brand Impact Awards, and helping make sure our content serves the reader as best it can.
