Transcription
So there are a lot of different design styles, and sometimes it's like really difficult to figure out what they're called. So I made this video to try and help you out by defining what I think are 40 of the most popular and hard-to-find styles. Well, some of them, I mean, you know those styles that you're like, endlessly trying to fight with Google to show you what's in your head, where, "Oh my God, show me to be pleased!" And sometimes you can find it, other times you just come up super short.
And so that's why I just want to give you some keywords to help you find those styles. These are in no particular order. I just made a list of them as I found them, but I'm going to do my best to define the style for you, obviously show you examples, and you should be able to use a site like Pinterest to search for these styles pretty easily. Now, let's get rolling.
Let's kick it off with Neoclassical art. Now, if you're a fan of super old-timey paintings, you know, think Michelangelo, which I know is a little bit farther back than neoclassical, then this is definitely the style for you. Now, I bring this one up first because I think with the popularity of the Apple series Severance, I wonder if the "O" department has anything to do with this recent influx of searches for this style. Historically, this style came to be in the late 18th to 19th century, mirroring the Enlightenment's fascination with classical antiquity. Again, think ancient Greece. Now, nowadays, you're going to see neoclassical influences in formal print, maybe in interior design settings that want that grand, timeless vibe. Everything here is basically an homage to ancient Greece because you can think of it and you can look at those paintings and instantly think, "Oh, The Creation of Adam" from Michelangelo. I actually did a video on this recently where I walk through creating some graphic designs with neoclassical art pieces, so you should take a look at that if you're interested in learning more about this style.
All right, let's keep it classical for a minute and talk about Baroque style. The other key term is Baroque. Now, think dramatic details, lots of ornamentation, intense contrasts that make everything feel lavish and like you're in a theater, like a classic theater. This style flourished in Europe in the 17th century up through the mid-18th century, dominating architecture and art for that period. Now, today, Baroque elements are kind of in luxury event branding, maybe in editorial layouts and packaging that needs more elegance to it. Oh, and don't forget the super rich-looking color palettes that are super important with this design style.
All right, next on the list is Aurora. And now, what we're talking about here is this kind of gradient that you've most likely been looking for, you've just been missing that word, Aurora. Picture the enchanting glow of those Northern Lights that everybody wants to see, right? All those dreamy gradients, purples, pinks, blues, greens. In design, it's more modern in this aesthetic, and it really takes off in the 2010s as digital artists are using luminous colors, transitions. And you'll find these Aurora gradients all over modern projects, modern branding, lots of UI/UX websites, and also in the digital art that leans more into cosmic or magical type stuff. Now, when you're searching, try adding "grain" or "blur" to "Aurora gradient," and for those different effects, you're going to find another design trend within itself.
All right, let's talk about Ethereal. It's kind of a weird word for a design style, I know, but this style focuses on really soft hues, delicate layering, airy, otherworldly atmosphere, like, kind of you're stepping into a dream or something. And while airy aesthetics have been showing up throughout art history, this style became super trendy in, again, the 2010s, a big year for design, especially in photography and web design. And you're going to see ethereal design in high-end fashion lookbooks, website heroes, conceptual art pieces aiming for a gentle, super refined-looking feel. It's kind of like surrealism, which we'll talk about later, but it's more rooted in real than that. So maybe think about this style and more of a nostalgic feeling or a nostalgic project.
All right, moving along. Filigree is all about those intricate, lacy metalwork, marble, and woodwork patterns you might see in vintage jewelry today and in ancient architecture back in history. In graphic design, filigree translates to this lavish scrollwork or swirling flourishes that basically immediately signal this is like elegant. And the technique is used a lot in lettering, actually, but this artful approach has its roots in centuries of old metalwork, particularly in the 17th and 18th centuries in Europe. You're going to find filigree motifs on wedding invitations, lots of premium luxury brand packaging, and any design really that needs more sophistication to it.
Up next is a similar style, which is known as Acanthus, one of my favorites. And this spotlights the leafy patterns commonly found in ancient Greek and Roman columns. You'll find Acanthus in decorative borders and classical architectural details. Now, we've seen revivals in this style across the Renaissance and the neoclassical periods we already mentioned. And in modern times, designers often use Acanthus in interior accents, really fancy typography flourishes, and then elegant print layouts and editorial designs that need that super classical flare.
Let's talk about Anthropomorphic design, and that's where non-human objects, like an animal, take on human traits. And I can just bet someone is going to the comments to be like, "Yes, finally, this is what this is called!" I'm like, "Finally," because I was right there with you not so long ago. And for some reason, when you describe what you want to Google, it spits out "taxidermy" as the technique, and it's just nowhere close to what we're talking about here. Oh, wow, I am disgusted. Anyway, the design style is pretty whimsical, and it can quickly turn simple ideas into relatable characters. Again, i.e., think animals. The style dates back into ancient mythology, but the commercial boom happened in the 20th century with the rise of cartoons and brand mascots. These days, you're going to spot the anthropomorphic figures in children's books, playful branding campaigns, or maybe vintage product packaging, which is what I generally use it for.
All right, let's shift gears quite a bit. Pixel art. Pixel art is often referred to as 8-bit, maybe bitmap art, is blocky, low-resolution graphics from early computer or video games. And yeah, just go ahead and think Minecraft. That's pretty accurate. You can expect tiny squares of color, limited palettes, very retro, very nostalgic. Some say this style peaked between the '70s and '80s, only to see it come back a little bit in indie games in the 2010s. But I'm kind of thinking it's starting to peak right now. I mean, there's like a million new games coming out with this retro 8-bit or 16-bit style that are super fun to play. But in graphic design, you're going to find it everywhere in kind of retro-inspired marketing, obviously indie game design, or graphics that just need that '80s pixel look and feel.
One of my favorite design styles as of late is Conceptual Sketch, or you might search it as Doodle Art. They can both kind of bring up the same thing. The style mostly features spontaneous, childlike, maybe naive drawings, very free form. Now, you must acquire a taste for free form, like jazz, okay? SpongeBob, you're ready. And while sketching has been around for obviously forever, this doodle art really gained traction after the 2000s. And designers are using it now for branding, creative agencies, youth-oriented products or brands, editorials that want to show off more fun or kind of unpolished energy. And this design style is quite freeing because, as we've shown you actually in a few tutorials in Kai, you can just draw something in your notebook really fast, upload it to Kai, vectorize it, and then boom, you have your own elements that you made in seconds that you can use as a design element in whatever project.
Okay, onto a big one, which is Luxury Typography. This approach is all about the super refined, pretty custom typefaces with lavish scripts or super elaborate ligatures. The high-end fashion branding in the 20th century put this style on the map, and it's kind of rooted in older calligraphic traditions. But this style is so popular, my brother Graham, for those of you who didn't know, has done over eight videos on the channel here on just luxury typography, and you guys keep watching them. So clearly, this style is extremely popular. You're going to see it obviously in premium packaging, luxury streetwear brands, upscale events and invitations, magazine covers, anything that needs a top-tier look. You can literally type these words, "luxury typography," into Pinterest, and you're going to start getting a lot of cool stuff come up, just, just like this.
Japandi is our next style, which I did not know about until recently, and it makes me upset because I wish I knew earlier. It's a super beautiful blend of Japanese minimalism and Scandinavian warmth and design. Think neutral colors, neutral natural materials with a touch of Bauhaus to it. It gained a lot of momentum in the 2010s, again, big year for that, but it's still popular now. It's riding the wave of this minimalistic interior design, and you might find Japandi style influences on even websites, lifestyle products, branding, and probably what I see the most of is poster design and decor. So keep an eye out for a Japandi design tutorial coming soon here on the Kai channel.
Now let's talk about something more energetic, which is the Memphis style. And it's very loud, very geometric, very bold, and it's pretty playful. It's all about postmodern vibes here, and it came into the spotlight into fame in the 1980s thanks to the Memphis Group. It quickly became iconic of that era's very experimental design scene. And you're going to see the Memphis patterns today in retro branding, obviously editorial pieces, things that need a more splash of color or fun, very funky packaging. We actually have a lot of design elements and pieces for Memphis that you can use in Kai, by the way, if you're interested.
Bohemian or Boho is characterized by a blend of global influences with layered textures that are more earthy with this muted vibrant palette. I know that's kind of weird. It's laid-back though, and it's free-spirited. It kind of gives off, like, travel vibes, worldly travel vibes. Dates back to the 19th century artist communities, and it kind of hit mainstream media in the 1960s. There's obviously some very viby, hippie-inspired design included here. And nowadays, this design is a go-to for event branding, fashion lines, very much lifestyle products that embrace, like, wanderlust and creativity. It's honestly a pretty easy one to achieve, by the way. You just need the right typography and the right elements. You're probably going to spend more time figuring out the right color palettes.
If you love distressed finishes and pastel tones with vintage romance, then Shabby Chic is the style you've been looking for. Picture faded florals, repurposed furniture. Okay, this rose to popularity in the 1980s and the '90s as an interior design trend, but today it's often used a ton in wedding invitations, very cozy packaging design for products, and branding for companies that want that homey, sentimental look and feel.
In the same vein, our next style is Farmhouse, often referred to or paired with Cottagecore. Both of these are great terms to search in Pinterest along with "design" or "graphic" after them, by the way. It focuses more on rustic simplicity, natural fabrics, charming countryside aesthetics. It's rooted in more rural settings. It took social media again in the 2010s and has continued to be popular up through now. You'll see it in home decor, branding, boutique and apparel brands, nature-focused book covers, and any design aiming for a warm, nostalgic feel.
Victorian design proudly wears ornate details, rich color schemes, and floral decorations. It's all about excess, elegance, and intricate motifs from the reign of Queen Victoria, obviously. What you say, Queen, spanning 1837 to 1901. This era hugely influenced that century of art, architecture, and decor. Today, it shows up in modern-day calligraphy, lettering, themed event invites, obviously wedding stationery, vintage branding and packaging, and even steampunk aesthetics that borrow those intricate letter forms.
All right, let's stick with the vintage theme for a second and talk about Art Deco, or Art Deco, whichever way you want to say it. It's a style that you've probably heard of and you just keep forgetting about. It's sleek, geometric, very glamorous. It features symmetrical patterns and metallic accents. It's all about modern luxury that dominated the 1920s and the 1930s, was very optimistic of that interwar period. You're going to catch the Art Deco vibes in upscale packaging, sophisticated events, cocktail bars, hotels, interior accents that have that Great Gatsby flare to them.
Okay, on a different part of the vintage spectrum, we have Art Nouveau, which embraces more flowy lines, more organic shapes, more floral motifs with elegant, rounded typography. It's heavily inspired by nature and often merges illustration and seamlessly with the type. This movement kicked off in the late 19th century with one of the most influential artists, Alphonse Mucha, which you can also just search that name to get a very similar design style, of course. And this movement lasted up into the 20th century, partly as a response against the industrial mass production. But you're still going to get a lot of fonts and typography influenced by this style today, and it's heavily used in poster designs, lots of book covers, and even branding that wants that more handcrafted, very romantic, organic feel.
Mystical Western is kind of my own special keyword I created because you can obviously search "mystical" and "Western" independently of each other. And here's kind of a bonus term for mystical, just as an aside, you can search "tarot" or "tarot card." But anyway, back to Mystical Western. This style marries classic cowboy vibes and a dash of cosmic spiritual vibes. Think very desert landscape, moonlight, hints of celestial symbols. Another good keyword. You've probably been seeing this a lot on apparel designs or fashion brand packaging. The Western art dates back to the 19th century, but the mystical twist took off in the modern boho circles again in the 2010s. It's perfect for music festival posters, lots of indie apparel and brands, a lot of brands looking to capture a dreamier aesthetic.
Kitsch is probably another term you've been looking for to attach it to this style of turning tackiness into an art form. There are a lot of bright colors, exaggerated imagery, and cheeky pop culture references. It's playful, it's very ironic, nostalgic. It has a lot of retro graphics invested in it. While the idea of kitsch dates back to the 19th century, you can also think of it as "kitsch-y." It enjoyed a significant revival in mid-20th century pop art. Designers use it for satirical branding, a lot of novelty products, a lot of stickers, maybe a lot of edgy marketing campaigns that want to go over the top.
3x3 Grid Design is sort of another word of my own creation because I've been seeing a lot of this design style, but no term really helps you find exactly what you're looking for. The 3x3 grid design organizes visuals into nine evenly spaced boxes. We actually have a tutorial on this, you can go check it out. It's very straightforward, it's very easy to understand. The grid systems are foundational for this, but the 3x3 layout got extra popular around 2014, 2015 with the extra rise of social media and mood boarding combined together. So you're going to see it in a lot of Instagram feeds, you're going to see it in a lot of portfolios, a lot of apparel and boutique design as well.
Now, if grungy textures, neon, bubbly, or futuristic typography catches your eye, Y2K is probably what you're looking for. Y2K, or Year 2000, captures that turn-of-the-millennia, tech-optimistic, futuristic look. It blew up around 1999, 2000, as the name would suggest, and it's now enjoying its own comeback, which has happened since about 2020. I saw it rise to fame again. You can expect to find it in fashion editorial, a lot of digital collage, a lot of streetwear brand campaigns that want to tap back into that throwback culture.
Bauhaus strips design down to functional essentials and uses bold geometric shapes, primary colors, and minimal ornamentation. It's all about form following function and clarity. Born from the German art school active between 1919 and 1933, Bauhaus sets the stage for modernist design pretty much worldwide. Remember, we already talked about the influence on Japandi design earlier. Bauhaus is used in brand identity design, it's used heavily in grid layouts for editorial and web design, as well as product design that needs that more sleek, geometric look.
Brutalism in graphic design throws polished minimalism right out of the window because it favors much more stark layouts, much more bold monochrome palettes, and unrefined typography with just stuff all over the place. It's intentionally raw and it pushes against more conventional grids and aesthetics. It's inspired by mid-20th century architectural brutalism, another keyword you can go check out. And it had a digital resurgence post-2010. These days, it pops up a lot in streetwear, experimental brands, editorial layouts, and it challenges the status quo. So you might also search "maximalist," "maximalism," or "brutalist" or something similar to find designs like this.
A style we recently talked about in a video was Cybercore, which is all about neon-lit visuals with this kind of like circuit board motif, and it feels more like living inside a high-tech world. Well, I guess a computer, living in a computer. You need to think metallic finishes, hard drop shadows, pop-up windows, a sense of digital speed. It's all rooted in the cyberpunk idea, but it gained traction in the 21st century with the internet boom, of course. But because of this keyword, "iOS core," or this trend, it's come back to life fully formed in 2024. You're going to find it in gaming brands, poster design, marketing campaigns, vision boards, social posts, anywhere where you need that more edgy digital branding.
Synthwave taps into '80s nostalgia with neon grids, palm trees for some reason, and those dramatic sunset gradients. It's a retro-futuristic style, heavily influenced by electronic music and old-school '80s arcade aesthetics. In the late 2000s, there was a revival of '80s synth music that brought the style back to life for designers, and it became widespread around 2008, 2009. Look for Synthwave in album art, visuals that are brand promotions, marketing campaigns, anything that needs kind of monoline neon to it.
All right, let's stick with the wave motif and talk about Vaporwave, which is an internet-born aesthetic that mashes old-school computer graphics with Greek busts for some reason, neon hues, and glitchy effects. It's both nostalgic, very satirical. It plays around with consumerism themes from the '80s and '90s. It emerged again around 2009, 2010 from online communities, and you're going to see it a lot in album covers, more digital collages, more experimental ads, probably. And you want to embrace that more retro, kitschy idea. This kind of stuff fits with that aesthetic.
Pop Art is a style we've talked about already in two previous styles, and it takes everyday objects, comic strip images, and famous icons, and then it really combines and drenches them together in bold color with repetition to make a big statement. It's like a commentary on consumerism and celebrity culture combined. Often very playful, very eye-catching. It's beginning in the 1950s, 1960s, and was made famous by artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Today, Pop Art themes appear a lot in different places, from branding to apparel design, even web design, and you're going to see it a lot on editorial covers, clearly on packaging design, anything that needs more of an iconic pop punch.
The Bento Grid is a neat and orderly layout style inspired by compartmentalized Japanese Bento boxes. And each section has its own dedicated space, making it super tidy and modular. It gained a lot of traction around 2012 in UI and UX design and web design, thanks to the push for minimal, functional, easy-to-read layouts. You're going to spot Bento grids in your dashboards, your portfolios, a lot of Apple product branding on their website, in any project looking for a polished, structured presentation.
Graffiti is a word most people are probably already familiar with in that style, and it borrows trends from urban street art. It's showcasing bold spray-painted letters. I mean, I'm, I'm sure you've seen this before, right? Bright color, gritty textures, a lot of concrete. It's energetic, rebellious, it's full of personality. Modern graffiti, as we know it, really took off in the 1960s during the hip-hop scene. These days, designers use graffiti in really edgy brand campaigns, a lot of music posters, a lot of clothing lines that want that more raw streetwear edge to it.
Tenebrism is probably a style you have not heard of. If you have, let me know in the comments. This style hinges on extreme contrast between light and dark, creating a high-drama spotlight look. Now, this is more of an artistic key term. It's often intense and super moody, which draws the viewer's attention to brightly lit areas of it, surrounded by deep shadow in the background. This technique comes from Baroque painting in the 17th century, championed by artists like Caravaggio. Today, you'll find Tenebrism-inspired designs in atmospheric posters, a lot of event flyers, a lot of editorial spreads, perhaps some web design, maybe packaging that needs strong visual attention, really up to you on on how you use this theme.
Let's keep it sort of dark for a minute and do me a favor and picture some pointed arches, some intricate carvings, and some dark aura sculptures. Better stop. And if you're thinking of the term Gothic, then you get 100 points. I mean, the points don't matter, but you do have them. That's right, the points don't matter at all. Just like Blair Witch, too. It's dramatic, it can lean more eerie, it can lean more grand, depending on what you need. Gothic architecture emerged in 12th century Europe and has influenced various revivals since. These days, Gothic styling appears in everything from edgy band merch and logos to vintage branding and even fashion. So the range for this is quite large.
Pointillism arranges thousands of tiny dots, or more from a distance, the eye can blend them into a cohesive image. It has a distinct stippled appearance that can be mesmerizing up close. I actually have an example here that I completed, which is my interpretation of Peter holding the key. And I started out by just using Microns for this, but I got super worn out, and so I actually used an electronic stipple pen to finish it. Anyway, the technique was developed around the late 19th century, and today designers might use this pointillist element or stipple art element for editorial illustrations, maybe for branding that want more artistic edges to it, illustration elements for packaging. You might also try searching "stipple art" to find similar results or adjacent results.
All right, Mixed Media is all about combining different mediums, obviously. Mixed painting, photography, collage, you name it. It's all going to be unified into one composition. It often uses layering and unexpected juxtapositions to create super eclectic visuals. Now, while artists have had mixed media for forever, the late 20th century has saw a surge in design for adopting this style into the digital era or the digital style. You'll see it in magazine spreads, album covers, advertising. We just did a deep dive on mixed media design, which you can check out here in the cards if you want to learn more about how to achieve that style.
Steampunk is a super fun style. I would say you've probably heard of that already and you've been trying to remember to use that as an actual search term. Steampunk fuses Victorian era aesthetics with mechanical, steam-powered tech in a retro-futuristic way. It's so interesting because while everything looks like it's from an era of past time, the mechanical inventions are pretty far advanced for even what we might have today. So you're going to picture gears, lots of cogs, lots of brass gadgets in an alternate world where modern inventions are powered by steam. Steam engines. I hope you said steam because that's the whole premise of this style. It originated as a literary subgenre in the 1980s and they grew into a broader pop culture phenomenon. You'll often find steampunk vibes on book covers, fantasy brand novels, fantasy brand visuals, merchandise that merges history with science. It's also used a lot in video game graphics that fit this aesthetic. Now, pro tip, you can actually generate this steampunk style super easily in Kai AI. So if you feel like it, go ahead and sign up below and give it a shot.
Kawaii is the Japanese concept of cute, which is featuring rounded shapes, pastel colors, and adorable cartoon-like characters. All about adorable look and feel, pretty similar to children's cartoons. While it emerged in Japanese pop culture in the '70s, it has since swept across global fashion, global stationery, and media. You'll see Kawaii style in character branding, toy packaging, apparel, social media graphics, all of it has this connection to the cute art style. Now, you can also generate Kawaii characters with Kai AI super well. So much so that I put an entire video together, you can check out right here, of how I made a KDP coloring book with 25 mythological Kawaii characters, if you want to check that out, again, do so up there in the cards.
Coquette is another super new term to me, and it embraces soft, romantic aesthetics with delicate florals, pastel tones, and kind of a flirty vibe to it. Honestly, it kind of feels a lot like Valentine's Day stuff. Think lace, ribbons, gentle silhouettes that are charming and playful. It also draws on historical fashion like Coco for a Victorian, lacy feel. And nowadays, we are seeing a modern resurgence of this style. This looks particularly popular in boutique branding, feminine style editorial spreads, and packaging for beauty and fashion lines, which definitely makes a lot of sense.
Surrealism throws logic and just chucks it right out the window. I mean, it merges everyday objects and super dreamlike objects into the same thing. It taps into your subconscious, it uses imagery that doesn't really go together, and it sparks your curiosity and really challenges reality. Coming about in the 1920s, it continues to influence our design, film, and advertising today. You're going to see the surrealist touches on album covers, editorial illustrations, and it all aims to provoke thought. We also have a deep dive on surrealism that you can check out up here in the cards later if you want to learn how to make your own surreal designs.
Utilitarian design is probably one of my favorites right now, and it strips down design to bare essentials, focusing on practicality and function over being decorative. It's often super stark, super minimal, making information instantly clear because most of the time it's just a lot of typography formed into a grid. The mindset emerged alongside modernist principles in the mid-20th century and reserves in minimalist design movements. Today, you'll encounter it in signage and industrial interfaces, a lot of clothing labels, packaging design, and anywhere that you need to communicate a lot of information but in a small grid space. Think about shipping containers, actually. That's probably an easier way to think about it.
Mid-century styling hails from the 1950s, featuring clean lines, modern optimism, and vibrant yet slightly muted color palettes. Very sleek silhouettes, organic curves, and a nod to Space Age innovation are major parts of this design style. You need to think a lot about the furniture of this time period to get an idea of what you need to create. Roughly spanning 1945 to 1970, this era saw a boom in modern design after World War II, and it's today mid-century influences furniture, branding, of course, retro poster layouts, and a lot of home decor that all celebrate classical modernism.
So we have one more, which is technically the 41st design style, but it doesn't sound as nice as 40, so this is like a bonus style for you. But lastly, we have Scrapbook or Collage. This style pieces together photographs, cutout text, layered decorative elements for a personal, much more hand-assembled, analog look. Scrapbooking has obviously been around for forever, okay? But collage got a notable push in the 20th century and has remained a beloved art form in design ever since. You're going to see scrapbook-inspired looks in personal journals, a lot of wedding invitations, brand campaigns, a lot of vision boards, a lot of social posts, and other graphics as well that all want to evoke this warm, handcrafted, again, analog feel. And we have a tutorial on this in Kai where you can learn to make your own scrapbook design. You can check that out in the cards right here.
Okay, that was a lot of design styles, and I hope this was super helpful for you. There are definitely many more. You can take these, you can add other words, again, you can add like "design" or you can add "art" or you can add "graphic" to the end of it, and you can probably find what you're looking for in websites like Pinterest, that are super great for inspiration. You can also try searching our templates on Kai to find people and designers who have already made graphics in this style. But you let me know what you think in the comments. Are there other design styles that you think people should know that I should know that you were either taking a long time to figure out and Google just wasn't giving it to you, but you figured it out, or you found out? Please comment them down below because I would love to do even more videos like this so that we can help people get to the design style that they're looking to find, get to the thing that's in their head a lot faster. And that was my mission with this video. I hope it was super helpful for you. It was definitely helpful for me in trying to define and craft examples for all of these. Let me know what you think down in the comments. I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions. Don't forget to subscribe to the channel as well, that helps us out a ton, and we will see you in the next video. [Music]