Shutterstock has released their annual Creative Trends predictions. They have continually hit the nail on the head year after year and so web developers, branding experts, graphic designers, and others wait (im)patiently for its release to help guide their work for the coming year.

Stay ahead of the competition by knowing which styles and trends will dominate 2017. Incorporate them in your own business branding for a visual boost!

Five Styles You Can Easily Implement In Your Business:

1. More White Texture

Think: Freshly plastered walls, white brick, or marble! White was big in 2016 – and the trend might be here to stay! Check out Shutterstock’s collection of white 3D textures.

How you can incorporate white texture into your business: It can be as simple as adding some white texture as a background in your digital design. Or go the extra mile and add it to your images/videos if you’re on Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, Periscope, or YouTube.

2. More Emojis 

The biggest benefit of using emojis is that they transcend language barriers, while still communicating your main message.

How you can incorporate emojis into your business: Use one or two in your updates on social media. It is proven that an update with emojis will perform better than one with plain text alone.

3. More Nature

Shutterstock’s data shows a massive increase in a desire to see more nature in design and images (i.e Instagram) this year. Numbers show that people worldwide are loving messy, organic texture, and tropical elements. Hello, have you seen the plethora of palm leaf and floral designs popping up everywhere?

Besides the trendy, viewers in general love seeing the nature you’re surrounded with, whether it’s peaceful and calming, or dramatic.

How you can incorporate nature into your business: It is readily available to most, but if you need to go to a local park it’ll be worth it! Use nature as a video background, or share some of the greenery from your workspace. If you’re not an outdoorsy person or don’t own any plants, you can still grab some nature elements from online and add them to your digital designs!

4. More Top View Videos 

Have you seen them, those videos that show you how to make something from above? Those are hot this year – and viewers love watching, enjoying a bird’s eye view.

How you can incorporate top views into your business: Top view layout images (search layouts on Instagram or Pinterest) are on the rise, but so are videos from above. They work for just about any industry; all you have to do is incorporate items that will be familiar to your following, or show them how to do or make something. I suggest a little research binge for this one – there is so much inspiration on the World Wide Web and social media!

5. More Wanderlust Footage 

More than ever, users feel like technology helps transport them to another world, helping them get away from it all. Share your travels with your audience, and stir up their wanderlust.

How you can incorporate wanderlust videos into your business: No matter where you are, there are sights to see! If you’re not utilizing videos in 2017, you’ll be missing out. Take a short video of your surroundings – it doesn’t matter if you’re on the 26th floor of a skyscraper, or at that one beach you always go to.  If you’re not yet comfortable being in a video, just explain what they’re looking at while your phone passes over it.

Shutterstock’s Full 2017 Creative Trends Infographic

Plenty of business post infographics for quick facts, but what is so great about Shutterstock’s Creative Trends Infographic is that they provide a collection of images as inspiration for you to see. You’re not left high and dry trying to dream up your own ideas of what they meant; they show you exactly what they mean!

Take note, you do not need to and should not apply all of these styles and trends to your business simply because they’re growing in popularity. Look at the infographic, and think of your audience and your business branding.

If you’re a fitness coach, you don’t need to start bombarding your audience with images of flowers. That might not be their thing (you know your audience best or ask them right out). However, you might really like the idea of offering them videos outside of a studio, in nature itself. You’ll know if these perform well by the response you receive.

Don’t be afraid to try something new, but don’t try all the new things all at once! Do what suits you and your ideal audience.

We know you’ll be inspired!

Check out the full infographic here: Shutterstock’s 2017 Creative Trends Infographic

Written by Amber Valencia

Powering success, happiness and work-life balance.

_{Edited by Michelle Sarthou}

_{Image credit: Shutterstock}

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