The Art of Visual Branding: Design Trends to Track for 2024 – An Interview with Creative Director Carissa Ghaffari

Written by: Robyn Quarles

Intro to Visual Branding and 2024 Trends

What’s life without visual branding? Well, as the great Lizzie McGuire once said, “Yesterday my life was duller, now everything’s technicolor.” If brand mission and values are the brains behind success, then visual branding is the beauty. I had the absolute delight of interviewing our bold and brave Creative Director, Carissa Ghaffari, about the importance of visual branding and what we can expect to see in 2024.

Understanding Visual Branding

Visual branding plays a huge role in a brand’s identity and how it’s perceived by their audience. All of the design elements, from colors and logos to typography, packaging, and web design, strategically work together to create a brand’s personality, values, and a lasting impression.

Meet the Creative Director

Of course, no one knows just how crucial strong visual branding is as much as our outstanding Creative Director, Carissa Ghaffari. As a young and eager Graphic Design student at VCUarts, Carissa’s love for graphic design solidified at a department showcase. “I was gagged by this business card hanging on the wall. It was so clean and organized, and that’s when I knew I wanted to pursue graphic design.” Fast forward to today, all of her hard work and dedication has led her to an incredible six-year run with Madison+Main. Luckily for me, I was given the honor of yapping with her about this topic that she’s beyond passionate about.

Key Visual Branding Trends for 2024

With the constant change of trends, staying up-to-date means staying ahead of the curve. How does Carissa stay on top of it all? “I usually try to see what’s trending on social media (especially what other agencies are doing on their pages), and there’s a few websites like logolounge.com that does roundups of trends that I will check out, but honestly, with how fast-paced the industry is, sometimes it doesn’t make sense to try to keep up with the latest trends. I try to do what makes sense for our clients and their audiences and focus more on what ‘trends’ have stuck around.”

Embracing Maximalism

“Trends are cyclical. To be honest, I don’t know exactly where [trends] are going, but I can tell you what I’m excited about.” For example, after a wave of “clean-girl aesthetic” with crisp, minimalistic designs not to overpower the audience, Carissa peeped at her crystal ball and confirmed we will more than likely see a return of attention-grabbing visuals to attract consumers.

Picking Apart Trends

“It’s about the flavor, not the exact recipe.” Dig deeper to figure out 1) if a trend works for your brand, its mission & values, and audience; 2) what about the trend do you like; 3) how can we relate it to the brand.

The Use of Technology

“Seeing how Gen Z and Gen Alpha perceive the world is so different to how I perceive it. I’m so excited to see how they will use these new tools and get inspired by the cool, funky things that are out there.”

Insights from the Creative Director

There’s no greater pleasure than interviewing an expert in their trade who has so much love for what they do. Here are a few other takeaways from Carissa on trends and visual branding:

Design for your audience, not your competitors.

Visual branding is a way for brands to express their personalities. Embrace uniqueness and cater to what your audience wants — not what your competitor is doing.

Success is qualitative and quantitative.

Obviously looking at the metrics of a campaign can help determine whether it was successful or not, but it’s just as important to take a look at the qualitative data. Does the client like this? Does this style work with the brand or the objective behind the campaign?

Storytelling plays a HUGE role.

There’s a way to bring the messaging and visual design together to tell the brand’s story. One is not more important than the other, but for the best results, they should be in lock-step with each other.

Trust your team and the process.

Doing a complete visual brand revamp can be overwhelming, so don’t try to do it alone. Start small with visual consistency on social media and work your way up to landing pages. Before ya know it you’ll have a shiny new website, a refreshed logo, and a recognizable brand on any platform you choose to share content on. Don’t forget seeing results takes time, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t see results right away. You can’t rush art!

If you’re ready to give your brand the visual glow-up you’ve been dreaming of, Carissa and our team of talented designers are ready to make your dreams come to life. Give us a call at 877-623-6246!

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