Top 10 New Branding Trends of 2024 (With Tips and Examples!)
Curious about where branding is headed in 2024? Branding trends are constantly evolving alongside trends in fashion, interior design, pop culture, and general consumer taste.
This year, we’re seeing a shift towards authentic, no-nonsense branding and a heavy emphasis on emotional connections.
But why are branding trends important?
Steve Forbes, the Editor-in-Chief at Forbes states, “Your brand is the single most important investment you can make in your business.” And he’s right, branding trends give you the upper hand in communicating your products and services to the right customers. Along with a memorable first impression, it’s a critical part of your marketing strategies and brand identity.
Your brand personality, brand voice, mission, and values should be set in stone. But how you express these traits can vary with different designs, colors, fonts, and visuals. That’s where these key branding trends come in!
We’ve taken the time to pull the latest branding trends of 2024 to help you build a successful one-of-a-kind brand. We’ve also included some actionable branding tips to help you stay on top of industry standards.
Let’s dive in!
Monochromatic colors
Personalized experiences
Hand-drawn touch
Simple maximalism
Minimalist mastery
Sonic branding
Eco friendly focus
Fun with fonts
Keeping things real
Animated moments
Top striking branding trends of 2024
1. Monochromatic colors
Monochromatic branding is often minimalist and refined. A monochromatic brand color palette contains various shades of the same color. You start with a base color and add different shades through font, images, icons, materials, etc.
Monochromatic colors create a cohesive look for your brand and generate a soothing sense of tranquility. The primary color you choose is what creates the rest of your brand color palette. So, choose a color that’s relevant to your industry and embodies your brand personality.
Brush up on colors and their associated emotions to make sure you nail the mood and tone of your brand.
We’re finding monochromatic colors pop up in personal branding, skincare, and luxury branding. The muted aesthetic of monochrome colors looks elevated and professional.
blue and pink monochromatic branding
green monochromatic branding
Red monochromatic branding trend example
2. Personalized experiences
In 2024, personalization has emerged as a pivotal branding trend, setting brands apart and connecting with audiences.
This approach can not only tailor interactions, products, and services to audience preferences but also support marketing efforts for the brand itself. The personalized experiences trend is especially prevalent in sectors like retail and hospitality, where standing out in a crowded market and building loyalty is key.
Think back to Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign where the brand added names to billions of Coke bottles, a tactic that generated over 100 million interactions on social media platforms! It boosted customer engagement by encouraging thousands to head to stores and find their name on a bottle.
A more recent example of personalization in successful branding that we love is from Netflix. If any of you are Black Mirror fans, you’ll remember the famous opening episode – Joan is Awful. We won’t add any spoilers here, but the episode featured a streaming platform called “Streamerry”.
Netflix ad for Shahab is awful
Netflix released a website that looks like it was from Streamberry called “You Are Awful”. Audiences were able to upload photos to the website to get a personalized poster of the photo you added. Billboards then popped up around the UK with pictures of some of the lucky fans selected! Pretty clever branding strategies if you ask us.
3. Hand-drawn illustrations
pink candle branding with doodles
People love handmade, unique products that feel bespoke. More and more brands are opting for a holistic look that feels human in 2024. It makes an instant emotional connection! Think of the casual script font on Lush Cosmetics bottles.
The look of hand-drawn branding has the comforting appeal of simpler times – as news of economic turmoil, natural disasters, and financial crises arise, there’s an overwhelming need for reverting to simplicity and stability. Brands are complying by adding these hand-drawn elements to their products, websites, and marketing materials.
Try adding your signature, a photograph of you, or some small doodles to your website or package design to add a more human touch.
This trend works well for a traditional branding strategy or friendly and honest brand personalities. Check out the branding examples below!
distillery branding with illustration
sustainable toothbrush branding with illustration
Illustration is also a graphic design trend of 2024!
4. Simple maximalism
You don’t need to go down a design rabbit hole to create a brand that stands out. A bold font, a striking color palette, and mindful use of negative space are enough.
Choose one design element, like a font or color palette, and make it striking! Try balancing the simplicity of a serif font with a clashing color palette of electric blue, neon green, and yellow. Or, you could use a large, bold display font with a muted pink and blue color palette.
In 2024, brands are opting for simple elements that pack a punch to get their message across. This branding trend rose from the need for simplicity and structure, but without sacrificing creativity.
It’s a modern look and suits up-and-coming brands that offer a unique product or service. Or, for businesses that want to stand out from a loud and crowded market.
bold branding with abstract modern shapes
bold and simple coffee branding in blue and pink
5. Minimalist mastery
Going along with maximalism, on the flip side, minimalist design continues to be a branding trend that doesn’t fade. In 2024, brands will continue championing the ethos of “less is more” through minimalist fonts, design, and packaging.
This design philosophy revolves around the use of simple forms, clean lines, and a monochromatic or limited color palette, highlighting the core of the brand. For many, minimalism reflects a commitment to clarity, functionality, and sustainability.
By focusing on essential elements, minimalist brands communicate their message and values straightforwardly, making it easier for consumers to understand and connect with them. These trends are typically found in industries that value transparency, such as technology, lifestyle, and wellness.
Minimalist ad design
Minimalist packaging
6. Sonic branding
It’s no surprise that audio has taken the marketing world by storm, and branding is no exception. In 2024, we expect to see more brands add multimedia elements to their branding (a website trend that we predict as well)!
Forbes broadly defined sonic branding as the strategic use of sound as a part of a brand identity. This is enabling brands to go beyond visual elements and evoke emotions, memories, and build deeper connections with audiences while increasing brand recall. Think about McDonald’s classic “ba da ba ba ba I’m lovin it” (we know you just sang that in your head) or the sound Apple’s iMac makes when it’s starting up. These are all powerful examples of sonic branding.
Typically, brands will connect the sound or jingle to the logo to ensure their target audience connects the audio to the company. We recently saw this with Tubi, the streaming service.
Tubi sonic logo
7. Eco-friendly focus
The eco-friendly industry has long struggled with uninspiring shades of green and brown. Fortunately, that’s changing fast this year.
All colors exist on earth naturally. From tropical jungles to coral reefs – designers are experimenting with this limitless color spectrum and connecting it to the sustainable businesses that help preserve them.
Think of the pinkish-purple of Fuchsia flowers, the neon green of seedlings, and the blue and scarlet gradients of birds of paradise. Even the stripes and spots of African safari animals can come into play! Natural beauty has begun to influence branding.
57% of consumers are willing to change their purchasing habits to help reduce negative environmental impact.
Consumers are willing to change their habits to consciously reduce their impact on the environment. So, it’s only natural that businesses with sustainable initiatives follow suit and build brand strategies for the better.
drink branding with abstract lettering
Source: Wild Kombucha by Marlon Studio on Behance
bold laundry branding
8. Fun with fonts
Sometimes a unique font and a great business name are all that’s necessary to create effective branding strategies.
Designers are choosing bold and distorted fonts to create memorable monogram logos with slight alterations that make them original.
Through simple changes; like elongated lettering, thick hand-drawn strokes, or letter stacking, font designs remain simple but impactful enough for their audience.
We’re also seeing lettering being replaced with icons or objects in 2024. Like an “O” for a bagel or an “I” for a brushstroke. This trend is all about keeping things simple but adding a small original twist. With a simple sans serif font and a creative letter replacement – you’ve got a distinct look.
Stretched and elongated lettering is a font trend in 2024, and we’re seeing folks use words to convey…well, more than words.
Bubbly box branding with unique font
Source: AWSM Sauce by Herefor Studio on Behance
The branding above uses swirling serifs, thick font strokes, and conscious use of white space to make an impact with their brand strategy. It’s whimsical, fun, and effective!
Below, the “O” in the logo is used to create containers for copy and color blocks. Another creative way to use a font as a main design element!
Flower branding with creative lettering
Source: Florama by Huge Studio on Behance
9. Keeping things real
Looking at ads of unrealistic body shapes and unrelatable lifestyles is a tone-deaf strategy to take in 2024. Brand activism for diversity, inclusion, and sustainability is trending in 2024.
Brands are embracing natural, human language that feels conversational, honest, and inclusive. Businesses are being transparent about what they do and how they do it. They’re speaking to their customers the same way they speak to friends and family.
Pact, an inclusive underwear company, uses simple designs with powerful messaging to get through to its audience. Their visual Identity uses unapologetic photography that shows imperfections and embraces people of all colors, shapes, and sizes.
Pact messaging with authentic marketing
Source: Wear Pact
Another approach to being more authentic is using friendly language. Think of your customers as friends! It’s an honest and impressionable way to relate. Check out Buchu below, they use a friendly laid-back brand voice that feels organic. Like talking to your buddy!
honest marketing branding trend
Source: Buchu by Olivier Duclos on Behance
10. Animated moments
This year, designers are using movement to create a more animated brand experiences. They’re adding small moving elements like shifting color blocks, gifs, parallax scrolling, and more. In the branding world, this trend lives on the web, but doesn’t everything these days?
Animated elements create a unique experience for the web visitor and it pays off when your webpage is more memorable than a competitor’s. It increases time on page, clicks, and overall ranking on search engines.
Although animation can take considerable resources, adding small micro-animations like animated brand logos, gifs, and scroll-activated image changes can create a richer experience. Even having your product slowly moving around in a gif is effective!
This branding trend can go hand in hand with a video strategy – and we’ve seen everything from moving text to interactive video come up in 2024.
animated branding trend example
Core and Rind by Herefor studio on Behance
animated web branding trend example
BTS by Stereographic Studio on Behance
Bonus: Pantone’s color of the year – Peach Fuzz
Pantone 2024 color of the year
Pantone has announced PANTONE 13-1023 Peach Fuzz as the color of the year. The color is meant to capture our desire to nurture ourselves and others, enriching our mind, body, and soul. The meaning behind this color embodies the connection that we strive for, something that’s becoming critical for brands to invest in.
Leatrice Eiseman, the Executive Director, Pantone Color Institute™ states, “In seeking a hue that echoes our innate yearning for closeness and connection, we chose a color radiant with warmth and modern elegance. A shade that resonates with compassion, offers a tactile embrace, and effortlessly bridges the youthful with the timeless.”
Brands like Motorola, Cariuma, and Ultrafabrics are embracing this color and we expect to see more adopt it in 2024.
Branding best practices in 2024
Best practices keep brands relevant and in tune with society and its needs. Check out these tips to stay relevant before you dive into the key branding trends of 2024.
Embrace diversity
People are tired of seeing one representation of humanity in a company. We are a world of many races, colors, abilities, and cultures, and this is something to celebrate. A growing trend is the turn toward diversity and inclusivity, and it’s a welcome breath of fresh air.
This means, an emphasis on inclusive business practices for people of different sexual and gender orientations, and physical abilities. Think of Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty line or Reformation clothing.
How can you bring more diversity and inclusion into your brand?
Include people of color, differing abilities, ages, and orientations in your imagery.
Use inclusive language to make everyone feel included and to target a larger audience
Consider ways to make your space more accessible with an accessibility ramp
Add braille to your signage, and hire folks who can speak with sign language.
Implement audio accessibility on your website to help low-vision folks navigate better
Imperfect marketing
A great way to elevate your brand in 2024 is by doing away with perfectly photoshopped and curated images. People are growing tired of the highlight reel. As a result, more and more brands are turning to images that haven’t been over-edited to better reflect reality.
51% of consumers believe businesses lack authentic content, but 90% desire it.
How can you market more authentically?
Show off wrinkles and skin imperfections. Display products in real-life scenarios rather than overly edited studio shots. Postpartum personal care brand, Frida Mom uses realistic marketing images that are relatable and displays images shot on an iPhone.
User-generated content
User-generated content is content created by users, not brands. 76% of people said they trusted content shared by “average” people more than by brands.
Essentially, UGC acts like a customer testimonial, by showing off how happy your consumers are with your products or services.
This not only increases brand loyalty by showcasing testimonials but also provides additional content to share.
How do you start using UGC?
Create a stunning brand experience that’s photo-worthy and encourages social sharing. A simple custom hashtag is a great place to start! Encourage your followers to post on their social media using your custom hashtag with contests and reposts.
A great example is GoPro’s Million Dollar Challenge which provides the company with plenty of UGC to use year round.
Join and build online communities
2024 will see a turn towards niche communities. Newsletters, online groups, customer community programs, and local events are great ways to create community-driven content.
Think of your customers as friends. Community-driven content is about creating a two-way, interactive experience between your brand and your audience.
How can you build a community?
niche newsletters
real-life meetups
raw and honest content about your business
sharing customer stories
virtual workshops and events
Recapping branding trends in 2024
Maintaining your brand is about keeping your customers connected and close to you. This new decade marks a shift into more human branding. We’ve given you the top branding trends and tips to keep your brand elevated for years to come, including:
More sustainable practices where possible
Embracing diversity and being more inclusive in your brand photos, messaging, and identity
Focusing on realness by not over-editing photography
Leveraging user-generated content to instill trust and loyalty in your customers
Focus on your audience and customers as a community rather than buyers
With Looka’s Brand Kit, it’s easy to manage your brand on an ongoing basis, all in one place. Design a logo and get access to 100s of templates for invoices, business cards, flyers, social media posts, and even websites!