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Maybe use this layout for a few spreads or more for the section dividers. Have the dominating picture black and white and a pop color could be used for the activism spread.

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I really like this design for the Art page. It shows the faces of them and their art.

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I really like the creativity of this page, they layered the 25 faces of students and teachers to make one abstract image. This would be a great idea for a group of people in a class or sports team.

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The theme could be “together again” since we are back after the last school year got shut down

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I was looking for some timelines so we could have a general idea of want we want our timelines to look like. I saw this and thought maybe we could do something similar but instead of all the rainbow maybe it could the blues we use with the cover and the circles could be red.

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Royleshia

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Royleshia

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Tyra

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After a tumultuous year for the design community and the world as a whole, there's never been a greater need for a fresh slate. Luckily, the outlook for 2021 is sunnier-it's time to breathe, reflect and look forward.

An escapist and magical mood pervades our trend forecast, with tranquil graphics, optical illusion illustrations and fantasy 3D renders set to help us to switch off the noise for a short while next year. Alongside this runs a thread of trends that are reactionary to 2020 in hopeful and solution-giving ways, with clean infographics, simplified medical branding and activist-influenced design aiming to address the problems that a pandemic year has brought to the fore.

Design is so often the looking glass through which we engage with the world around us, and in our increasingly engaged world the way that things are presented online, in print and in our daily lives has never been more important or revealing. While 2020 might be a year we'd all like to forget, designers are at the forefront of ensuring that 2021 will be a memorable era, for good reasons this time.

Read on to discover our trend forecast for graphic design, illustration and advertising design, and get ahead of the curve in your own projects.

Trend 1: Calm and Tranquillity

Serene and soothing, 2021's design mood will be a salve to the upheaval of 2020. Neutral colors, minimal layouts and meditative graphics are welcome responses to the daily onslaught of online news and information saturation.

With many of us spending more time at home in 2020, there's also been an increasing focus on self-care, wellness and cultivating sanctuary spaces at home (at least one wall away from the inescapable WFH zone). With screens now an intrinsic part of our interiors, as well as our office spaces, serene backdrops to desktops and websites can help to create calming environments.

Expect to see 90s-inspired minimalism making a comeback, with lava lamp-inspired animations, earthy palettes and natural textures.

Art Elements System created for Adobe Experience Cloud by Barcelona-based designer Pol Solà.

Trend 2: Intelligent Medical Branding

One of the more practical trends that is gaining ground due to the COVID crisis, more designers are turning their attention to the design of medical packaging and branding related to health, medicines and supplements.

Medical packaging has followed the same functional design formula for decades, with text-heavy layouts and clinical green and white palettes. The new generation of medical brands are rethinking these long-accepted traits, with instantly recognisable graphics, creative color-coding and modular packaging design giving pharmacy shelves a vibrant makeover.

As well as looking more contemporary, many of these designs play a practical role-allowing users to locate the right medicine more quickly on crowded shelves, or catering for health-conscious consumers looking to create personal supplement kits tailored to their individual needs.

Trend 3: Optical Illusions

A trend that's set to bring a magical mood to typography and illustration, optical illusions, immersive patterns and mind-bending graphics are the embodiment of escapism.

These trippy designs combine elements of psychedelia with clean, mid-century style. Expect to see optical illusions integrated into illustrations, logos and type design. Unashamedly fun and individualist, the goal is to spark joy over creating a legible design.

Trend 4: Fantasy Landscapes and Interiors

After a year spent analysing the shelves and kitchen cupboards of colleagues on video calls, the humble Zoom background has become a focus of discussion, debate and even envy.

With the aid of 3D CAD renders and virtual reality, it becomes possible to immerse oneself in a fantastical digital setting, whether it's a room that features eye-popping furniture and colour, or a dreamscape that stretches the limitations of reality.

As we move back into the physical world, consumers' desire for rose-tinted environments will spill over into advertising and web design. Products and models will be presented in fictional settings that mimic the fantastical style of gaming and virtual reality.

Tying into our forecast for escapist design in 2021, fantasy landscapes and interiors are set to become a big background trend next year.

Trend 5: Simple Infographic Illustration

Having surely reached data saturation point, there's something distinctly refreshing about information that's presented cleanly and clearly. With statistics being thrown at us at liberty on social media and news channels, it can be difficult to identify what's relevant...and what's truthful.

Stripped-back, simple infographics and illustrations that seek to concisely explain complex topics will be a key trend in editorial design and social images in 2021.

Trend 6: Activism 2.0

From Black Lives Matter to climate movements, 2019 and 2020 were protest years. In 2021, activism will become even more integrated into our daily lives through professionalised branding, more compelling websites and more sophisticated virtual and physical event identities.

Far from the commercialisation of activism, these design-supported movements will help to move causes into the mainstream, allowing them to connect with larger audiences.

Trend 7: Raw and Characterful Serifs

From a typographic perspective, 2020 was the year of the serif. Serif typefaces give brands and marketing communications more authority and personality than minimal sans serif fonts.

2021 will see the serif trend continue and evolve, with designers seeking more unusual and characterful serifs to stand out from the crowd. Serifs with a raw and rustic style-a deconstructed serif of sorts-feel the most current and cool in an over-crowded serif market.

These type styles will be particularly popular for logos and headings, across both print and web.

Trend 8: Polished Retro

Vintage-inspired design will always have a place in graphics, bringing a nostalgic warmth and comfort to brand identities, websites and apps. Next year, we'll see a more polished version of vintage style across typography and graphics, with clean lines and contemporary colour palettes blurring the lines between decades.

If you're not able to confidently define the era that inspired the design, but it nonetheless has something familiar and retro about it, this is the sort of polished retro style that will find a place in 2021.

Looking for more design inspiration?

Discover inspiring font lists, graphic design tips and endless inspiration on our Inspiration page.

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The 2021 Graphic Design and Illustration Trends to Know Now | InDesign Skills

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An escapist and magical mood pervades our trend forecast, with tranquil graphics, optical illusion illustrations and fantasy 3D renders set to help us to switch off the noise for a short while next year.

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Create a 3D Paper Cut-Out Text Effect in Adobe InDesign

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In our new series of tutorials, How Did They Do That?, we dissect the tricks used by graphic design pros and share with you the simple tips that will make your InDesign documents look ultra-professional, even if you're a beginner to the software!

In this first installment of How Did They Do That? you will learn how to recreate a simple 3D effect commonly used across magazine publishing. It's super simple to do, and at no point do you need to do any fiddly photo editing in Photoshop.

3D Effects in Magazine Cover Design

Magazine covers are the perfect place to get really creative with design. After all, they're meant to attract the reader to buy the magazine. Some magazine designs get playful and showcase some fantastic optical illusions, turning a 2D medium into a 3D work of art. Here are some inspirational examples, where typography and images interact and appear to 'jump' off the page:

A high-contrast design with subtle 3D effect starring Lupita Nyong'o from

Stylish 3D graphics from GIA Magazine
A creative cover starring Tilda Swinton from Zembla Magazine
Now let's create our own version...
Step 1: Set up the Layout of your Magazine Cover

Here, I've set up a New InDesign Document for Print, Width 203.2 mm and Height 276.22 mm, a standard size for magazine covers. I've set the Top Margin to 12 mm, Bottom Margin to 11 mm and Left and Right Margins to 9 mm.

I then placed a photo within an image frame, using the Rectangle Frame Tool (F), which extended across the whole page.

I then created a new layer ( Window > Layers, to open the Layers panel, > Create New Layer) and used the Rectangle Tool (M) to create a frame with no Fill colour and a solid Stroke set in [Paper], with a Weight of 2 mm (edit these from the Character Formatting Controls panel running along the top of the screen). I've adjusted the size of the frame so that it sits on the Margin lines.

I then added a few text frames on another New Layer using the Type Tool (T), setting the Font to in [Paper], and have placed the magazine title so that it sits very snugly against the top right corner of the white frame.

What would make our cover really 'pop' is to create a 3D effect, to give the impression that the white frame is interacting with the woman, and the woman is stepping outside of part of the frame.

Left: The cover before the effect is applied; Right: After the 3D effect is applied

Step 2: Use the Scissors Tool

Select the Scissors Tool (C) from the Tools panel (go to Window > Tools if not shown by default).

Zoom in to the area indicated below, and snip the edge of the white frame just above the top of the woman's leg.

Repeat for the section of frame just below the woman's leg.

Select the section of the white frame lying across the woman's leg and press the Delete key on the keyboard to remove the section of frame.

Step 3: Use the Rectangle Tool (M)

Select the Rectangle Tool (M) from the Tools panel.

Drag to create a small long rectangle, at a similar width to the width of the white frame. Set the Stroke colour to [None] and the Fill color to [Paper].

Sit this new frame on top of the existing white frame, so that the bottom edge of the rectangle is almost touching the top of the woman's leg. You might need to zoom right in and adjust the width of the rectangle so it fits perfectly on the edge of the white frame. You can also adjust the Width of the rectangle to exactly 2 mm from the top control panel.

Deselect the rectangle and then choose the Direct Selection Tool (A) from the Tools panel. Select the bottom right corner of the rectangle and drag the point down until it touches the woman's leg. Select the bottom left corner of the rectangle and drag the point until it touches the edge of the woman's leg also, being careful to keep the vertical sides of the rectangle very straight.

You can select the white rectangle and Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste, before adjusting, as above, for the lower part of the woman's leg.
And you're finished! It's as simple as that!
Step 4: Repeat the Process Above

Repeat the process described in Step 3 and Step 4 above until you have created an effect on the parts of the white frame you want to appear 3D. For this image, this is where I made all the cuts with the Scissors Tool (C), as an example.

There's no need to do any fiddly photo editing to achieve this simple, high-impact effect. Have fun creating your own 3D effects in InDesign!

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Create a Fashion Magazine Cover - Design Tutorial

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Magazine covers are the perfect place to get really creative with design. After all, they're meant to attract the reader to buy the magazine. Some magazine designs get playful and showcase some fantastic optical illusions, turning a 2D medium into a 3D work of art.

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Paper, magazines and typography have an elusive non-destructive bond. It is through the unique typeface used for a masthead that people, in the first place, recognize their beloved printed matter on the shelf. Highlighting key topics on the cover is another common use of typography. As well as these two important tasks that are entrusted on the fragile shoulders of typography, it can also play a decorative role.

Usually it happens when striking illustrations are not enough to make the cover stand out, or when the artist wants to refer to the original purpose of the cover itself, namely, briefly interpreting all the information that is hidden inside the magazine. In this instance, a traditional approach of using sets of typefaces, various font properties, and spacing that is spiced up with abstractions or illustrations can do a great job in making a cover look both informative and ingenious.

Today, I want to show you a collection of magazine covers that have used typography as a main tool to draw customers' attention.

Magazine Covers with Amazing Typography

Atlanta Magazine
Atlanta Magazine spices up the cover by concentrating all the strap lines in the center. Use of 3 dimensional typography avoids confusion by transforming every cover line into a mutually reinforcing block which all together form an improvised wall of magazine features.

Popular Mechanics 110th Edition by Jordan Metcalf
This cover also uses a 3D typeface to draw customers' attention. Since the cover mimics the retro theme with ribbons, tags and ornament lines, the font is also executed in vintage style giving the whole design an old fashioned personality.

Global 500: Fortune by Alex Varanese
This cover uses a truly shining retrospective typeface that captures the 80s disco glitz. A warm color palette and well-defined contours of the characters with a gentle touch of grunge give the cover a bright-looking effect.

HOW magazine
This is a great example of a digital variation of chalkboard typography. Different handwritten fonts that are complemented by slight chalk stains are used to emphasis the key points and provide the cover with a scholastic and intriguing feel.

Bloomberg Bizweek by Sarah King
This issue of Bloomberg Bizweek uses flexible cursive fonts and special arrangement of words to portray the lead story unveiling not only visual but also informative pictures in the issue.

The Guardian Guide
This cover includes various music subculture names each of which has been executed in an appropriate typeface style. Compactly arranged titles create a slight colorful mess adding emotions to the issue.

Cincinnati Magazine
This issue's cover features a paper-based composition that was created by transforming colorful sheets of paper into scenery.

The Guardian Guide
This cover embodies the music festival feeling through lettering. Huge metallic characters with pop culture prints as well as parts of musical instruments that are embedded in several letters create a title with inner meaning.

Cincinnati Magazine
This is another good example of using chalkboard typography that plays both a decorative and an associative role. Since the majority of restaurants prefer to show their main dishes on a board near the entrance, using a blackboard texture as a canvas and chalk hand-written inscriptions with precise and clear lines is the best way to convey the correct message dedicated to eating.

Distro Magazine
The cover of this issue of Distro magazine uses typography with a summery feel. 3-dimensional type based on retro style and executed in a warm color palette perfectly merged into graphics that have been placed at an unusual angle.

Italian GQ
This cover illustration pulls the type out of moving colorful neon trails. Despite a rather illegible looped headline, on the whole, the cover has 1980s design aesthetics with a nice bright effect that efficiently attracts people.

YOROKOBU by Noelia Lozano
The effect on this cover turns a boring everyday typeface into amazing artwork by cutting, folding and molding simple paper sheets. Solid fat letters and a layered background make the composition look pleasant and dimensional.

Punkt magazine
This illustration isn't just a fully computer generated artwork. The cover showcases a real handmade font that was produced basically from natural ingredients. Such an explicit integration with the environment makes the cover look unconventional and memorable.

Vogue Magazine Cover by Salvador Dali
The cover for this 1944 issue of Vogue has a bizarre and dream-like appearance. Being created by Salvador Dali, the masthead illustration has a truly surreal touch, every letter has its own individual style with inlaid nature elements.

The Village Voice
This cover uses the technique of paper cutting. The whole illustration is cut from a single sheet of paper. Despite the complexity of the process the artist gave every word its special surrounding, size, typeface and weight.

Ocala Style Magazine
This illustration exudes an image of solid rough handmade lettering. Perfect 3d casual typeface with a slightly scratched metallic texture breaks the monotony of the noised monochrome of the cover background.

Fukt Magazine
This cover boasts a whimsical style with an unconventional typeface. Cotton wool textured symbols with slightly constrained blurring edges add a note of mystery.

IL Magazine by La Tigre
The cover illustration for this issue of IL magazine is inherently "geometric" from background to typography. A bunch of nonrepresentational plane shapes play the role both of canvas illustrations and letter stylization making every character rustic and mundane.

Wallpaper Magazine
This illustration boasts of having an elegant vibrancy. Properly installed lights and shadows make the title protrude from the wall and scream the words that are so important.

Picnic
This issue of Picnic has a new take on a disco style for it's cover illustration. Muted rainbow colors in conjunction with vinyl-like symbols stylization add a load of fun to the typeface making it look bright and open.

This Magazine
The cover for this issue of This magazine includes a great variety of vivid handwritten fonts plotted on a paper-textured background. This approach gives the cover appearance of a remarkably fully illustrated school notebook page.

50 x CMYK
This cover touts a highly illustrative "50" as the epicenter. the designer has blended different graphic variations of the figure 50 using unique typefaces to make the cover an amazing source of typography inspiration.

Computer Arts Issue 175
The cover for this issue has a real construction vibe with a great variety of building themed illustrations. Supported by clumsy typography that gives every letter a bold and geometric feel, the artist makes a clear connection between the visual personality and the lettering.

The Guardian Guide
This illustration leads by retro style. Vibrant old school typography in conjunction with typical art deco illustrations makes the cover powerful in messaging and in expressing nostalgic emotions.

Bloomberg Businessweek
This cover has human style typography treatments. Each letter includes a hand with different instruments or objects that all together symbolize and visually interpret the main idea of the issue: "How to".

Computer Arts Project Issue 134
This cover has a candy-like headline that is accomplished by the use of glow volumetric characters. A hugely fat typeface marked by several vivid colors conveying enjoyable and yummy feelings.

Conclusion

As it turns out, sometimes it's not necessary to create an outstanding photo manipulation in order to make your cover noticeable. Even a simple array of characters that are organized in a special way can bring aesthetic pleasure. Since there are a great deal of magazines and books that are published every month, it's really impossible to shed light on every well-made typography cover.

So if you have a good example that perfectly fits into our collection share it with us. Also, tell us what you think of these type of covers. Do you like them? Or maybe, you prefer covers with bizarre or realistic illustrations?

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Paper, magazines and typography have an elusive non-destructive bond. It is through the unique typeface used for a masthead that people, in the first place, recognize their beloved printed matter on the shelf. Highlighting key topics on the cover is another common use of typography.

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Tyra

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Tyra

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Royleshia

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Royleshia

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Royleshia

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Royleshia