Your Cheat Sheet for Re-creating the Hottest Graphic Design Trends
15. Jun, 2012 
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Your Cheat Sheet for Re-creating the Hottest Graphic Design Trends
I’m a strong believer in hiring a professional designer to brand one’s business as soon as financially viable. In the meantime however, with a little Photoshop savvy, artists and crafters can take advantage of the abundance of quality Photoshop tutorials and free resources available online. In this post, I’ll point you towards six of the hottest design trends together with beginner-level Photoshop tutorials that show you how to do it yourself.
Letterpress Effects
Design by Pugly Pixel
My personal favourite, the letterpress effect transplants the tactile, artisanal qualities of print design onto our screens.
Ribbons
Design by Christoffer Rodemeyer
Forked ribbons are a really simple way to give an otherwise plain-vanilla element some friskiness.
Hand-drawn elements
Design by Carol Rivello
The good news with adding hand-drawn elements to your designs is that you don’t even have to draw them yourself, if you’re not so inclined. There is an abundance of hand-drawn photoshop brushes out there that can be used just like digital stamps. Here’s a great curated list to get you started.
Pinking Shear Edges
Design by Pugly Pixel
The pinking shears effect is arguably the zenith of crafty sass in design.
Stitching
Design by Josh Holloran
Stitching when used in combination with textures, especially fabric or leather, is a cute way to impart a friendly, handmade feel to your design.
Textures
Design by Amazee Labs
One of the easiest of the trends to include in your designs, textures — from subtle grain to hardcore grunge — add a quick and dirty touch of worn-out vintage to your designs. Although textures might be one of the more accessible design elements, they’re not necessarily the easiest to use well. Take a less-is-more approach with your textures and you should end up with something interesting yet tasteful.
Katherine, also known as “Nellie Windmill”, blogs about her original art and mixed media art how-tos.
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Fantastic! I’m looking fot this information right now–perfect timing! Thank you.
Great tutorials
Thank you very much <3
LOVE this!! Totally looking for something fresh and new to add to my to do list!! Many thanks for showcasing the designs and the talent behind them!!
Thank you for this great source of info. I really liked the hand drawn designs. I see that this is a new trend in web design
Great post thanks for all the helpful info