Whatever path digital artists take in their professional lives, one of the most important and difficult obstacles they face is developing their unique artistic style. Consider what graphic artists could do to avoid becoming entangled in a plethora of styles and instead catch their own golden fish while achieving professional goals.
What is flat design, exactly?
Let's start with some definitions. The phrase «flat design» is now used to describe visuals for a variety of purposes and tasks that share stylistic characteristics. Flat design is a style that originated in digital art and is known for its minimalistic and succinct use of visual expressive tools.
Due to the harmonic simplicity used as the core of this design approach, the term is now often used as the polar opposite of «rich design». The most notable aspect, which inspired the direction's name, is the use of flat 2-dimensional visual details in contrast to extremely realistic and detailed skeuomorphic imagery.
Flat design has been evolving for a few years, including more and more sectors of graphic design but still finding the most widespread and varied use in the realm of digital design for online and mobile interfaces.
This design approach has been identified as a style that is conducive to improving usability and visual harmony in user interfaces.
Clearly, flat design did not come out of nowhere. Its origins are commonly traced back to Swiss design, which design historians consider to be its immediate progenitor. Swiss style, often known as International Typographic Style or just Swiss, is a typographic style that originated in Switzerland.
International Style is a design direction that first appeared in the 1920s and received a lot of criticism before finding its bright expression in graphic design in Switzerland in the 1940s and 1950s, and eventually becoming the solid foundation of graphic design in the mid-twentieth century all over the world.
Although this style found many expressions in the realm of print visual design, such as posters, stamps, postcards, book covers, magazines, and so on, it considerably expanded its boundaries with the advent of digital design, particularly in the domain of user interface design.
Mobile applications and websites The wonderful and fruitful perspective for this minimalist and functional approach to design solutions was opened by going through the dynamic evolution of creative search.
The approach was dubbed "flat design" (or "flat graphic design"), which quickly gained popularity and ushered in a new path in graphic design, defying skeuomorphism and "rich design," and bolstered by new problems presented by the discipline of interaction design. Flat design illustration is a flexible and aesthetic method that is successful due to the range of design directions available and progressing these days.How can you make flat illustrations unique and add your own personality to them?
Many designers are now experimenting with flat illustration to see what they can come up with. It's critical to work out your unique presentation and manner in order to prevent being lost among the vast and ever-increasing diversity of artworks. It becomes a little more challenging in flat, which has less expressive possibilities and volumes than other forms. However, difficult does not imply impossibility.
Here are some tips on how to make flat illustrations.
1. Move away from simple shape geometrization.
Using a sketchbook and a pencil, make rapid sketches by hand. When compared to making a digital image, the sketch will take the least amount of time. It will also aid in the discovery of bold lines as well as unique movements or poses for a character. After you've completed a sketch, take your time to evaluate it before attempting to experiment. Try hypertrophied, rounded, or sharpened shapes in the opposite direction - it might provide valuable information defining the nature of the movement or revealing the character's emotional condition.
2. Examine the work of other illustrators.
Don't miss out on the opportunity to learn about the principles and approaches they use. Consider what elements or colour combinations attracted you to their work.
3. Select a unique angle and composition.
The choice of an interesting viewpoint and composition is one of the elements of a successful illustration. If you want to convey calmness, make sure the composition is balanced — or purposely slanted if you want to convey dynamism or stress. If the composition is multidimensional, the planning should be clearly visible: emphasise the plan where the main characters or pieces are situated. Scaling the elements, as well as colour and tone accents, can be used to create rhythm to the composition.
4. Examine the scene from various perspectives.
After you've decided on a composition, picture how the scene might appear from other perspectives: from the perspective of the third convergence point, via a fish-eye lense, from the perspective of a 3-year-old, or, on the contrary, from the perspective of an extremely tall basketball player. This approach will assist you in determining which of the angles will be most advantageous to the illustration's purpose and message.
5. Use unique metaphors
Try to think of metaphors that will assist you communicate the concept behind the artwork. Don't just grab the first image that comes to mind: there's a good chance it'll become viral and won't appear unique enough to be truly eye-catching.
6. Consider your colour palette carefully.
The well chosen colour palette will serve to emphasise the idea and message, provide the suitable mood, and highlight the important elements. Maintain the composition's tone contrast: inspect the illustration in black-and-white mode to evaluate the appropriateness of the chosen tones — it should remain contrasted and easy to read.
7. Make use of textures
The use of textures enhances the picture's vibrancy, adds personality, and creates a "hand-made" feel. It will also soften vector pictures.
Textures may resemble:
- physical materials and specifics (such as scratches or scuff marks)
- Details in Geometry (lines, stripes, dots)
- Handcrafted items with less-than-ideal livelines
Colored pictures and full-color patterns can also be utilised to give the appearance of an applique piece. All of the aforementioned options can be utilised independently or in combination, allowing you to define your own artistic style while creating flat design graphics.
6 characteristics of an excellent flat illustration
We may identify the characteristics of effective flat design drawings by combining all of the tips.
Styling that is unique
Composition that has been carefully considered
A unique point of view
Color palette chosen with care
Texture application
Metaphors are employed.
Use this checklist to guide your flat design illustration explorations; perhaps it will take you to the golden fish of your own recognisable style.
WHAT SKILLS ARE YOU WORKING ON?
Leave a comment and let us know
Follow us for daily Tips and inspiration
If you have any doubts, Please let me know