De-cluttering your website. Getting your logo in better shape. Making your brand and its outreach friendlier and more socially conscious. Organic… something. Probably.

These are all design trends we’re going to look at in 2015. But first, let’s take a step back and appreciate something else: the fact that graphic design IS trending. Now more than ever before businesses are seeing the value in well-designed identities, apps, websites and packaging. Individuals are starting to notice the effect design (and the lack thereof) has on their world. Nonprofits are realizing the value a designer can bring to the table, and people in general are laughing a little less when we use the word “typeface.”

Design is becoming a little more synonymous with “craft” than with “computer,” and that’s been a hard-fought battle. Design-conscious businesses and organizations, along with the tidal wave of hand-held tech, have brought the field to the forefront of our collective consciousness, and for that, we are thankful. (Wrong holiday, we know.) In that spirit, let’s raise a glass (champagne, of course) to maintaining a well-designed visual and digital presence in all seasons, regardless of changing trends.

Trend 1: Wearable Tech
Currently, “wearables” means anything from a Fitbit fitness bracelet to the still-unreleased Apple Watch, but we’re talking mostly about units like the Moto 360—the so-called “watches” that run apps in the manner of a smartphone. While most companies can ignore the wearables trend for another year or two (market penetration is minimal and, honestly, the user experience of many apps is not improved by wrist real estate), it’s always good to know what’s next.

Trend 2: Real Photography
While many websites are slimming down (more on that later!), others are bulking up. Beautiful, custom photography is overtaking stock photography in advertising and on the web. Downside: Slower loading times for photo-heavy websites, plus all those customer service models in headsets are out of a job. Upside: Everything else. Showcasing your real company, real culture and real customers, really well. What took us so long?

Trend 3: A Handmade Touch
Hand-drawn type is seeing some reinvention in 2015, too. Gone are the days of the coffee shop chalkboard style—edgier brush-stroke type is coming into its own. It may be the influence of hand-painted signs or simply the audacity of paint (no erasers here!), but this trend is bringing a new passion and a new skill set to the design world.  No need to be too precise, anything from a fat paintbrush to a delicate calligraphy tool can do the trick in the right hands.

Trend 4: An Identity You Won’t Grow Out Of
Finally, the trend Black Sheep is most excited about: the flexible logo system. We’re rebels, see, and we like when rules get turned on their heads. The untouchable, unchanging, rigid logos of old are taking a backseat. New logos are coming in packages of multiples—they’re flexible, fun and customizable. They have texture variations, deconstructions and iconic iterations.

Have a look at this much-touted logo redesign for the city of Melbourne, Australia that shows all the colors and facets of an ever-changing urban cultural center.

Trend 5: Design Small
Last year Nielsen reported that people now spend more time surfing the Internet on their phones than they do on their actual computers. To accommodate consumers, designers began designing “small”— first considering how websites will appear on smartphones, then on tablets and, finally, on desktop computers. This led to a stripping of unnecessary design elements, images and superfluous navigation items so that users could quickly find whatever they were looking for on their dime-size screens.

In 2015, we’re beginning to see common elements from apps and mobile sites sneaking into our desktop website world: limited or even hidden navigation, the use of icons in place of text, simpler design interfaces and large text headers in place of the ubiquitous “hero” header images. We’re seeing less exploration and more efficiency—a theory that will come in handy when we finally start seeing more wearables.. No matter what screen you’re staring at, 2015 is looking promising for simpler, more authentic and optimally user-friendly design. Now that’s a resolution to look forward to.

This responsive website for a tattoo parlor in France showcases strong type, a collapsible menu and some interesting interaction, another trend growing by leaps and bounds in the wake of apps that animate around user input.

Many trends, especially the strictly visual ones, aren’t going to stick around forever, and not every organization needs to hop on board with all of them. We recommend having an updated brand that fits your company and speaks to your audience, because that never goes out of style.

BONUS: Hand Out The High Fives
We also recommend one tiny New Year’s resolution for 2015: Thank a designer. They’re the reason your smartphone is user-friendly, your grocery store aisles are prettier and billboards are (slightly) less of an eyesore. They’re reading a zillion blogs a day trying to stay caught up with you and all your devices while their professional field and the demand for digital expertise grows daily, and that’s a pretty tall order.

Good design awareness is a resolution worth making

Pay attention to good design

Regular

Today we say not goodbye, but happy trails to our office cat, Gus. He’s retiring from his role as Chief Cat and taking on a new one as a housecat/mouse consultant to our fearless leader, Aimee.  

Since he came into our lives in 2013, he’s been the one member of our team that’s needed the most mentoring. Challenging us to teach him that no, the conference table is NOT the place to lick yourself or that just because you can open the door, doesn’t mean you should. Definitely not over the holiday break, leaving Adam to wonder “How? How is he getting out?” when called back to the office three times to check in on an open back door and a roaming cat.

He made us laugh. He scared us to death when he escaped that one time (#NeverForget). And he’s made us realize that, yes, happiness can be found by curling up in an office chair and watching the world go by. Thanks to him, we took a cue to slow down sometimes. To take a deep breath. And to occasionally go absolutely bananas.

Gus will leaving behind lots of memories, lots of hair and an awkward romance with 002 Magazine’s cat, Rocco. We will miss him dearly.

To send him off right, we reflect on a few of Gus’s greatest hits:

Freaked out in Taylor’s car on a trip to Kriser’s.

Escaped the office during the holidays and made Adam INSANE trying to figure out what was happening.

Will roll over for Aimee on command. But only Aimee. And only when no one else is looking.

Taking naps on Monica’s chair and then meowing at her when she evicts him.

Sneaking out of the office to the art installation next door and cowering behind a table until we went to get him.

Cuddling on Jo’s desk—er… assisting Jo with design projects.

Trying to give Sarah an allergy attack during production meetings.

Amazing Jess with his death-defying parkour moves.

We'll miss you, Gus! Please keep in touch!

Shine On You Crazy (Orange) Diamond