News

At the start of 2022, we had members of our crew make predictions about what trends and practices would make waves in the worlds of design, marketing, and web development throughout the coming year. As we reach the halfway point, we’re checking in on how our predictions are faring so far:

Design

January: A clearer, more creative headspace. 2022 will be one where hopefully, we’ve gotten back into our more normal but new headspace to create. 2020-2021 was a beat down on creatives and the creative industry because of the isolation. We predict that 2022 will be the year of returning to growth, creative risk-taking, teamwork, and collaboration, whether in person or virtually.

6-Month Check-In: Adjusting to a new normal is something we are all still adapting to. Working in an office space alongside peers is an experience that was taken for granted, and our creative team appreciates the time we’ve been given in person to collaborate and work together this year.

In the creative industry, retro designs have become increasingly prevalent across various sectors. We touched on this trend in a recent blog of ours – check it out here. And since January, we’ve seen a pattern with clients looking to take creative risks with their brand to stand out amongst competitors. We anticipate these collaborative efforts and nostalgic trends to continue for the remainder of the year.

Marketing

​​January: The prolonged pandemic is going to keep things virtual. Just as we thought the pandemic was finally going away, Omicron ramped things back up. At the end of 2021, we saw things go back to being virtual or even canceled. My prediction is that the virtual world of PR is here to stay…at least for a while. We’re going to keep seeing virtual interviews and events, and social media is going to keep things busy.

In 2020, TikTok blew up. Looking at that, expect social media to continue to be one of the best outlets for businesses to share content and sell themselves, especially with the boom of TikTok videos and Instagram Reels. What this all means – PR professionals must keep getting creative with their pitches to the media, creating content that hasn’t been done before and that has a killer call to action. In addition to promoting their products and/or services, companies will be advertising their core values to ideally retain existing customers instead of appealing to new ones.

6-Month Check-In: While a strictly virtual model still exists for many jobs, the hybrid approach has become more common in the workplace, especially in the marketing industry. According to a 2022 Global Marketing trend article published by Deloitte, most executives support elevating the hybrid work model for their employees. Executives consider improving employee wellbeing as one of the top five priorities they are looking to enhance, and with gas prices currently surging to record highs, avoiding spending more money on gas by not commuting is a contributing factor to this.

For PR professionals, getting creative with pitches is still as relevant as it was back in January. With sites like Help a Reporter Out that connect journalists and sources, it’s easier to pitch reporters; however, retaining friendly, professional relationships with journalists remains a top priority. With these relationships, you’ll have a greater chance of receiving a response and ultimately achieving your goal of getting your piece published.

Social media remains a primary outlet for businesses to promote their products and services via different forms of content like videos, memes, and infographics. We expect this trend to remain constant for the rest of the year as more companies turn to social media channels to engage with their target audience on a more personal level.

Web Development

January: Web apps just become apps. More and more “apps” will be web apps that run inside native shells on your phone, desktop, and more. Think Spotify, Slack, or even Discord. Modern apps will be built on the web, then ported back to devices. More and more will run even better in your browser than on some of your devices. Another result of this trend is that the line between website and app will further blur (outside of high-demand apps like gaming or video editing).

6-Month Check-In: Our prediction has proven to be accurate thus far. We are certainly seeing more consolidation of code across devices thanks to cross-platform languages and frameworks like React/React Native and Kotlin. As the popularity of these integrated platforms continues to rise, we expect to see this prediction to remain constant in the web development community for the rest of the year and beyond.

Stay tuned to see how our predictions will fare by the end of the year.