Post pobrano z: How to Create a Set of 10 Folk Flowers in Adobe Illustrator

We all know that April showers bring May flowers, but what about rainy September days? Usually in September we start to grow the seeds of our new skills.

So let’s start with a tutorial devoted to creating a bunch of ten folk flower elements from Adobe Illustrator’s basic shapes and tools. Our bunch inspired by folkish patterns will consist of many repeating elements so you’ll learn how to construct many interesting elements from a limited quantity of repeating parts. Also, you can use this trick to make elements of any of your designs more connected to each other.

If you’re looking for more floral vector designs, head on over to GraphicRiver for more.

1. How to Make the First Flower

Step 1

Create a New Document (File > New) following these settings:

• Number of Artboards: 1
• Width: 800 px
• Height: 600 px
• Units: Pixels
• Color Mode: RGB

Next, make 11 layers by using the Layers panel—one for each flower element and one for a background.

Then, go to the View panel and turn Smart Guides on.

Step 2

Make a 100 x 100 px pink (#f4908a) circle by using the Ellipse Tool (L). Choose the Scissors Tool (C) and click on both right and left anchor points of the circle. Then, delete the upper half and click Unite on the Pathfinder panel.

Add a 100 x 25 px pale pink (#f9c4be) rectangle with the help of the Rectangle Tool (M) and place it on the upper side of the pink base.

Make a small 9 x 18 px pink (#f4908a) oval (also by using the Ellipse Tool (L)) and click on the upper and bottom anchor points with the Anchor Point Tool (Shift-C). Place this shape on the pale pink rectangle to the left. 

Then Copy it and move the copied piece to the right. Choose the Blend Tool (W) and click on both left and right shapes, and then click twice on the Blend Tool thumbnail. Set up Specified steps and 3, and click OK. Expand the effect by going to Object > Expand.

Step 3

Make a 9 x 9 px bright pink (#ed5a62) circle and place it above the left converted oval. Holding the Alt button on your keyboard, drag the bright pink circle to the right edge, and do the same trick with the Blend Tool (W) as we did in our previous step.

Make a 45 px high bright pink (#ed5a62) line with the help of the Line Segment Tool (\). Go to Window > Stroke and set up Cap: Round cap. Set up Width: 6 pt.

Copy (Control-C) and Paste (Control-V) the converted oval, recolor it to bright pink (#ed5a62), and change its size to 20 x 40 px. Then rotate it while holding Shift, and place it near the line, on its left side. Copy the leaf and reflect it Vertically by going to Object > Transform > Rotate. Add two additional branches to the left and right sides of the main stem. And place one 15 x 15 px bright pink (#ed5a62) circle on each of these additional branches.

Our first flower is done!

2. How to Make the Second Flower

Step 1

Make a 40 x 40 px cyan (#1a9cb4) circle and a 70 x 70 px blue (#18477b) circle. Place the blue one beneath the cyan and Align them by using the upper Align panel.

Create a 50 x 50 px dark gold (#b55a2d) circle and place it behind the previous two shapes on the upper left side. Copy it and move the copied shape to the upper right side. Then copy both these shapes and move them to the bottom.

Step 2

Copy the stem from the previous flower, and recolor it to blue (#18477b). Also copy the big leaves, make them blue too, and place two copies near the stem and two leaves to the left and right of the flower. Then, make four copies of the small leaves, recolor them to dark gold (#b55a2d), and place them around the flower.

3. How to Make the Third Flower With Hearts

Step 1

Copy the pink semicircle base from the first flower, make a 25 x 25 px circle, and place it on the base. Then, make three copies of this circle and place them in sequence after the first one.

Create a 70 x 70 px dark blue (#1c2949) circle, and place it beneath the pink base. Add three white circles on the dark blue shape: one 15 x 15 px and two 9 x 9 px.

Make two dark blue (#1c2949) lines with these options: 6 pt Stroke and 35 px Height. Rotate these lines while holding Shift and place them on the bottom of the pink base. Add a 40 x 40 px dark blue circle under the pink basic shape.

Step 2

And now we’ll quickly make a perfect heart.

Create two 20 x 20 px pale pink (#f4908a) circles and place them near each other. Then, with help of the Pen Tool (P), make two triangles which unite the both circles. Merge all these shapes with the help of the Pathfinder panel.

Place one heart on the flower and two hearts above it.

4. How to Make a Minimalistic Fourth Flower

Step 1

Create a 60 x 60 px blue (#18477b) circle, cut its upper half with the help of the Scissors Tool (C), and add a 40 x 40 px dark blue (#1c2949) circle on it.

Step 2

Add three bright pink (#ed5a62) 15 x 15 px circles above the flower’s base. 

Make a 45 px Height blue stem. And Copy two big leaves and four small ones from the second flower, recoloring the big ones to blue and the small ones to bright pink. Place them around the stem.

5. How to Make the Fifth Flower, Inspired by a Folk Dymkovo Toy

Step 1

Start with a 100 x 100 px pink (#f4908a) circle and a 75 x 75 px bright pink circle (#ed5a62) with 6 pt stroke and no fill. Did you notice that all our elements have the same 6 pt stroke? It makes our design more complex. So add a 50 x 50 px blue (#18477b) circle and three dark blue (#1c2949) lines (with 6 pt weight each) inside the blue circle.

Step 2

Copy any leaf from the previous flowers, scale it to 60 x 30 px, and color it in blue (#18477b). Place two leaves on the left and right sides of the flower. Then, copy a 40 x 20 px leaf from the second flower, recolor it to dark blue (#1c2949), and paste four copies of it around the flower. Also add four 15 x 15 px gold (#d38932) circles and place them between the leaves.

6. How to Make a Sixth Composition of Flowers

Step 1

Create an 80 x 80 px pale pink (#f9c4be) circle and a 55 x 55 px pink (#f4908a) circle shape inside of it. Make a 40 x 40 px dark blue (#1c2949) circle and place it on top of the pale pink circle beneath it. Keeping the dark blue shape selected, choose the Rotate Tool (R) and click in the center of the pink circle while holding the Alt key. Set up Angle: 360/6 (6 is the number of our petals) and click Copy. Then, click Control-D as many times as it needs.

Step 2

Create a dark blue (#1c2949) stem with 100 px Height. Copy the dark blue leaf from the fifth flower and place four copies of it on the left side of the stem and four on the right.

Step 3

Create an 80 x 80 px dark blue (#1c2949) circle. Add a 55 x 55 px blue (#18477b) and a 30 x 30 px cyan (#1a9cb4) circle on it.

Make a 90 px high cyan stem. Also, make two small branches and add a 15 x 15 px cyan circle on each. Move this flower to the left of the dark blue flower.

Step 4

Copy the pale pink heart from the third flower, recolor it to bright pink (#ed5a62), and change its Width to 75 px. Don’t forget to click the Constrain Width and Height Proportions button.

Paste the pale pink heart again and move it to the center of the bright pink shape. Add a 50 px Height bright pink stem and two leaves from each side of the stem. Move the flower to the right side of the big dark blue flower.

Then select all these elements and Group (Control-G) them.

7. How to Make the Seventh Flower Composition by Using the Rotate Tool

Step 1

First, make two 45 x 45 px circles. One is pink (#f4908a), and the other is dark blue (#1c2949). Move the pink shape to the top of the dark blue circle behind it. 

As we did before, keeping the pink shape selected, choose the Rotate Tool (R) and click in the center of the dark blue circle while holding the Alt key. Set Angle: 360/5 (because we need 5 petals now) and click Copy. Then, click Control-D as many times as it needs. So, you made a perfect flower!

Step 2

Add three 15 x 15 px golden (#d38932) circles between the petals. Make (or copy from our other flowers) a 30 x 15 px blue (#18477b) leaf and move it to the center of the dark blue shape. You can do it with the help of the Smart Guides or by using the Align panel. Also, add eight small white circles around the leaf.

Copy five petals, recolor them to blue (#18477b) and, while keeping the Constrain Width and Height Proportions button selected, change the Width to 50 px. Add a 15 x 15 px dark blue (#1c2949) circle in the center. Then, move this small flower to the left side of the pink flower and place its copy on the right side.

8. How to Create an Eighth Flower Composition

Step 1

As we’ve already made it, start with a pale pink (#f9c4be) 30 x 30 px circle. Copy five petals from the previous flower and change the Width value to 90 px. Move the pale pink shape on the petals to the center. Don’t forget to add a 70 px Height dark blue stem.

Step 2

Add a 60 x 30 px dark blue leaf (grab the color from the petals by using the Eyedropper Tool (I)), rotate it by holding Shift, and place it near the stem on the left side. 

Then, copy another leaf from the dark blue flower which we made in section 6 and place it above the big leaf. Copy both these leaves, reflect them horizontally, and move them to the right side.

Step 3

Copy the pale pink circle again, and add a 40 px high pale pink stem (Stroke: 6 px) and four equal-sized leaves. Then, add a golden circle, copied from section 7, above the heart-shaped flower. Place one heart-shaped flower on the left side of the dark blue flower and one on the right.

9. How to Quickly Make a Stylish Ninth Composition From Leaves

Let’s copy the big dark blue leaf from the eighth chapter and play around with rotation. Form a cross consisting of four leaves. 

Then copy and paste a vertical half of this composition to the left and to the right (see the picture below). Add nine golden circles copied from the eighth part.

10. How to Make a Tenth Flower Composition With Berries

Step 1

First, make a 65 x 65 px pink (#f4908a) circle. Add a white 30 x 30 px circle with a 6 px pale pink (#f9c4be) stroke on the pink shape. Also make a 50 x 50 px dark blue (#1c2949) circle and place it on the top of the pink shape behind it.

Step 2

Keeping the pink shape selected, choose the Rotate Tool (R) and click in the center of the dark blue circle while holding the Alt key. Set up Angle: 360/6 and click Copy. Then, click Control-D as many times as it needs.

Paste two big leaves from the ninth section, recolor them to blue (#18477b), and place them above the flower. Reflect them horizontally and move them to the bottom side of the flower.

Step 3

And the last element—a berry! Make its base from a 35 x 35 px pink circle. Add a small 9 x 9 px dark blue circle in the middle of the left side of the berry and a white circle of the same size as a reflection.

Create a 30 x 30 px circle with dark blue 3 pt stroke and choose the Width Profile 1 brush type. Cut the left side of this shape with the help of the Scissors Tool (C). We’ve made the berry! Now, you just need to rotate the berry and place one on the left side of the flower and another on the right.

Now group the whole composition (Control-G).

Step 4

Finally, add an 800 x 600 px white rectangle (by using the Rectangle Tool (R)) on the Background layer, and Align it to the artboard.

Place on the screen all of our ten flower compositions, and look what beautiful work you’ve done!

So, September Flowers Are Here!

Now you know how many interesting variations you can make even with a limited number of elements. I hope that you also have learned some new tricks from this tutorial. 

Don’t forget to share your results in the comments. You can create your own patterns using the elements from our today’s tutorial—all your experiences are welcomed in the comments too!

I’ll see you later!

Post pobrano z: How to Create a Surreal Animal Photo Manipulation With 10 Photos in Adobe Photoshop

In this tutorial I’ll show you how to use Adobe Photoshop to create a photo manipulation featuring an elephant and a rat skateboarding together. 

First we’ll build the base scene using two stock images. Later we’ll add the road shadows, replace the sky, and import the skateboards. After that, we’ll add the elephant and rat, and we’ll blend them using adjustment layers, masking, and brushes. We’ll import other elements, such as hats, lollipop, and luggage, and we’ll use several adjustment layers to complete the final effect. 

Tutorial Assets

The following assets were used during the production of this tutorial:

• Background 
• Road 
• Sky 
• Skateboard 
• Elephant 
• Rat 
• Hat 
• Luggage 1 
• Luggage 2 
• Lollipop 

1. How to Build the Base Scene

Step 1

Create a new 2000 x 1293 px document in Photoshop with the given settings.

Step 2

Open the background image. Drag the image into the white canvas using the Move Tool (V). Convert this layer to a Smart Object.

Step 3

Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set the Radius to 12 px.

On the filter mask, select a soft round brush with black color (soft
black brush) to erase the midground and foreground, leaving the blur
effect visible only on the background.

Step 4

Create
a new layer and set it as Clipping Mask. Activate the Clone Tool (S) to
remove the existing shadows of the objects on the road. We’re aiming to make
the main light come straight across from left to right, so the existing shadow
should be erased or reduced.

Step 5

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance and change the Midtones settings:

Step 6

Add a Curves adjustment layer and increase the contrast a little. On
this layer mask, use a soft black brush to erase the middle to keep it a bit hazy.

Step 7

Make another Curves adjustment layer to increase the fuzziness of the
middle. On the layer mask, paint on the top and the bottom of the
background.

Step 8

Open
the road image. Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) to select the road
area only and drag it into our main document using the Move Tool. Place
it over the existing road. Convert this layer to a Smart Object.

Add a mask to this layer and use a soft black brush to remove the sidewalk.

Step 9

Apply a Gaussian Blur of 6 px to the road. On this filter mask, use a
soft black brush to clear the blur effect in the midground (this is
in order to locate the main elements).

Step 10

Use a Color Balance adjustment layer to alter the road’s color.

Step 11

Make a Curves adjustment layer to bring more light to the road.

Step 12

Create another Curves adjustment layer to make the road hazier and mistier. Paint on the foreground to reduce the hazy effect there.

2. How to Make the Road Shadows

Step 1

We will now add shadows for the objects on the road. 

First, create a new
layer and use the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) to select the sign with the
letters JCT/181 (no need to be so precise). You should disable the
Gaussian Blur filter on the background layer to see more clearly.

Fill this selection with a dark brown color (#1c190c) and flip it
vertically (Edit >Transform> Flip Vertical). Use the Free
Transform Tool (Control-T) to rotate it onto the right of the sign to
fit the light direction. Make it longer and much thinner.

Step 2

Lower the opacity of this layer to 80% and apply a Gaussian Blur of 8 px to this layer.

Step 3

Make shadows for the other objects: signs, bushes, etc. They should be long and thin.

Step 4

Make
another layer and use a soft brush with the same shadow color (#1c190c) to paint random shadows for the small bushes in the distance.

Select all shadow layers and hit Control-G to make a group for them.
Lower the opacity of this group to 30%, and enable the Gaussian Blur
filter on the background one.

3. How to Replace the Sky

Step 1

Open the sky image. Use the Rectangular Marquee Tool to select the sky only and place it in the upper half of the canvas.

Use a layer mask to remove the hard edges at the bottom and blend it
with the existing sky. Lower the brush opacity when masking off the sign
area so the integration looks smooth and natural.

Step 2

Apply a Gaussian Blur of 2 px to this layer.

Step 3

Make a Photo Filter adjustment layer and pick the color #ece900.

Step 4

Add a Color Balance adjustment layer and alter the Midtones and Highlights settings:

Step 5

Use a Curves adjustment layer to brighten the sky.

Step 6

To make the sky blend better with the background, create a new layer
and use a large soft brush with #d6c7b3 color and about 45% opacity to
paint on the middle of the canvas. You can use a layer mask to correct
anything that looks too misty.

4. How to Import the Skateboards

Step 1

Open the skateboard image. Cut out the skateboard from the white
background and place it on the right-hand side of the road. Duplicate it and make
it much smaller, and then place it on the left.

Step 2

Create a group for the skateboards and change the group’s mode to Normal
100%. The light on some wheels of the skateboards doesn’t really suit the
main light source. To fix it, make a new layer and change the mode to
Multiply 100%. Use a yellow color for the brush (#b8ab0) and paint on the
indicated details to reduce the light there.

Step 3

Use another layer (Multiply mode) with the color #5e5847. Paint on the
metal details below the deck to make them a bit darker.

Step 4

Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to change the skateboards’ color.

Step 5

Make a Curves adjustment layer to bring more light to the skateboards.
Paint on the shadow areas below the deck so they won’t be
affected by this adjustment layer.

Step 6

Add a Levels adjustment layer with the same purpose. The selected areas show where to paint on the layer mask.

Step 7

The main light comes straight from left to right, so the shadows will only
show the griptapes and decks. Create a new layer below the skateboard
group and use the Polygonal Lasso Tool to select the deck of the big
skateboard and fill it with the color #1c190c. Convert this layer to a
Smart Object.

Lower the opacity of this layer to 60% and use Control-T to make the shadow longer below the skateboard.

Add a mask to this layer and remove the left of the shadow. Also decrease its visibility on the right.

Step 8

Apply a Gaussian Blur of 3 px to the shadow layer. On the filter mask,
paint on the left part of the shadow as it
should be harder than the rest.

Step 9

Duplicate this shadow layer and move it below the small skateboard.
Scale it down a lot to fit the size of the skateboard. Use a layer mask
to remove the left and right of the shadow (the lifting parts).

5. How to Retouch the Elephant

Step 1

Open the elephant image. Isolate the one on the right and place him
above the big skateboard. Resize him to fit the skateboard and remember
to convert this layer to a Smart Object.

Step 2

We’re aiming to turn this elephant into a baby one. Searching for references using Google, we can see the top of a baby’s head is rounder, the legs and trunk
shorter and plumper, and the skin smoother and less wrinkled. 

First, we’ll
change the pose of the elephant a bit. Select Edit > Puppet Warp and
drag the points on the top of the head downward a bit until it looks rounder. Also lift the trunk and legs a bit.

On the filter mask, use a soft black brush to erase the legs and eye.

Step 3

Add
a mask to the elephant layer and use a medium-hard brush to remove the
trunk and the bottom of the legs a bit so he looks as if he’s standing
on the skateboard.

Step 4

We’ll use the legs from the original image and scale them much less than
the existing ones so they will look shorter and plumper. Select the front
leg from the original image and add it to the same position as the
existing one. Use Control-T to lift this leg a bit higher.

Use a layer mask to blend the legs with the existing body.

Step 5

Add the other legs and the chest part using the same method.

Step 6

Add the trunk to replace the old one. Use Control-T with the Warp mode to make it shorter and raised a bit.

Step 7

It’s time to clone the skin, which will help the skin look smoother. Start
with the least rough area of the skin, and from that, clone over the
elephant’s body. The trick is to reduce the brush’s opacity (about 50-60%)
so that the cloned areas will look smooth, but still show some original details
and textures.

Step 8

Make a group for the elephant layer and related ones. Use a Color Balance adjustment layer and alter the Midtones values:

Step 9

Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to change the elephant’s color a bit.

Step 10

Create a Curves adjustment layer to bring more light to the elephant.
Paint on the shadow areas and the part behind the ear to make its shadow
on the body.

Step 11

Use another Curves adjustment layer to strengthen the shadow of the
elephant. The selected areas show where to paint on the layer mask.

Step 12

Create a new layer above the elephant group. Change the mode to Overlay 100%, and fill with 50% gray:

Activate the Dodge and Burn Tool (O) with Midtones Range, Exposure about
15-20% to refine the light and shadow on the elephant. You can see how I
did it with Normal mode and the result with Overlay mode.

Step 13

Make a new layer under the elephant group. Use a soft brush with the
color #1c190c, opacity about 45% to paint the shadow of the elephant’s feet
on the back of the skateboard.

6. How to Retouch the Rat

Step 1

Cut out the rat from the original background and place him above the
small skateboard. Use the Puppet Warp to lift his head a bit.

Step 2

Use a layer mask to remove the bottom of the feet outside the griptape.

Step 3

Change the rat’s color using a Color Balance adjustment layer.

Step 4

Use a Curves adjustment layer to brighten the rat. The selected areas show how to mask off the shadow area of the rat.

Step 5

Add another Curves adjustment layer to increase the shadow of the rat.

Step 6

Make a new layer, change the mode to Overlay 100%, and fill with 50%
gray. Use the Dodge and Burn Tool to enhance the light and shadow of the
rat.

Step 7

Create a new layer below the rat one. Hold Control and click the rat thumbnail layer to load his selection.

Fill
this selection with the color #1c190c and flip it vertically. Stretch
it and place it above the top of the small skateboard’s shadow.

Apply a Gaussian Blur of 2 px to this layer. Also use a layer mask to
remove the legs’ shadow and make the rat’s one blend smoothly with that of the
existing skateboard.

7. How to Add the Hats

Step 1

Cut out the hat and place it above the elephant’s head. Duplicate this
layer and make it much smaller. Add it to the head of the rat after
flipping it horizontally.

Step 2

Make a new layer below the hat ones. Use a soft brush with the color #1c190c to paint shadows for the hats.

Step 3

Create a group for the hats and add a Color Balance adjustment layer. Alter the Midtones settings:

Step 4

Make a Curves adjustment layer to brighten the hat. Use a soft black
brush to paint on the shadow area (the right side) of the hats so it
won’t be affected by this adjustment layer.

Step 5

Create
another Curves adjustment layer to increase the shadow of the hats.
Paint on the left side (bright area) to keep their lightness.

8. How to Create the Lollipop

Step 1

Open the lollipop image. First, isolate the stick of the lower one and
add it below the elephant’s trunk. Use Control-T to rotate it to fit the
direction of the trunk.

Cut out the candy part and add it below the stick.

Step 2

Use the Dodge Tool on a new layer (set as Clipping Mask) to brighten the top of the candy.

Step 3

Make a group for the stick and candy layers. Use a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and reduce the Saturation value to -55:

Step 4

Create a Color Balance adjustment layer and alter the Midtones settings:

Step 5

Use a Curves adjustment layer to bring more light to the lollipop.

9. How to Import the Luggage

Step 1

Extract the luggage 1 image from the background and place it onto the big skateboard, between the front legs of the elephant.

Use a layer mask to remove its bottom outside the griptape.

Step 2

Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and change the Master values:

Step 3

Use
the Dodge and Burn Tool on a new layer to refine the light and shadow
of the suitcase. Also paint the shadow of the handle and some small details
to fit the light sources.

Step 4

Open the luggage 2 image. Take the highest piece of luggage and place it onto the
small skateboard, to the right of the rat, after resizing it down. Use a
layer mask to remove its bottom.

Step 5

Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to desaturate the luggage’s color a bit.

Step 6

Use the Dodge Tool to brighten the luggage as it looks too dark at the moment.

Step 7

Make several new layers and use a medium-soft brush with the color
#1c190c to paint the shadow of the handle of the small suitcase, the shadow of
the rat on his luggage and skateboard, and the shadow of the leg of the elephant
on the big suitcase.

10. How to Make the Final Adjustments

Step 1

Create a new Color Fill adjustment layer on top of the layers and fill
with the color #18011c. Change this layer mode to Exclusion 100%.

Step 2

Add a Gradient Map adjustment layer and pick the colors #e10019 and #00601b. Lower the opacity of this layer to 20%.

Step 3

Make a Color Balance adjustment layer and alter the Midtones and Highlights values:

Step 4

Create a Photo Filter adjustment layer and pick the color #d4a383.

Step 5

Add a Curves adjustment layer to increase the light and contrast of the whole scene.

Step 6

Make another Curves adjustment layer to bring more light to the left part of the scene. The right should be erased.

Step 7

Use a Vibrance adjustment layer to enhance the final effect.

Congratulations, You’re Done!

I hope that you’ve enjoyed the tutorial and learned something new for
your own project. Feel free to share your results or leave comments in
the box below. Enjoy Photoshopping!

Post pobrano z: Design Styles Across 10 Decades

In celebration of Envato Tuts+’s ten-year anniversary, we’re going to look back even further in time to explore the era-defining trends and styles in graphic design and illustration over the past ten decades. 

Studies of design and illustration have always given historians intriguing insights into changing trends in aesthetics, buying patterns, and popular culture, but it’s also invaluable for designers to know what has influenced and continues to influence their work today. 

Love vintage design, or simply want to find out more about how designers worked in the past? You’ll want to keep reading!

Make sure to pay a visit to GraphicRiver and Envato Elements to source vintage-inspired photos, illustrations, fonts and templates to channel a bygone time in your own designs.

Design in the 1920s

The 1920s marked one of the most important and exciting decades for the visual arts, and its remarkable influence is still felt across the design industry today. 

The ‘Jazz Age’ marked an era of new social freedoms and economic growth, and favored design styles followed suit. At the start of the decade, more fluid, realist styles such as Art Nouveau were still very popular across the commercial arts, but by the middle of the decade this was dramatically replaced by new modernist styles which were gaining traction in Europe. 

Art Deco, a style defined by modernist, geometric designs and luxurious materials and colors, first emerged in France but quickly grew in popularity, becoming one of the first international design movements and resulting in some of the most glamorous buildings, interiors and artworks the world has ever seen.

Particularly in New York, the post-war economy was booming, and in this atmosphere of financial excess, advertising design experienced an incredibly creative period. Poster artists embraced the Art Deco style wholeheartedly, focussing on creating strongly graphic layouts, with rich color palettes and geometric type styles. The glamor of flapper girls, exotic travel, and new food and drink dominated billboards, enticing viewers to dance the Charleston or buy Coca-Cola. 

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Design in the 1930s

The excesses of the 1920s unfortunately couldn’t last forever. The Great Depression had a sombre influence over design in the 1930s, with a more restrained form of Art Deco which focussed on curved forms replacing the glitter and glamor of the decade before. In poster art, we can see how the rich palette of colors from early Art Deco is replaced with more subdued tones.

Also influential during this decade was the accessibility of modern technology for consumers. Electricity, the automobile, and the telephone made radical changes to daily life, and design increasingly reflected this. 

The Futurist art movement emphasized the supremacy of technology, speed and industry in an ever-changing world. Designers and illustrators focussed their efforts on giving a sense of movement and scale to their designs. 3D-style gradients and textures also became popular, helping poster work feel immersive and larger than life. 

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Design in the 1940s

With the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, fascism began to creep across Europe and threatened to spill over onto a global platform during the early part of the 1940s. This frightening new reality led to the once commercial emphasis of design to be replaced by propaganda and motivational imagery. 

Some of the most interesting design to emerge in this period was that of the Soviet propaganda artists, who were inspired by Art Deco and Constructivism (a Russian art movement which emphasized art as having a social purpose) but developed a unique and direct style rendered in sombre shades of red, black and grey. 

Stylistically, modernism was becoming a more influential movement, and we can see this in the use of abstract illustration, irregular layouts, and minimal color palettes. At the start of the 1940s, realist illustrations which romanticized battle were very popular, but by the end of the decade, consumers were ready for something very different. 

We can see the roots of the Mid-Century Modern movement in design and illustration from the late 1940s. Visible brush strokes, witty designs and rich colors marked the end of the dark days of war and heralded a sunnier Post-War period. 

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Design in the 1950s

Designers have looked back to 1950s design time and time again, and with good reason. The era was an incredibly rich, optimistic and exciting time for design. Just as we have today, there were many different trends which found their place in the Fifties design landscape. 

In America, a booming economy meant that ordinary homes now had kitchen appliances, motor cars, and televisions, all of which were advertised heavily to the public. Across commercial advertising we see atmospheric, cheerful illustrations and photos in pastel ice-cream shades or technicolor brights. The sense of movement, youth and excitement generated by this style of image is infectious, and still has remarkable influence over advertising design today.

Meanwhile, other designers were exploring modernism’s potential and giving it a fun, playful twist. Flat design was made popular by the Mid-Century Modern movement, which focussed on playful patterns and textures, and used simple, pared-back color palettes in earthy shades.

The Fifties were also a time for boundary-pushing in typography and typeface design. Perhaps the most famous example is designer Paul Rand’s reimagining of the logo for IBM in 1956. With its distinctive jaunty, geometric lettering, this type style influenced the perky, animated character of other typefaces which came to dominate billboards and signage across the last half of the decade. 

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Design in the 1960s

Graphic design in the Sixties tended to split into two main stylistic groups. Some designers continued to evolve the simple, modernist style favored during the 1950s, and many were influenced by the Swiss Style, which came to have a huge influence over layout design and typography during the decade. 

The Sixties were also a wonderful time for modernist illustration, with artists like Charley Harper exploring geometric shapes, stylized design and grainy textures in their drawings. Their simple, striking work had commercial appeal, making them a perfect fit for advertising work and textile prints during the period. 

The other popular design movement in the Sixties was a reaction to the restrictions of minimal, modernist design. Psychedelic design was influenced by the free love movement, rock ‘n’ roll, and hallucinogenic drugs. 

Graphic design merged with art, as designers and illustrators became more experimental and threw out the traditional rule books preaching grid structures and ordered layouts. A rainbow of acid colors, fluid lines, and trippy patterns came to define the look of the pop culture scene of the Sixties, and it’s still much more evocative of the Sixties in popular culture today than its modernist counterpart.

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Design in the 1970s

1970s design has enjoyed a recent revival in design, fashion, and illustration, and perhaps this is in part because it’s such a rich resource for retro design in so many forms. The decade was defined by a diverse range of pop culture and social movements, which allowed individuals to express who they were more extrovertly through fashion, music, and art. Punk, Disco and the hippy movement were just a few of the cultural trends which defined the decade, and their influence spilled over into the world of design. 

In graphic design, we start to see photography becoming more dominant during this period, with illustration taking a more supportive role in magazine and ad design. Photography, as with everything in the Seventies, explored extremes—it was either moody greyscale or disco-bright technicolor. Magazines like Rolling Stone embellished photos with anarchic collage touches, bright color, and ‘look at me’ typography.

Developments in typesetting technology also helped the Seventies to become the decade that is defined by jaw-dropping typography, which is at turns both garish and revolutionary. Three-dimensional effects, curved lettering and cartoonish proportions make for type that pushes the limits of good taste, and has become the defining characteristic of 'retro’ design.

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Design in the 1980s

In the decade of boom and excess, there’s also nothing subtle about Eighties design. Topping the Seventies for sheer ‘look at me’ value, this decade carried over the more brash elements of Seventies design, such as disco typography, and exaggerated them even more. 

Punk still had a huge influence on popular culture in the early 1980s, and an anarchic use of color was used by designers to contrast against newspaper-clipping text and moody silhouetted photography. Anti-establishment British bands like The Smiths and The Clash used traditional design elements like serif typefaces and reimagined them with a neon color palette and jumpy grids, creating engaging, confrontational album art in the process. 

In the latter part of the decade, garish, neon-saturated styles came to dominate commercial design and spilled over into music and the arts. Some of the most recognisable design traits of the Eighties can be sourced from the inescapable type styles that were developed from the mid-Eighties onwards. Sharply italicized lettering fonts in neon pinks and purples adorned album covers and advertising billboards alike. 

While not all Eighties design is considered to be indeed ‘good’ at all, let alone tasteful, thankfully some designers were still creating amazing work, some of which has come to be recognized as iconic and well-loved as examples of ‘nostalgia art’ decades later. Some of the most incredible design during the 1980s appeared on movie posters, with complex collage designs, super-bright colors and highly detailed layouts. Illustrations were hyper-realistic and dramatic, with exaggerated light and shadows. 

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  How to Create an 80s-Inspired Silver Text Effect in Adobe Photoshop

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  How to Create a Poltergeist TV Silhouette Scene in Adobe Illustrator

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Design in the 1990s

The designs that defined the 1990s take a little longer to come to mind than the visual culture of the hippy 70s and brash 80s, but it’s actually an incredibly significant decade for the development of graphic design as we know it today. Digital design technology had evolved and become more accessible (remember Microsoft Paint?), which meant that the days of creating layouts by hand were fast disappearing. As a result, layouts took on a more polished, clean appearance. 

While design may have cleaned up its act, its influences were altogether much rougher around the edges. Grunge was a significant influence across pop culture, fashion and design over the early part of the decade, and in many ways this clashed with the clean, tech-forward focus of designers who were embracing digital design wholeheartedly. 

You can’t mention Nineties graphic design without paying homage to American art director David Carson, who founded alternative music magazine Ray Gun in 1992. A world away from the measured minimalism of digital design, he ‘broke the grid’, experimenting with collage-style type and edgy photography. It remains the most evocative design example of the grunge era.

Towards the middle and later part of the decade, minimalism became the order of the day, which felt completely refreshing after the scruffy grunge years. Calvin Klein pioneered minimal graphic design in his adverts featuring a waif-like Kate Moss posing next to an ultra-simple, watermarked logo design. It marked a new era for advertising design in which less became more, setting the benchmark for the pared-back fashion advertising we see in print today. 

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  How to Create a Retro 'Saved by the Bell’ Inspired Text Effect in Adobe Photoshop

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Design in the 2000s

While the 90s marked the first venture into digital design for many designers, it was inescapable during the 2000s. No longer was computer-aided design simply an option, it became a necessity, with designers needing to craft layouts that would work just as well on computer screens as they would on handheld devices like mobile phones. 

Logos had been around for decades, but the 2000s were the boom years for branding, with some of the most iconic tech brands like Google, Twitter and Facebook creating and honing their brand identities during this decade. Logo design became a consuming area of focus for many graphic designers during this decade, with many judging the future success or failure of a business from the quality of their brand design. 

The 2000s were a decade of great political and social change across the world stage, and design followed was often employed to raise awareness of causes such as environmental change and the impact of events like the financial crisis of 2007. 

One of the most memorable examples of design as a political tool was Shepard Fairey’s “Hope” poster for the 2008 US presidential campaign. Stylistically, it referenced older street art styles, a hallmark of 2000s design, but the strong sans serif type and ultra-realistic portrait of Barack Obama made it feel fresh and relevant, and ultimately was a significant contributing factor to the success of Obama’s campaign. 

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Design in the 2010s

Sure, we’re only seven years into the decade, but the 2010s have already seen plenty of incredible work and look to be an exciting decade for graphic design and illustration. While it can be difficult to assess the dominant trends of the decade without hindsight (and still with three promising years to go!), we can already look back on a few styles that have proved to be almost universally popular in the early and middle part of the decade. 

Vintage mania hit the graphic design world at the start of the decade and still remains very dominant in design. With the internet becoming an all-encompassing influence in people’s lives, vintage, folk and ‘hipster’ styles can be seen as reactions to a technology-mad world, even if antique-style textures and vintage logos are used to brand tech products! 

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  A Guide to Vintage Design Styles

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  How to Design a Vintage Travel Poster in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop

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Illustration has also experienced a welcome revival this decade, with flat design revisiting some of the modernist traits of mid-century design and vectorized and digital illustration evolving as an art form. We’re starting to see more explicitly tech-inspired design gradually creep back into illustration now too, with low-poly and line art taking their cues from the ever-evolving world of web and app design. 

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  How to Create a Set of Flat Animal Icons in Adobe Illustrator

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Conclusion

A lot can change in a century! Design and illustration offer amazing insights into the social and cultural trends and changes that defined decades, and I hope you’ve found this trip back in time interesting and perhaps inspiring for your own creative work. 

No designer can truly work in a vacuum, so it’s fantastic to be able to see what visual culture would have been a constant presence in the lives of your parents, grandparents, great grandparents and beyond.

Do you have a favorite decade for design? Let us know which eras get your creative juices flowing in the comments below.

Head over to GraphicRiver and Envato Elements to find vintage-inspired design elements to take a trip back in time in your own creative work.

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  25 Stylish Vintage Fonts

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