Like every other kind of trend, the popularity of graphic design styles changes and evolves with time. Ad design fads also come and go in a hurry, and the market quickly becomes saturated with a specific style before it moves onto the next one. It’s important to keep up with the trends to create original and modern work and stand out from the crowd.
But it’s not always easy to create new styles for each project. Check out the 28 ad design templates below to inspire you, and download the templates to keep up your sleeve for when you need to do something a bit more in line with the trends. If you are looking for video marketing templates, we have a great list of 25 templates for 2021.
Summary
Part 1: Top 10 Ad Design Trends in 2021
Let’s check out some of the top trends designers are raving about for 2021. Some styles are making a comeback to create a fresh modern look and feel, while other designs are being used within uncommon or unexpected ads to create a whole new trend.
1. Stop Motion
Stop motion animation will pretty much always be in trend because it’s such a timeless style. Traditionally, stop motion is created by making physical objects move around by moving them slightly and photographing them a frame at a time.
You’ll recognize stop motion still used today in major children’s animations like Shaun the Sheep and The Boxtrolls. It’s an age-old tradition, and digital animators have embraced the style for social media videos and promos as well. Creating stop motion animations gives your videos an organic, tactile feel that audiences love. Stop motion is unlikely to go out of fashion any time soon.
2. 3D Visuals
3D animation software is getting cheaper and more accessible by the day, and there are some incredibly powerful tools to create complex 3D visuals quite quickly. This makes 3D videos popular and frequently in trend.
3D doesn’t have to be expensive CGI like you’d find in Marvel movies; it can be used to create abstract shapes for overlaying tests or giving animated logos an extra sense of depth.
3. Custom/Cartoon Illustrations
Every brand wants its custom characters to be a hit with audiences. Cartoons have featured heavily in advertising since they were invented, and animating existing characters is a great way to bring a business’s branding to life.
Creating an animation filled with color and life really captivates audiences. Filmmakers use this style in almost every kind of video – from corporate advertising to music videos and TV shows. It’s incredibly versatile.
4. Geometric Shapes
If you don’t want to put a face to a brand with a cartoon, geometric shape animation is a cool, fresh and timeless style. Use abstract lines, squares, circles, and other shapes to add texture and movement to an otherwise flat image.
The advantage of using these geometric shapes is that they can work in pretty much any kind of video. Try using a looping background of geometric shapes in presentations or Instagram Stories.
5. Optical Illusion
Audiences love to be fooled, in a fun way. Including optical illusions in your motion graphics designs is mesmerizing and engaging and keeps your work new and interesting. This style works really nicely in music videos, as warping optical illusion animations fit the vibe of electronic music.
6. Outsized Typography
You’ve probably seen this a lot in movies over the last couple of years, and this trend will continue. When it comes to typography, big is the new small. Don’t be afraid to crank up the size of your animated text and overlay it on footage in a huge, striking way.
Blockbuster movies have used this to highlight location names when characters travel to different companies, but you’ll also see it in TV ads from Apple, Nike, and other huge brands.
7. Elements of Nature
With the environment, a significant part of everyone’s minds at the moment, including natural elements in your designs will tap into the organic part of the audience’s psyche. Visuals of water, plants, and animals will always go a long way.
Most of the social content made by organizations like WWF will feature this kind of imagery, but it also works in videos for brands talking about sustainability and green energy.
8. Blur and Grain
Is your image too crisp and sharp? Add some blur and grain to give your visuals texture and depth, creating a tactile, analog feel. Sometimes pictures are just too perfect, so blur and grain give them a rough around the edges aesthetic. This works for social media videos that want to get across a nostalgic feel, or dream sequences in short films.
9. Flatlays
You’ve seen these all over Instagram, and they’re not going anywhere soon. Layout all your objects in a pleasing design and shoot them from the top down. Bonus points if you can create some space for animated typography within them. This is a well-regarded classic technique for beauty brands making product videos or travel brands laying showcasing must-have accessories.
10. Retrofuturism
Retrofuturism depicts images of the future, or modern lifestyles, in a retro 50s style. It’s a really effective design, and organizations like NASA and tourist boards have had success creating entire modern marketing campaigns with an old-school vibe.
Part 2: 28 Creative and Trendy Ad Design Templates
Want to start creating trendy designs yourself? Let’s jump into these 28 templates for you to download and use right away.
After Effects
1. Bass Typo Opener / Intro
This is an intense, dynamic animation with a lot of cool stuff layered on top of each other. Texture, oversized typography, geometric patterns, all animated in a fresh punchy way to grab your audience’s attention.
Download Bass Typo Opener / Intro Now
2. Duotone Event Opener
Kickstart your event with this exciting countdown animation, featuring complex abstract 3D graphics and textured layers. Swap out the 24 text placeholders to easily change the messaging for your own purposes.
Download Duotone Event Opener Now
3. Typography Gradient Posts
This template contains fresh, clean typographical designs against subtly animated gradient backgrounds. There are 10 pre-made designs to choose from, which would work great as social media posts on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Download Typography Gradient Posts Now
4. Retro Vintage Opener
Vintage, film-style image collages overlay in a fun way with a subtle grain effect to create a retro promo video template. Drag and drop your new media, change the text, and create an instant opener for your TV show or YouTube channel.
Download Retro Vintage Opener Now
5. Geometric Opener
Clean lines animate on screen in a professional, pleasing way, and look awesome when overlaid on beautiful cinematic footage. These lines draw your eyes to the animated text and are easy to manipulate in this After Effects template.
6. Cubics Transformation Logo
3D cube shapes warp and transform into the logo of your choice in this stylish After Effects template. With multiple color options it’s easy to create something that matches your brand.
Download Cubics Transformation Logo Now
7. Tennis Package
This dynamic, tennis-themed opener is the ideal template for your sports YouTube channel. Bouncing animated balls, fun imagery, and photos that are easy to replace all combine to make a fresh, exciting animated opener.
8. Like Subscribe Comment Logo
It’s the ultimate sign-off message from any YouTuber – like, subscribe, comment. This fly-through animation, complete with animated 3D icons, is the perfect logo resolve for your YouTube videos.
Download Like Subscribe Comment Logo Now
9. React Typographic Stories
Step up the quality of your Instagram Stories with these incredible optical illusion animations, built in After Effects. Entrance your audience and increase engagement by easily editing the text to fit your own message.
Download React Typographic Stories Now
10. Retro Style Opener
Popping colors, sharp typography, neon outlines – it’s all here in this engaging retro style promo video template. Simply swap out your images, replace the text, and render quickly to start using this cool retro vibe video right away.
Download Retro Style Opener Now
Premiere Pro
11. Bizarre Anaglyph Effects
Multiple images warp and change in this strange but cool Premiere Pro effect. There are 21 modern animated presets in this pack, and each one can be quickly dropped into your videos.
Download Bizarre Anaglyph Effects Now
12. Isometric Stretch Transition
If you’re looking for a transition to get seamlessly between your scenes, this isometric stretch transition splices up your image into a clean design and animates smoothly into the next shot. It really steps up the dynamism of your videos, and is easy to use in Premiere Pro.
Download Isometric Stretch Transition Now
13. Stylish Promo
Geometric textures and cut-out collages of images slide and animate around the screen in a very cool way in this stylish promo video. All you need to do is replace the images, edit the text, and you have an instant promo to grab attention.
14. Stop Motion Typography Promo
This rhythmic opener in stop motion style features 15 media placeholders to replace with your own images and 36 editable text layers. The jagged paper effect creates a very cool, edgy tone, and the animation is really exciting.
Download Stop Motion Typography Promo Now
15. Modern Typography Titles
Large, oversized typography fills the screen and animates in a way that reflects the meaning of the word in this very cool title sequence. Animated typography is difficult to get right, but with this template all you need to do is edit the text.
Download Modern Typography Titles Now
16. Stop Motion Multi-Frame
Combine several images together into one screen in this fresh and modern typographical-led promo video template. It’s fresh, colorful, and fun, with a lot of energy that can be used in different kinds of videos.
Download Stop Motion Multi-Frame Now
17. Abstract Quick Stories
Grab the attention of your Instagram audiences with these fast, dynamic IG Stories templates. Big-hitting text, jagged transitions, slides, and light leaks all work together to create these highly engaging videos.
Download Abstract Quick Stories Now
Final Cut Pro
18. VHS Modern Intro
Give your videos the retro VHS vibe with convincing grain effects, noise transitions, and overlay it all with big impactful animated text. This intro is the perfect blend of old and new, embracing the 80s and 90s VHS vibe alongside a modern dynamic.
19. Urban Freeze Frame
The freeze frames in this template grab a piece of footage, pause it, and throw plenty of animated shapes and textures into the composition to create something very modern and cool. Replace the footage and adjust the timings of the freeze frames to your liking.
Download Urban Freeze Frame Now
20. Old Film Look Overlays
Old film gives a sense of warmth and richness that just isn’t replicated by modern digital cameras. But that doesn’t mean you need to start shooting analog to achieve this. Try using this old film look overlay for Final Cut Pro to create a vintage film vibe.
Download Old Film Look Overlays Now
21. VHS Opener
90s retro is coming back, and you can lead the wave with this awesome VHS opener. Old video tape grain overlays, 90s style fonts and neon colors all work together to create this fun, old-school vibe promo.
22. Travel Promo
If you’re looking for something to dress up your travel content, try using this dynamic slideshow. With over a dozen text and media placeholders to replace, you can make this template truly unique and showcase your travel photos and videos.
23. Flat 3D Opener
This Final Cut Pro and Apple Motion template brings 2D images to life in a 3D space, creating cool optical illusions in a unique style. Replace the images and footage and use this for your YouTube videos, social media posts, and even TV adverts.
24. New Product Promo
Want to shout about your new products but don’t have a team of designers on hand? Grab this FCP template, swap out the images for your new product, replace the text, and boom – you’ve got an instant new product promo that would work great as a social media advert.
25. On Point
This is a classic yet still very modern style of opener, using geometric shapes and slick animations around your images. Smooth movements and a minimal design make it look clean and professional, and it can be used in a wide range of projects.
26. Urban Promo Opener
Edit the unfolding text, swap out the subtly animated images, and you’ve created a unique modern promo video with a slick, urban style. Use this in your fashion videos, advertisements, and social media posts.
27. Fashion Promo
Dividing, sliding images combine with clean animated text and light leaks to make a fast-paced promo for your fashion brand. This DaVinci Resolve template is easy to use, edit, and render, so you can start using it right away.
28. Monochrome Typography V2
This template is all about typography! Bold, clean, black and white, and suitable for any of your projects, it just looks great. The eye-catching designs would sit right at home in any professional advertisement, and all you have to do is edit the text.
Trends in video graphic design change quickly, so if you want your work to stay fresh and relevant, then keep a close eye on what designers and film pros are doing. Pay attention to the ad design trends that work and those that don’t according to your film themes and styles.
The 10 trends we have covered will likely crop up in many design styles and movie genres this year. If you don’t want to design the details from scratch, then utilize the Motion Array templates for After Effects, Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro and DaVinci Resolve to build trending videos quickly and easily.
