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Just like pineapple on pizza, trends can be loved by some and despised by others. Nevertheless, they can give us useful information about what other experts are doing and where the industry is heading. This is why the team at Creatopy, the ad design platform, decided to gather data from over 500K designs created between February and September 2021 on their platform to compile the 2021 display ad design trends and statistics.
1. Most used design types
Out of the total number of designs, 54% were animated, and 44% were static. The popularity of animated ads can be correlated with the rise of online video consumption. We are more likely to be captured by sound and movement rather than a single image that quickly flashes by.
2. Most used sizes according to format
The most used size for display ads was 336×280 (Large Rectangle). This same size reigns supreme when it comes to static formats, specifically. 300×250 (Medium Rectangle) was the number one choice for animated and video formats. These sizes allow for the images to look clean and sharp.
3. Most used fonts
Almost 11% of the designs used Roboto, making it the most popular font. Its simplicity and readability likely make it a winner.
4. Most used colors
To find the most popular colors, the team looked at designs made without images. These are not exclusively solid backgrounds—most of the designs feature gradient backgrounds. It turned out that the colors that users typically reached for were black, white, red, and blue. The universal usability of these four colors is likely why users tend to prefer them the most.
5. Usage of own images vs. stock images
Unsurprisingly, 93% of the designs used branded images as opposed to stock photos. It’s no secret that originality is one of the most important aspects of any brand, so although it can take more time and resources, branded images are still preferred.
6. Usage of templates vs. custom designs
Almost 70% of the designs were created from scratch, while 30.26% used templates that were already available in the app. Much like in the case of branded images and stock images, originality and authenticity are top priority, so it’s not a surprise that users opted to create their designs from square one.
7. Most popular formats for download
For an accurate picture of the most downloaded formats, Creatopy paid attention to download events—these events mean the download of either a single design or a design set (i.e., one set containing multiple designs). This way, they discovered that JPG is the most chosen format for download, followed by HTML5 and MP4. These formats are the most convenient choices for users, as they occupy the least space.
In conclusion, what we can learn from these trends is that nothing is more important than delivering the highest quality display ads using as little time and effort as possible. Numbers can easily change from year to year, but the drive to do a great job is always number one. And with this drive, we will continue to create new trends.
You may also like: What is Digital Product Design?
Image source: elements.envato.com
