Whenever you look for inspiration, you are bound to come across at least one of these techniques / effects / elements. These effects are neither “good or bad” however they are the most common elements found in today’s designs.
1. Sunrays / Rays of Light / Rising Sun
By far the most overused technique used in design today is the infamous rays of light usually found tucked away in the background of a design or at the very forefront of the design such as in the picture above.
2. Black (or Coloured) Silhouettes
Vectorised silhouettes of people and other objects is definitely second on the list. Made famous by the iPod campaign this technique can now be seen everywhere. Notice the combination of the sun rays and black silhouettes?
3. Ink Splatter
Closely contending with number 4, ink splatters are everywhere. Ink Splatters do add a cool / trendy look to a design and they do blend well with grunge style designs however ink splatters should be used in moderation.
4. Swirls / Flourishes / Ornaments
Swirls seem to be all the rage at the moment as they are quite appealing and generally just nice to look at. Flourishes & ornaments go well together to create organic, fresh designs which is quite ‘in’ at the moment.
5. Flowing Lines
Flowing lines generally add motion and fluidity to a design which gives it a certain emotion when combined with other elements (ie. funky circles as seen above) which is generally why they come up so often.
6. Funky Circles
The funky circle colour combo is evident in numerous designs across the web and like the name suggests it does give a design a quite funky look however they are being used everywhere!
7. Smoke Textures
These smoky effects are not as blatantly obvious as the other ones as they are always in the background of a design however if you look a bit closer, these smoky effects are everywhere.
Source: http://justcreativedesign.com/2008/09/09/top-7-most-overused-techniques-elements-used-in-graphic-design/
