29.03.2024

How to Refresh Your Marketing Visuals for Spring

Do your marketing visuals need a bright refresh for the new season? Revamp your designs for the spring with these 6 creative tips.

The spring season is known for vibrant blooms, bright energy, punchy palettes, and a sense of renewal. As the seasons come and go, so does the need for updates to marketing visuals. Designs that were suitable in the holidays and winter season no longer fit the bill for spring.

Keeping your designs current is crucial when establishing a constant digital presence.

From sprucing up your existing color palette to adding warmth to your images, there are many ways to bring new life to your marketing visuals. Read on to discover six expert tips to give your designs a spring refresh, and don’t forget that you can use Shutterstock Editor as a simple way to create and edit all of your marketing visuals.

Tip #1: Liven Up Your Color Palette

A simple color refresh can do wonders for your brand and business. By changing the colors in your composition, you can transform the mood and tone of your designs. For example, changing a palette from a darker complimentary color scheme to a brighter analogous color scheme, seen below, creates a composition that is both harmonious and easy on the eye.

Another way to revamp your marketing collateral is by injecting bright hues, a color trend that is sure to surge in 2019. Sprinkle in a vivid color as an accent, such as Pantone’s Living Coral or Proton Purple, or use it as a dominant hue to drive your design. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different palettes and color schemes.

Searching for color inspiration? Look into these free 101 color combinations, and 25 retro palettes.


Tip #2: Dive into Duotones

Duotones are another surefire way of injecting color into your marketing visuals. This halftone process limits any imagery to just two distinct colors. Inspired by Yesterday’s Tomorrow, one of our 2019 Creative Trends, this effect continues to be a popular go-to in graphic design, with its endless capabilities and impressive results.

Image via pernsanitfoto.

Give your marketing visuals a spring refresh by incorporating vibrant and energetic hues, such as a vivid blue or an eye-catching pink. Monochromatic palettes tend to blend in easily; instead, use contrasting palettes for an ultra dramatic effect.


Tip #3: Allude to Nature and Florals

While florals in the springtime are anything but groundbreaking, nature- and floral-themed imagery continue to dominate during this season. The association of decorative florals to spring is undeniably distinct, which is why so many marketing materials continue to resort to imagery that is reminiscent of nature.

Design inspired by this Shutterstock Editor template. Images via ibom and Molesko Studio.

Spring-themed designs don’t always demand traditional floral imagery; flip the script by incorporating Rococo Romance florals or up the cuteness factor with Kawaii-inspired spring backgrounds.


Tip #4: Refresh Your Typography

Over time, the typefaces used for marketing materials can appear dull and mundane. A simple font change can revitalize your marketing collateral, as long as the font change makes sense. Instead of using heavy serifs or slab serifs in your design, try switching to a slimmer font style with lots of negative space.

Background via Zamurovic Photography. Refresh from Rosella Solid to Montserrat.

Light, airy fonts such as thin sans serifs or calligraphic scripts contribute to the optimism and cheerfulness that the springtime brings.


Tip #5: Experiment with Filters and Temperature

Adjusting filters, effects, and color temperature are great ways to revamp an image to match a specific layout or style. Maybe an image that is used to represent your brand needs a change in its overall temperature or it needs a touch of saturation and brightness. There are a multitude of adjustments that can be applied to any imagery. The name of the game is experimenting; play around with different levels of brightness, saturation, exposure, and more.

Image via MRProduction.

The best softwares to use when editing imagery is Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom. Both applications are well-equipped for photo editing; with the help of sliders and adjustment layers, you can revamp you image in no time. If you don’t have access to expensive computer software, don’t fret. Our free Shutterstock Editor program also comes with multiple photo filters and effects to help you quickly edit your imagery.


Tip #6: Incorporate Marble Textures

Looking to elevate a background or spruce up your marketing visuals? Marble textures create a natural luxury that is subtle yet effortless. The uses for marble textures are endless; place them in a spring sale ad, seen below, or in social media designs.

Used Marble Vector Texture_08 and Distressed Texture_09. 

These versatile marble textures are easy to use in any design program – each texture comes as a full color and black and white JPEG, a vector EPS, and a transparent PNG to be used in a variety of designs.

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