In short
Visual Trends is Freepik (now Magnific)'s yearly forecast of the visual trends that will shape the year ahead, made for our users, designers, clients and the press. In 2022 I proposed turning it from a static landing into something you could see in action. In 2023 we beat our own numbers.
Every October and November, R&D researches and verifies what will be trending. The content team creates the resources. The team turns it all into a story and builds the packaging: the copy, the website, the landing and every piece around it.
I proposed the change: swap the static landing for something animated, fresher and more visual. Then I led it from proposal to launch, directing the team and coordinating R&D and content so everything hit the same deadline.
The problem
Until 2022, Visual Trends lived on a static landing. For a site full of graphic resources, that was a missed opportunity: you could read about the trends, but you couldn't see what our resources could do with them. And there was a lot riding on it: traffic, subscriptions, brand image and press coverage.
2022From page to site
We turned the static landing into an interactive website with a section for each kind of resource: photos, vectors, mockups, icons, palettes and Color of the Year. Each section came with a free pack from that collection, plus examples of how to use it. Not just animated, but in real pieces.
Built in-house by the team: a web developer, a motion designer, a designer and a copywriter. We launched it through email, social and press.
2023Every time zone
The idea came out of a team brainstorm, which I always ran: what will make our eyes sparkle in the year ahead? This time the launch was bigger, with more markets and more languages. So the key visual came in three moments, morning, afternoon and night: wherever in the world you opened it, it matched your time of day.
The site kept the 2022 structure, but moved differently, with horizontal and vertical scrolls and more developed content, not just more motion. Same team as 2022, built from scratch again.
Result
visits in the first three weeks, with the first edition built as an interactive site.
visits, beating the year before, now in more markets and languages.
What I learned
The hardest part isn't the website. It's coordinating so many people, inside and outside the team, to the same deadline.
You never really have it under control. Projects this big are always a challenge, and a lovely one.
You learn patience, resilience and to trust the process you've already built.
Built with the team at Freepik (now Magnific): web development, motion, design and copy. Research by R&D, resources by the content team.