If you are working on graphics to be used in TV shows and documentaries that you don’t want to go out of date too quickly, it is a good idea to keep up with TV graphic design trends.

Given the lead times of some documentaries can be months and years, it is best to be influenced by trends that TV follows instead of following TV itself.

Over the last 10 years, smartphones have become much more important in most of western culture. It’s no surprise that smartphone OS design is a major inspiration on TV graphics. Take the UK’s Sky News for example. If you visit tvnewsroom.org, you can see their branding seemed to change in 2008 in response to the launch of the iPhone. The graphics started looking like iPhone on-screen buttons.

In recent years the design of iOS and Android has flattened – Apple and Google no longer need as many UI cues to say that an object is interactive – that it can be tapped or dragged. Sky News has followed – their news graphics have become flatter.

Directions in iOS and Android design

Given this ‘TV follows mobile’ trend, if you want your documentaries not to look out of place over the next few years, I suggest you absorb Onur Oral’s Mobile:2015 UI/UX Trends:

Whether on an app screen, a web browser, or a wearable watch face, design is one of the most important drivers of consumer engagement. From flat design to Material design, I analysed what trends have evolved, and share a few of my insights with you — what are these trends? Why are they beneficial to the user? And how are they created?

On the other hand, if your audience will primarily be online, consider keeping up with trends instigated by Kickstarter videos and YouTubers!