2016 wasn't loud about what it was doing to graphic design. There was no manifesto moment. No sudden visual reset. But looking back now, it's clear that year shaped how designers still think about identity and taste. 

Graphic designers in 2016 saw the internet as a slower paced animal, just slightly. Not in speed, but in intensity. Feeds weren't yet optimised for performance. Remember those days? Work wasn't built to survive a thousand crops and formats. Design still lived comfortably in fixed spaces. Album covers. Posters. Websites you actually sat with.

Typography carried more weight then. Logos felt comfortable being smaller. Typefaces weren't trying to perform as a personality on their own. There was trust in spacing, hierarchy, and proportion.

Imperfection was also a thing that was allowed to be. Grain wasn't a preset, it was texture. Misalignment wasn't a statement, it was tolerated. Scans were blurry. Edges were rough. Nothing felt embarrassed by its own making. The hand of the designer wasn't hidden, but it wasn't told either.

Brand identity still felt cohesive. Systems existed, but they weren't elastic to the point of meaninglessness. You could recognise a brand from a single colour shift or a line weight. Visual language felt authored rather than assembled. There was less temptation to over-explain what something was meant to be.

2016 was also a moment where references mattered more than reach. Designers were pulling from archives, magazines, record sleeves, and early internet culture. Tumblr feeds acted like shared sketchbooks. Pinterest wasn't a strategy tool yet, it was a place to collect feeling. Influence travelled slower, but it landed deeper.

What graphic designers really saw that brands and creatives trusted that good work would be noticed eventually. Less obsession with being first. 

Over the last decade, that mindset has been chipped away. Platforms changed. Outputs multiplied. Design became more adaptive, more flexible, and in many ways more impressive. 

That's why 2016 keeps resurfacing in design conversations now. For graphic designers today, the lesson isn't to recreate the aesthetics of 2016. It's to remember the posture. Trust the work. Let hierarchy do the talking. Leave space where possible. Allow references to show without over-styling them.

Shot of the good stuff.