10 design tips That Evoke Summer

You'll often see blues that evoke a refreshing, cool feeling, as well as vivid colors that suggest the summer sun and heat, on street advertisements, websites, and TV commercials.

Amid all this, you'll also see designs that use this year's trending pastel colors for a different, summery palette.
Feminine color combinations reminiscent of the vibrant hues of summer gelato or sherbet are often used in designs targeting women, such as in fashion-related content.

Mitsukoshi Isetan Group Summer Clearance Sale

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgM7GRVp6to

What comes to mind when you think of summer motifs?
You probably picture several things that evoke summer—fireworks, the ocean, sunflowers, watermelon, beer, palm trees, and so on.
You'll often see designs that use such motifs as accents to bring out a summer feel.
The site introduced below uses paper lanterns (chōchin) seen at summer festivals here and there, adding a cheerful atmosphere.

Pocari Sweat: Drink Pocari.

Source: https://es-la.facebook.com/pocarisweat.jp/posts/1542255762453128/

When you think of summer, many people probably picture wearing yukata (light cotton kimono) for festivals or fireworks displays.
Perhaps because many traditional Japanese events and seasonal customs remain widespread, summer—after New Year's—seems to be the season when Japanese-style motifs are most often incorporated.
In particular, yukata frequently appear in summer ads for beer and alcoholic beverages. In this year's Horoyoi ad, the background is a modern apartment interior, while motifs like yukata, fans, and ice in a wooden basin evoke a traditional Japanese summer atmosphere.

Suntory Horoyoi

Source: https://www.suntory.co.jp/rtd/horoyoi/

You'll also see many designs that use photos of summer scenery as an element evoking a sense of summer.
By featuring natural landscapes like the sea, mountains, rivers, and sky on a large scale, you can convey a feeling of openness.
In Pocari Sweat's ad, the lower half of a vertically split layout features a photo of the sky, evoking the spacious atmosphere and the image of a crisp summer blue sky.
Strong contrast is also used to emphasize the intensity of the sunlight, expressing summer light even more vividly.

Pocari Sweat Gallery

Source: https://pocarisweat.jp/cmgraphic/pocarisweat/

Looking at summer ads, you might notice that many use the theme of youth and student days—likely inspired by the image of summer vacation. In particular, motifs like high school girls and school uniforms are often used to express the freshness of youth.
In the CalorieMate ad introduced below, copy using summery keywords like "heat" and "evaporation" combined with a visual of a high school girl in a sailor uniform sprawled out exhausted creates a scene from a student's summer vacation.

Otsuka Pharmaceutical CalorieMate Official Facebook Account

Source: https://www.facebook.com/cmt.official

Many products sold in summer feature coolness or refreshment as their selling point, and expressing these characteristics through impressive onomatopoeia is another effective technique.
In the Kaku Highball ad, the icy chill that hits your throat the moment you take a sip is vividly conveyed through the copy. It evokes the image of a highball chilled to the bone with ice, making you suddenly want to drink one.
The wind flowing through her hair also further emphasizes the sense of coolness.

Suntory Official Facebook Account

Source: https://www.facebook.com/SuntoryKAKUHIGHBALL

How you process each element—photos, copy, and so on—is another key to evoking a summer feel.
LUMINE's ads are characterized by impressive copy and photography, but in the poster introduced below, the main copy has been given a transparent treatment that evokes summer freshness and the dazzling brightness of clear skies and seas. It's a refreshing ad that makes you feel a little cooler just by looking at it.

LUMINE MAGAZINE

Source: https://lptp.net/lumine_koukoku/

To convey the coolness or refreshing nature of products, you'll often see water droplets on cans or PET bottles in beverage ads. To emphasize chill in summer-season products especially, the visual of ice bursting is often used.
In the ALL-FREE ad, ice fills the entire screen, creating an even more refreshingly cool impression.

SUNTORY ALL FREE

Source: https://www.suntory.co.jp/beer/allfree/karada-allfree/

An element that further strengthens a visual's image is paying attention to materials in print pieces.
As mentioned earlier, Japanese-style motifs are often used in summer designs. In the Isetan yukata collection booklet below, yukata patterns are used throughout in a Japanese-style design, and to enhance that impression, paper resembling washi (traditional Japanese paper) has been used.
The modern visual of vibrant, colorful yukata is printed on paper with a texture that retains its fiber-like feel.

ISETAN GUIDE for STYLING

Source: https://www.mistore.jp/shopping/feature

Many websites incorporate animations on titles and navigation, but on the Adidas site introduced below, hovering over the main title causes the text to shimmer and waver.
It's a clever effect that creates the impression of a heat mirage appearing on the scorching wasteland. Combined with the background photo of the wasteland, the animation feels especially effective.

adidas online shop

Source: https://www.adidas.jp

How was that?
Even with a single word like "summer," many different images probably come to mind, but compared to other seasons, there seem to be many motifs that everyone commonly associates with "feeling summery."
Next time you see ads on the street, TV commercials, or websites, why not think about what summery touches have been added?
*Please note that some of the source sites referenced are seasonal campaign sites, which may be taken down after a certain period.