Graphic designers are in high demand as clients in the New Year's trade yesterday's sales for tomorrow's newest innovations in products, services and marketing. As a designer, you know it's in your best interest to understand the themes and concepts that make a successful and complementary visual New Year's marketing approach.

The following are a few aesthetically-pleasing design ideas and concepts that will have you and your clients saying 'out with the old, in with the New Year:

Tone

The tone of your New Year's designs should be immediately apparent. Will your clients be launching new products, hosting a promotional New Year's Eve party or taking advantage of the New Year's resolution theme? Often, your clients will draw on you for inspiration in this area, and you can help them find direction by focusing on what they sell. Grocers will sell champagne and party favors, for instance; while a financial services firm might draw on the New Year's Day tradition of placing a penny under one's plate for good luck.

Colors

New Year's colors are bright and festive, because the holiday represents fresh starts and celebrations. Go for reds, yellows, bright greens and blues, and stay away from darker colors more suited for Halloween. Think about the colors and hues you associate with a bright new day; those are the same colors and hues most people will associate with a bright New Year.

Shapes and icons

Whether you're using them as backgrounds, brochure bullets or die-cut flyers, shapes and icons can help your promotional designs stand apart from the competition next New Year's. Champagne glasses and bottles, horns and other party favors, and even fireworks are great ways to ring in the New Year. As with your colors, you want your clients' brochures, flyers, postcards, posters, catalogs and door hangers to represent new beginnings and festivities. This is a feel-good holiday, so make your clients' customers feel good about doing business with them.

History and tradition

A quick Internet search will yield dozens of New Year historical themes and traditions you can incorporate into your designs. You can also find inspiration in the college football bowl games that capture a large viewing audience this time of year; or dig deep to find stories your competition misses such as the New Year's Day polar bear club traditions or the Mummer's Parade in Philadelphia (just make sure your clients' customers will instantly see the correlation between your theme and your message).

The New Year challenge is not necessarily in picking your tone, colors or theme; rather, it's in figuring out how to design those things in a way that is different and above all more compelling that the competition. Think outside the box and fuse relevance with creativity, and you'll be on the fast track to crafting outstanding New Year's designs.