Published: January 15, 2025
by Justin Difazzio
We’re here again at the start of a new year with a blank slate in front of us. The possibilities are endless, and you don’t want to waste that potential. Thankfully, we’ve consulted our magic mirror (and the past several years) to tell you what’s trending so you can be prepared to wow your audience all through 2025 with your graphic design prowess.
1. Generative AI Integration
Love it or hate it, it looks like AI is here to stay, at least for now. With many image and text generation tools built right in to familiar services like Photoshop and Illustrator, it’s easier than ever to incorporate AI into your design projects. When used with discretion, they can enhance already creative ideas.. But be careful not to rely too hard on generative technology to make your projects come together, as its root training material is still subject to copyright laws and could come back to bite you if legislation clamps down on its use in the future. As with all of these trends, use sparingly and tastefully to ensure successful integration.
2. Handcrafted Design
In direct opposition to the rise of generative AI, we’re going to see a lot of design that leans heavily into handcrafted elements. Think handwriting, etchings, imprints, stamps, stencils, and candid, unedited photos. Scrapbook vibes are coming in hot with textures, layering, cutouts, and fabric backings. Incorporate anything that emphasizes reality—blurring, distortion, artifacts of developing or processing photos, and raw creation of specific design elements.
3. Embracing Texture
We mentioned texture as part of handcrafted design, but consider this a doubling down on this touchy trend. Unlike the past few years where 3D textures were gaining popularity, this year will see more flat, grainy, childlike textures. In addition to the scrapbooking textures mentioned above, make use of crayon and colored pencil styles and thick, organic lines to nail this one.
4. Minimalism Plus Maximalism
We’ve done minimalism. We’ve done maximalism. Now, we’re seeing a combination of these two opposites. What? How? You’re crazy! No, trust us. It’s possible. Look for simple things done big and bold. Think “ugly” minimalism, like the iconic brat album cover by Charlie XCX. It’s simple, but it’s MUCH. If you can walk the tightrope between iconic and crazy, you could find success with this trend.
5. A Better World for All
With many environmental concerns becoming an everyday reality, brands are looking to catch consumers’ eyes with organic product design, nature elements, and elements that remind them that a better world is possible. Sustainability is currently important to many consumers, as is inclusivity, diversity, and hope. Rewilding designs through the use of organic lines, natural colors, and packaging made with consideration for our planet is the way to join in on this trend. Also included in this one is clear visualizations of health data. It might seem antithetical to organic design, but the bars and dials of fitness trackers and accurate data that provides immediate feedback makes this trend not just another year of green thinking.
6. Whimsy
Life can get heavy. Often, when times are tough, we seek their opposite in the world around us. This year, whimsical designs are the solution to the bleakness. Designers will be incorporating unconventional color choices, bold combinations of colors you may not expect, and futuristic metallics. Look for designs that feature the strange and goofy, patterns and textures that are fuzzy, scaly, and weird–anything to distract us from the everyday.
7. Another Time and Place
Speaking of escaping reality, what better way to do just that than to slip into another time entirely? The art deco trends of the past few years are evolving, becoming a sort of contemporary nouveau, with rich colors on dark backgrounds reminiscent of the opulent parts of the 1920s. And if a hundred years seems too far back for comfort, look to retro modernism, with designs inspired by the looks of 1950s cartoon classics that, themselves, were looking forward in time.
8. The Written Word
You don’t have to be afraid of too many words in your designs anymore. Well, sort of. As long as you’re using them in a decorative way, words are in, trendy, desirable, useful, sweet, relevant, eye-catching, cool, hip, and marketable. So DO go on. Using words as hero images has been on trend for the last few years, and that’s not going anywhere, but many successful designs have incorporated words into backgrounds, other images, and as a sort of visual marker to punctuate important concepts. So go crazy, nuts, bonkers, bananas, lulu, mad…
9. Functional and Serene Design
And finally, we’re seeing an evolution of something that hit pretty big last year: anti-design. What may have seemed brutalist in its inception has taken on a sort of serenity that many of us badly crave. This can be seen in minimalist elements done in a way that isn’t cold or unpleasant but doesn’t waste any energy on unnecessary flourishes. It’s simple. It works. And it’s here to stay.
Take some time this year to consider which of these popular trends you might like to hold space for. Of course, as with all things, moderation is always advisable. Join us later this month for the second part in this three-part series: typography trends. And in February, we’re launching the final part in this series: web design trends. See you there!