Graphic Design Trends in 2025 [+Video Review]
Trends in graphic design are slowly running the gamut of fresh palettes, innovative fonts, and nostalgia with playful accents. We're talking about the return of pixels, the introduction of AI, and inclusivity. These are all becoming a popular part of modern design and visuals. Staying one step ahead in 2025 will help with information revealing the major trends, tendencies and future directions for graphic design.
Simplifying the work in this way will help you to focus on the big picture, ideas and design concept, using a “live”, human approach.
The main goal, Adobe Sensei is to improve the designer's creative process, speed up tasks and personalize work with the discovery of new possibilities.
Pizza Hut has managed to bring people back to the arcade era with pixelated pizzas and themed packaging. Pixelization is not only about retro style, it's about celebrating simplicity and limitations. The most interesting visuals sometimes emerge not from abundance, but from limitations.
The approach as depicted in the image above resonates with people of different generations, giving time to take a break from the hyper-realism of most modern effects.
Interest in your product directly depends on the marketing campaign. Using clear personalization that correlates with the user and inspires him gives the brand value and a certain weight among other competitors. A correctly composed design concept clearly distinguishes it from other similar products that can get lost in the gray mass.
The visual effects, drawn illustrations - tools that will make the project stand out among competitors. Consumers need an unusual approach than using a stock photo. Especially when it comes to social media. By way of example, consider the image that Starbucks made in the summer of 2022.
Most examples of this trend are stroke drawings, doodles.
Scope has taken the liberty of releasing a range of emoji icons to help diversify the digital world. They feature people with disabilities. Contemporary designers should give more priority to accessibility, so that the finished product with a well-crafted design is available for use by people with visual impairments or cognitive disabilities. These rules are not only about trends, but also about recognizing the capacity of design itself to evoke empathy and understanding.
You can identify them visually if you can't tell the exact name or style of the font. As an example, you can look at the milk logo that turned this market around.
In addition to this brand, there are others with equally playful packaging. Ben & Jerry's, for example, uses drawn and textured typography.
It's not only about font legibility, it's about pushing the boundaries of form and function, where each character, each letter gets an identity.
The 2023 Spotify “Wrapped” event took place, where company representatives noted users' habit of listening to audio with personalized graphics to share. All participants received unique collages featuring their favorite artists, genres, and individual songs. All of this was complemented with interesting illustrations and captions.
The scrapbooking trend in graphic design can be considered a celebration of individuality when there is a rejection of minimalism, perfection. Designers can use imperfection in the form of scrapbooking to create unique stories and projects. Kiehl's has already started to utilize the scrapbooking trend heavily for its own design. The brand often uses similar tools by adding vintage botanical designs, handwritten labels, etc., which adds a nostalgic charm.
Maximalism helps brands to create instant emotional connections by utilizing intricate details and visuals. Comparing this trend to minimalism, which strives for purity and simplicity, maximalism is the complete opposite, ignoring boundaries and loving excess. The trend has not subsided since 2021 and some designers are gradually moving away from minimalism, turning to maximalism.
The style boldly combines colors, patterns, layering, and design without balance. Consequently, people can either like it or find it horrible, with no middle ground. However, today's generation is attracted to maximalism and everything that comes with it. The trend is perfect to emphasize individualism, rebelliousness. The Happy Socks brand applies a maximalist aesthetic to their products, which sets them apart from the competition.
Certainly, minimalism is used in the role of ideal aesthetics for website design, but increasingly more brands are striving for maximalism into their projects. The trend is perfect for fashion, music, spheres of activity where uniqueness and spontaneity are important.
Season 4 of A Very Strange Thing is another prime example. Netflix not only took viewers through flashbacks, it became a maximalist walk along the neon-drenched streets of 1980s Hawkins.
The marketing campaign incorporated the trend of retro 80's shows with loads of neon, bold typography and the usage of layered visual effects.
Such a trend is not only about doing right by the user, but also about recognizing the value of inclusivity. Working in a way that is accessible to everyone will reach more audience. Consider Apple's marketing campaign for the Series 8 watch as an example. It featured bold typography, a black background and bright colors with a clear font. Not just to make the information easy to read, but also to have a dynamic effect, a pleasing visual that perfectly captured the sleekness and modernity of the watch.
In 2023, Airbnb launched a campaign called “Live There.” It has warm main color scheme, using coral, ochre, and turquoise. In addition, you can see the foreground and background highlighting. This approach made the image easy to read and view, especially for people with visual impairments. The color palette complemented each other, forming clear contrasts without disturbing the harmony. Consequently, the result was an accessible experience without compromising the aesthetics of the campaign itself.
Spotify “Equal” can be considered as another example. Their work clearly shows contrasting color schemes, so any user gets visual clarity. Spotify's designers don't just use colors to convey data. They apply additional elements in the form of icons, text description, which is a clue for users.
Accessibility is more than just a picture on a screen. The trend takes responsiveness into account, which means designers need to create palettes that can be adapted easily on phones, tablets. In tech where there are dark and light modes, zoom functions. All this gives the guarantee of keeping clear and legible information, regardless of the device, platform.
Natural textures blur the boundaries between the worlds (digital and real). Such aesthetics will be almost everywhere, in web interfaces, branding, offline advertising, on packaging, etc.
Yves Rocher emphasized the trend with their own example and were able to show that their cosmetics use only natural materials. The advertising materials clearly show lush botanical gardens, there are bright images of plants showing the power of nature.
Gucci's Flora collection has also continued to support the love of nature. Brightly colored prints, organic shapes, turn the brand's goods into a beautiful garden.
The described examples clearly show how nature and everything related to it can be used to represent a website, a product, a brand. Using the described trends for 2025, designers can fully unleash their creativity, and brands will be on trend, attracting the attention of new users, their target audience. Many trends will be used in 2025, from AI-based creativity to pixel nostalgia, bold fonts and images.
