Your 2025 Design Cheat Sheet: Trends That Make You Look Like You Know What You’re Doing.
Welcome to 2025, Where Design Trends Are Doing the Most (But in a Good Way).
Let’s be honest: keeping up with design trends can feel overwhelming—one minute you love beige, and the next you’re pinning all the maximalism inspo. But don’t worry; I’ve sifted through the noise to bring you the design trends worth your time this year. Spoiler: they’re exciting, slightly nostalgic, and perfect for giving your brand a little edge without losing its it’s foundation.
Now, a little note on trends. I’m a firm believer that design trends should never dictate your core branding. Trends come and go—this is the fourth blog post I’ve written on design trends, and they change drastically every year. Your brand design choices should be guided by your audience, strategy, and research—not by what’s currently popular.
That being said - there’s a time and place for fun trends (only if they suit your brand and messaging). They’re a great way of showing your audience that you notice industry trends. Social media posts, seasonal campaigns, and limited edition releases are safe ways to play with design trends without straying far from your core branding.
Here’s what’s happening in branding for 2025 (and how you can use it to make people fall in love with your business).
AI-Generated Design
Your New Creative Sidekick
Let’s not panic: AI isn’t taking your job—it’s just making the boring parts faster. Think smarter mockups, dreamy concepts generated in seconds, and tools that help refine your ideas instead of replacing them. Personally, I let AI handle the boring, repetitive stuff and help me brainstorm abstract concepts while using less of my own brain calories. For non-designers, it might be colour palette suggestions or quick layouts.
The trick? Use AI to enhance your creativity, not automate it. You’re still the visionary here and the real magic is what you do with it. As wonderful as AI is, it still requires tons of finessing, photoshopping and design magic so I don’t recommend using images as-is or using AI to create your business logo (yes, we can tell).
Grain Texture
Flat Design Is Officially Over
We’re over perfect. AI might churn out flawless digital renders, but we’re craving small imperfections and texture of handcrafted elements. It’s like vinyl vs. digital—those little imperfections make everything feel warmer, and more human.
Adding a little texture to digital media adds warmth and depth, making everything feel more tactile and real. Think vintage film vibes or the subtle grain on a great magazine ad. Perfect for brands that want to be relatable without looking too polished.
But here’s the deal: subtlety is everything. Overdoing it is easy, so be intentional. Think of texture as a way to add depth, movement, and that almost tangible quality you can feel with your eyes. Get it right, and your visuals will make some serious noise.
Chunky Serifs
Retro With A Twist
Retro is back (again), but this time, it’s smarter. We’re talking bold typography, playful colour palettes, and designs that nod to the past without feeling like a time warp. We’re seeing designers play with everything from sign painted styles from the 1950’s to editorial, chunky serifs from the 80’s and everything in between.
Pro tip: Choose one or two retro elements—like a quirky font or a vintage-inspired logo—to keep things fresh and modern.
Here’s some ideas on using a retro font:
Logos: Add a nostalgic, timeless feel to your brand identity with retro serif fonts
Event Invitations: Perfect for weddings or special occasions—pair classic serif fonts with modern layouts for an elegant yet fresh design.
Packaging: Ideal for gourmet foods or handmade products, where tradition and quality are key. A retro serif says “This is an artisan product that was made with care.”
Minimalism vs. Maximalism
Pick Your Fighter
Do you love sleek, airy designs? Or do you secretly want to throw every colour, pattern, and texture into the mix? Great news: both minimalism and maximalism are having a moment, but this isn’t your mama’s polite Swiss-design minimalism with carefully curated white space. Now, we’re pairing bold, chunky typography with strong colour palettes.
If you love an eclectic Anthropology vibe, good news: in 2025 we’re pairing all of the patterns, colours and textures. Maximalism is for the bold, fearless brands that say, “We’re the cool kids at the fun table.”
The key here is knowing what your brand needs and what resonates with your audience. What’s your vibe?
Unconventional Color Choices
The Rules Are Out The Window
Gone are the days of muted beige palettes, complementary colours, perfectly balanced palettes, essentially nothing that could offend the eyes.
Now? we’re throwing it all together and breaking all the rules. And honestly? It works.
Designers are taking it up a notch with wild, daring colour pairings—— like pairing neons with neutrals or pastels with jewel tones and somehow, they’re pulling it off beautifully.
Your brand deserves to stand out, and bold colours with unconventional pairings are the easiest way to get noticed (and remembered). Just don’t go full-on rainbow unless that’s really your thing.
Custom Shaped Frames
The Rules Are Gone
This trend is trickier to pull off than it looks, especially for non-designers. The key isn’t to avoid rectangles or squares—it’s to break them on purpose. Think about what shapes reflect your brand’s personality. A financial company might go for stable, grounded forms, while a creative brand could lean into flowing, abstract shapes.
The goal? To be memorable, not just different. Every design element should feel like it belongs and complement the overall brand identity.
Final Thoughts
Trends Are Fun, But Your Brand Is Forever
Here’s the thing: trends are tools, not rules. Use them to amplify what makes your brand unique, but don’t feel like you need to jump on every bandwagon. The goal? Stay true to your brand while keeping it fresh and exciting. Use those brand guides and use trends as inspiration for your next product launch, campaign or social media graphics.
Feeling inspired? Ready to revamp your branding for 2025? I’m here to help. Let’s make your business the one everyone’s talking about—because great design is always in style.
Let’s chat.
If you’re ready to see what these trends could look like for your brand, reach out and get in touch today. Your brand glow-up is just one conversation away.
* Kindly note that images have been sourced from Pinterest, and Behance for inspirational purposes only. All known artists have been linked.
