Graphic Design Trends 2025: What’s Next in the Design World?

Another year went by in a blink. As we bid adieu to 2024, it’s time to explore what’s in store for the upcoming year. It’s time to discuss graphic design trends for 2025! 

Remember, understanding graphic design trends does not mean adopting every style that trends. It’s about knowing where the industry is heading. It’s about knowing what works and what doesn’t when communicating with your customers. 

As certain graphic design trends gain popularity, they become ubiquitous, shaping audience perceptions. Therefore, if you’re a business owner aiming to maintain brand prominence or a marketer looking to stay ahead of the curve, it’s essential to know about the graphic design trends for 2025.

Why Worry About Graphic Design Trends 2025? 

In most marketing and branding scenarios, timelessness and authenticity take precedence over trendiness. So, why are we talking about graphic design trends? Because trends are a reflection of the evolving tastes, technologies, and cultural shifts that shape the way we communicate visually.

The year 2024 has been a big one in the world of design. We’ve got AI tools that can generate images and videos in seconds. Big brands like Coca-Cola are releasing AI-generated ads. Developments like these don’t just change the way designs are created. They also heavily influence the visual styles that brands and creators use. And as you know, something that everyone seems to be talking about and sharing becomes the norm. 

Remember how surrealism became a popular style when AI image-generation tools started making waves? Or the abundance of pink when the Barbiecore trend was buzzing? 

Yes, cultural events, pop culture, and paradigm shifts in the tech realm can all influence designs. Because designs are how brands communicate with the world outside – with their customers and investors alike. Designs are what represent the brand’s personality, its identity. Taking all these into account, it’s important for brands to understand the anticipated graphic design trends for 2025.

Exploring 10 Graphic Design Trends of 2025: What’s on the Horizon

1. Scrapbooking style

What makes a scrapbook special? The crude style, the roughly torn papers, and the doodles creating something authentic and hard to mimic! Now that’s the kind of aesthetics that might be among some of the most popular graphic design trends of 2025. 

Platforms like TikTok and Instagram have inspired a resurgence in personal journaling in the digital space. In a way, they have led to the trend of creative collaging among Gen Z and Millennials. Therefore, the scrapbooking style can be a great aesthetic to experiment with in the coming year. 

Have you noticed the stickers YouTube lets you add to Shorts videos and Shorts ads? Be it the polls or even the shoppable product stickers. These are not displayed in an organized and boring layout. Instead, you will see them plastered onto the screen in a raw scrapbook style. 

So, why do we think this is one of the key styles among graphic design trends for 2025? Because of the overwhelming technological transformations happening, consumers yearn for simpler times. Therefore, nostalgic design elements like scrapbooking offer a comforting and familiar aesthetic.

Besides, tools like Canva and Adobe make it easy to instantly create scrapbook-style designs or even inspire you with layouts. Here are some templates on the Canva and Adobe Express libraries respectively. 

KIMP Tips: 

• Where do scrapbooking-style aesthetics work? Social media posts, Story posts, event invitations, and posters. 
• And what kinds of brands might benefit the most from this style? Brands known for their artistic expression, brands targeting the young audience, fashion, and lifestyle brands as well as blogging and vlogging brands. 

2. Bold and lively gradients 

Want to create designs that look bold and dynamic? Then gradients are just what you need. Gradients are vibrant color transitions using dynamic, high-contrast hues to create depth, movement, and visual energy. 

Gradients have this unique power of evoking nostalgic emotions while also representing futuristic designs. Therefore, they make perfect choices for the current times of explosive digital transformation that calls for trends that keep designs grounded while also staying open to what the future brings. 

Taking all these into account, we think that the use of bold and lively gradients could be one of the graphic design trends in 2025. 

Here’s a preview video shared by YouTube teasing YouTube Music Recap 2024. Notice the brilliant use of gradients throughout the video. The gradients here amplify the energy in the  video. 

The good news here is that platforms like Adobe and Canva offer gradient tools that make crafting complex, multicolor transitions easier. And with AI-powered features within these tools, generating gradients has become even simpler. 

KIMP Tips: 

• If you wish to stand out and create something bold, combine unexpected hues and contrasting colors to create a seamless gradient. 
• Combine gradients with bold typography to create a more complex aesthetic or some simple elements and line-drawn illustrations to maintain a sleek and modern style. 
• To evoke nostalgia, add grainy textures to gradients. 
• Gradients work well in web designs and app designs, email designs as well as packaging. 

3. Maximalism 

Let’s face it, minimalism has been ruling the graphic design game for too long. Of course, it’s a timeless trend but what if you need something fresh? Something that is loud enough to cut through the digital clutter? Maximalism is your secret ingredient. And we think that maximalism deserves a spot on the list of anticipated graphic design trends of 2025. 

Remember that bold and vibrant identity of Adobe MAX 2024? 

Loud and authentic styles like this one have been quite popular in recent times and are likely to make an appearance in 2025 too. 

In short, maximalism in graphic design is about using bold and loud colors, high contrast. Intricate patterns and unique visual elements. Therefore, they evoke strong emotional responses and can aid self-expression. Maximalism embraces the charm in chaos and works well for brands looking to make an impact, brands looking to stand out instead of fit in. Those striving to make noise, to make a statement. 

Have you noticed the surrealism trend that’s popularized owing to the rise of AI image and video tools? If you wish to incline toward this style without compromising on your identity, then a maximalist interpretation of your brand colors will be a good idea to explore this year. Another option is to reach that sweet spot between minimalism and maximalism by adding just one or two maximalist details to an overall minimalistic design. More on this style in the next section. 

KIMP Tips: 

• Instead of creating random layers of disconnected elements, use maximalism to tell a story. This ensures a subtle order and meaning within the seemingly chaotic design. 
• While maximalism thrives on complexity, keep it structured and maintain a clear hierarchy to guide the audience’s focus.

4. Doodles, line-art and other raw illustrated styles 

One other style we’re seeing in many predictions for graphic design trends of 2025 is the use of rustic hand-drawn style illustrations. This could be in the form of sleek line-art or even casual doodles. They add a personal touch to your design and can instantly lighten the mood. What’s more? Such raw illustration styles can humanize your brand and make it appear more approachable. 

As audiences seek more human-centered experiences, the hand-drawn style resonates deeply. It’s a refreshing departure from ultra-realistic AI-generated visuals and can easily reflect values of authenticity, craftsmanship, and individuality. The rise of creator-driven content and DIY culture is perhaps what’s fueling its popularity.

For example, the fashion brand Free People is known for its unique Boho style fashion. The use of hand-drawn illustrations on their website adds a casual tone complementing their personality. 

The above image also exemplifies the use of illustrated elements along with other elements to create an on-brand design which also adapts to the trend. 

From billboards to social media designs, flyers to packaging, illustrated elements are versatile add-ons to diverse kinds of designs. Art, fashion, and entertainment brands align naturally with the trend’s expressive essence. However, most brands can easily integrate this style during festivals and celebratory occasions. 

KIMP Tips: 

• When incorporating doodles and raw illustrations, imperfections like uneven lines or spontaneous doodles are part of the charm – don’t over-edit or aim for perfection.
• Blend hand-drawn textures with clean, modern typography for balance and order in your design. 

5. Retro pixel art style 

Nostalgia will never go out of style and hence retro pixel art styles are predicted to be among the biggest graphic design trends of 2025. 

Recently, there has been an influx of pixel-art-style games like the Disney RPG game. This is partly due to the fact that Gen Z and Millennials are romanticizing the 1980s-90s culture in fashion, gaming, and other segments. 

Following this trend, Toyota also announced their creative engagement campaign, Toyota Test Track Cruise CTRL, an interactive video game that effortlessly directs consumers through the purchase funnel. 

KIMP Tips:

• Add textures and pixel art style looks vintage but add gradients and colors and you have something unique and modern. So choose the right colors to make pixel art style work for your brand. 
• Use retro pixel art style in designs and occasions that call for something fun and playful. 

6. Bespoke typefaces

AI tools have made it possible for people with all levels of design experience and even non-designers to create stunning designs in minutes if not seconds. Therefore, brands and consumers are always on the lookout for something fresh with bespoke elements. Given that typography is one of the foundational blocks of any design, bespoke typefaces are expected to gain popularity in 2025. 

This is also one of the easiest to adopt among the graphic design trends of 2025 because you can never go wrong with a custom typeface that suits your brand’s unique personality. Here’s a logo design created with custom fonts reflecting the spirit of the brand. 

One other huge benefit of custom fonts is that you can combine them with other trends, with diverse visual styles like hand-drawn illustrations – as you see in the below image. 

KIMP Tips: 

• Understand the different classifications in typefaces and how nuances in typeface designs influence the style and mood of a typeface. 
• Ensure your custom font works well in both print and digital formats. Check for consistency and readability across different devices and screen sizes.

7. Neon on black designs 

The growing popularity of dark mode needs no introduction. From reducing eye strain to looking more elegant, there are several reasons why the dark mode is famous. Hence brands are adapting their colors and web designs to suit dark mode. 

Several ‘graphic design trends 2025’ lists also predict that neon on dark trend will be one to look out for. This aligns well with the dark mode trend and seamlessly brings in other design trends like the use of neon gradients for maximum impact. Moreover, this combines old and new with the charm of vintage neon lights against a chic black background. 

From print designs to digital designs, this combination of neon on black works well on almost all media. 

Here’s an app design that demonstrates the simplicity and elegance of the neon on black style. 

And the business card design featured below shows that this combination works like a charm on print designs as well. 

KIMP Tips:

• Neon-on-black styles warrant excellent contrast and hence excellent readability. However, the overuse of neon colors can overwhelm users. 
• Include gradient effects from neon to a lighter color to make the design more dynamic and to add depth.

8. Three-dimensional designs and elements 

From three-dimensional typographic details to 3D elements added for a creative twist, we could see an increase in the use of 3D designs and elements in the coming year. 

The introduction of impressive AI-powered capabilities in Adobe’s Substance for generating 3D elements and tools like Stable Fast 3D that can generate 3D assets in seconds demonstrates the growing popularity of 3D elements in the design. 

Besides, we know well that 3D elements give that futuristic vibe to any design and the future is already here. Therefore, using ultra-modern 3D elements feels like a relevant thing to do. 

Spotify’s teaser here for the Spotify Wrapped 2024 is a demonstration of how fun and lively 3D elements can be in design. 

This year contained multitudes. So will your Wrapped. Coming Soon. #SpotifyWrapped pic.twitter.com/Po2764Ppyv

— Spotify (@Spotify) November 27, 2024

KIMP Tips: 

• Too many 3D elements within a small frame can make the design look cluttered and busy. So use them with caution. 
• Ensure that your 3D models are rendered at high resolution to achieve a realistic look as poor-quality 3D elements can negatively impact the aesthetics of your design. 

9. Inclusive designs 

Inclusivity is the need of the hour and we might see brands shifting toward a more inclusive visual language. From choosing inclusive colors to a more inclusive representation of your customers in your designs, there are many ways to adapt to this trend. 

The key is to create visual content that is accessible and resonates with diverse audiences, regardless of their abilities, cultural backgrounds, age, or other characteristics. This is important now in particular because customers today expect brands to reflect values of equity and inclusion in their communication and offerings. 

Remember, we live in times when even AI tools exhibit bias. And this has become a serious topic of discussion since these tools are trained on existing designs and data. Therefore, creating inclusive designs and staying away from stereotypical representations is important now more than ever. 

Just because this is one of the predicted graphic design trends for 2025, you cannot create something that looks forced or inauthentic. In other words, avoid concepts and designs that look too “woke” and irrelevant. Or it results in negative criticism like the responses received by the recent Jaguar rebranding ad. 

Therefore, it’s not just enough to include inclusive colors, fonts and visual elements, it is also important to keep the design relevant to the theme. 

KIMP Tips: 

• From color contrast to the choice of fonts, various aspects determine the accessibility of your designs. While adopting bold and difficult trends like maximalism and retro pixel styles, ensure that you preserve the ease of readability in the core areas. 
• Avoid stereotypes and ensure messaging translates well across different languages and cultures.

10. AI-powered designs 

AI has become an inevitable entity in the world of graphic design. So, it’s time for designers and design teams to embrace it as a tech that can simplify their workflows and enhance their creativity. 

One of the crucial graphic design trends in 2025 will be to start incorporating AI-powered designs into your workflow. This can be in the form of obtaining inspiration using AI tools or using these tools to get recommendations for design layouts. 

Remember that the AI-powered features in Canva, Adobe, and other design tools enable designers to produce high-quality visuals faster and with fewer technical constraints.

AI will also be a critical factor in design editing. Gone are the days when designers had to spend a lot of time removing unwanted details or manipulating the background in a design. AI tools can process this in seconds. 

KIMP Tips: 

• Use AI for basic tasks like resizing, color adjustments, or layout suggestions before delving into complex projects. Or better yet, work with graphic design teams that combine the strengths of AI and custom design to tackle all your design needs. 
• AI can generate impressive visuals, but always review and refine outputs to ensure alignment with your brand’s voice and quality standards. 

Stay Ahead of Trends With KIMP 

Keeping up with everything on the list of graphic design trends for 2025 while also juggling your regular marketing graphics does not have to be difficult anymore. Evergreen campaigns or seasonal ones, timeless styles or trendy ones, an unlimited design service like KIMP can help you handle all your design needs with ease. 

So sign up now and start your free 7-day trial!