2025 graphic design trends to avoid

Predicting the hottest graphic design trends in 2025 is like choosing your favourite kid. We probably shouldn't do it, and it's really hard.

Interestingly, as I've watched trends for the last couple of years, I've noted that trends don't always come true this year, but often, we see a flow on into the next.

With the economic downturn that we've been experiencing, there could be an increase in people designing their logos and brands. Still, I'm optimistic about the future and hopeful that people don't go down that route, as the results can be a little unpredictable.

And, let's face it, predicting trends is based on some astute guesses with a whole side dish of opinion chucked in.

We'll explore Al's increasing impact and purpose-driven design.

In true Martin fashion, I'll end the article by questioning whether your brand should investigate trends.

So buckle up. Here are the design trends that will dominate the graphic design industry in 2025.

Graphic design trends for 2025

There's no beating around the bush here. We expect to see Al significantly impact businesses and how they keep their brands, erm, on-brand.

Let's see how the graphic design world is shaking it up this year:

• Al Graphic Design and Brand Management
• Al Graphics/Branding Courses
• Subscription-based Design Agencies
• Maximalist Design - bold colours, big patterns, creative layouts and dynamic typography.
• Purpose Driven Design
• De-Packaging

Al in graphic and brand management

Being at the cutting edge of creativity, designers love disrupting the norms, whether bending the rules of a set of brand guidelines or exploring a new tool. I'm gonna dip my toes into piranha-infested waters and say that Al in branding and graphic design will explode!

First, I read an article pointing out that Adobe is introducing more powerful generative AI tools. Adobe's AI tool provides a professional competitor to Canva's Magic Studio.

If you don't want to read the article about Adobe Al coming for your branding. Here's a quick summary.

• Adobe's Al Firefly is a helpful assistant that enables the generation of fully editable vector graphics. It lets you quickly hand over tedious tasks and create content and branded assets.
• You can generate graphics with a prompt.
• Generative Match is a tool for matching existing brand styles. The Retype tool determines which fonts are used and makes this information editable.

With the tools in place, the logical future step is for brand designers and graphic artists to be able to create a set of detailed brand guidelines within the software and output whatever they need to help customers.

As a result, the initial branding costs would rise to compensate for faster and more efficient outputs in the future.

Al branding and design courses

As the use of Al in design fields increases, the demand for Al branding or design courses will also increase.

Designers will want to expand their knowledge so they don't fall behind.

Interestingly, I have seen very little of Chat GPT being used to create Brand Strategies, with the only one I have seen titled 'How to use Chat GPT for Brand Strategy (Best Prompts)'.

You'd think this would be useful, and it starts by naming a brand (the last step for a strategist). First, you must identify the brand values, define an audience, and understand the brand's benefits.

It quickly defines the brand personality and customer persona, which is correct. But then it skips to marketing strategy, website copy, content creation, and, oddly, on-page SEO. While important, all four of those tasks come separately from brand strategy.

As a result, I expect to see an increase in AI design courses, but here's the thing: Building a brand is a longer process than quickly diving into AI. We must embrace and tweak the strategy almost daily to create a thriving brand. Without it, you'll just have a business.

Connect with customers and grab the Emotional Branding Download.

Subscription graphic design agencies

Unlimited design changes. Pause and cancel anytime. Unlimited Stock Photos. Average 48-hour turnaround. Sound familiar?

With design agencies needing to speed up their output to cope with the pressures of modern-day businesses, more and more designers are producing and monetising subscription services.

Designers are finding ways to offer simple packages – i.e., standard package = 1 design request at a time, for unlimited brands with unlimited users, and with a quick turnaround.

It makes sense; most people only have one brand, and a 48-hour turnaround is good. But claiming you can turn around logos, branding, or websites in 48 hours is unrealistic.

It is becoming increasingly likely that the only brands benefiting from this service are the design agencies, with you as the loser.

We tested a similar Brand Photography service for a while, but canned it when we couldn't properly service the subscribers' needs. We also found that some subscribers didn't need our services every month.

Maximalist design

Time to pack your bags, minimalism. 

We have all had enough of the simple and calm design aesthetics.

Maximalist design looks at bold patterns and bright colours that add vibrancy and enormous energy to designs. 

For us, the maximalist design approach isn't for bombarding the senses; overloading can cause vast amounts of stress for many people. But hidden details, like when you re-watch a movie you've seen 15 times and still spot new details that excite and delight you. 

It's another technique you can use in your customer service repertoire to create brand resonance and help customers fall in love.

In summary, here's what to expect:

• Bold background patterns and bright colours draw your eye to new details, evoke emotions and excite customers.
• Rainbow-inspired palettes can add vibrancy and energy.
• An increase in complex illustrations, typography, and icons can create a modern and contemporary feel.

Purpose driven branding and design

Purpose-driven brands are growing and with good reason. 

The Zeno Strength of Purpose Study in 2020 unveiled some interesting results.

To begin, your Purpose is your North Star, and it's something consumers, more importantly, keep a lookout for. Zeno outlined eight key attributes that consumers love:

• Fair treatment of all employees
• Products and services that meet consumer needs
• Ethical and sustainable business practices
• Support for social causes
• Creation of new job opportunities
• Diverse and inclusive culture
• Issue Advocacy
• A strong set of values

With that list, you can quickly see why a Brand Purpose is essential, yet only 37% of businesses have a clear and visible purpose.

Staggeringly, businesses with a clear purpose get rewarded by 82% of consumers taking action to support the brands. Here's how:

• People share their positive opinions with others (spreading the brand message)
• They then encourage other people to support/buy from the brand (brand evangelist)
• They start buying products/services (ker-ching!)

Gen Z and Millenials are the biggest backers, with between 92 and 90% of them saying they'd support them in some way.

So, if your target audience includes Gen Z and Millenials, make sure to bake Purpose right in.

De-packaging

The art of getting rid of extra packaging. 

A growing number of consumers are frustrated by additional packaging, myself included. 

Fruit and Veg are the catalysts for change. Often, they have skins to protect them. A lot of alcohol and skincare brands add second layers of packaging for the sake of increasing the excitement factor for customers.

Bruichladdich is a modern Scotch Whisky brand that takes a firm stance on doing things differently. They're B-Corp Certified and committed to the quality of their products, the sources of ingredients, and the past generations of distillers who've worked there.

When you hit the shop, they are one of the distilleries that don't automatically add another layer of packaging. And where they used to give options for a gift tin, this is no longer the case, and they stick rigidly to their brand's beliefs. 

Sustainable packaging appeals to a burgeoning youthful market of whisky drinkers embracing a brand's Purpose. (See Purpose Driven Branding above.)

The role of a graphic designer in 2025

A designer's role has been to help businesses communicate effectively with their audience, using their design knowledge (or design theories if you like to get nerdy). The goal is to convince someone to take action, inform the audience or introduce them to a whole new idea.

Designers take influence from various sources, and a good design brief will lead their thinking.

There's nothing wrong with the list of trends above. And if you're a designer searching for inspiration for a self-initiated project, the above might just give you some cool ideas. 

But, if you're a small business owner looking for trendy brand tactics, this list is misleading.

As hard as I tried not to mention Canva, they are still on Santa's naughty list again. Canva made everyone a designer. It did away with expensive design tools and the steep learning curve. But it also did away with all the training that sets a professional designer apart.

In the hands of the right people, Canva can be a fantastic design tool. With the Pro account, you can add your brand's colour palette, fonts, logos and store assets like photos and graphics.

Using past work or newly generated brand identity, I use Canva to design bespoke branded templates for clients. But, if you're familiar with Canva, their templates influence many Instagram accounts.

My friend John from the Creator Club summed it up nicely - "if you build your brand with a Canva mindset, you're building it with the same DNA as 100,000 other people in your niche".

Why you need to avoid design trends

Design is subjective. Designers bring personal opinions into a design, including trends they'd like to see/use (for portfolio purposes). But this is wrong and is not an effective way to problem-solve. You're not designing for yourself. That's what self-initiated projects are for.

A friend in marketing revealed a fascinating insight to me. In their last role, the company they worked for rebranded. In strategy workshops, the agency guided the client towards characteristics they liked rather than listening to customers, reflecting, and implementing a strategic visual brand. 

They had a beautiful facelift. But the same problems remained. A rebrand shouldn't paper over cracks.

With trends in mind, your brand is positioned the same as everyone.

Let's clarify this with a fishing analogy: your customer is a fish, and you've baited your $50 rod and cast it out to sea. You hope to catch a big snapper (see what I did). You wait. Nothing bites. 

A switched-on competitor sees you struggling, repositions, dips the bait into their secret recipe gel that attracts all the big fish, and casts out behind those rocks. The end of the story writes itself.

If you're not elevating your brand, you're waiting for those customers to take the ordinary bait. 

So, position yourself well and understand what the customer wants. They want to be lured in with the extra smelly bait.

Connect with customers and grab the Emotional Branding Download.

Straying from the brand strategy and brand guidelines

Most professional graphic designers work with clients and businesses – who, if they are lucky, have Brand Guidelines. Guidelines are not set to tie designers' hands behind their backs and limit creativity. They help keep things consistent. 

Alongside a Brand Strategy, they are vital to building a business.

Sometimes, trends break the guidelines. And a trend should never overrule a company's foundations or marketing efforts. Much research goes into a brand's strategy, visual identity, colours, fonts and images. So, randomly applying trendy colours, graphic styles, and fonts goes against all the previous work — confusing customers, breaking trust and damaging the brand's reputation.

You can gently twist the guidelines but not chop them into a million pieces.

Lessons from the past

Trends can hang around for 5-10 years, like the extravagant, super detailed logos and websites we call Skeuomorphism before we moved on to simplified flat designs. And then onto more futuristic 3D designs.

Trends pass and return. But classic design principles always apply.

Think about brands like Apple, Coca Cola, McDonald's, Mastercard and Target. You can already see the logos and their colours. They have brand guidelines that feature timeless design elements, but that doesn't stop them from being fun and innovative when needed.

Designers should explore their creativity while carefully considering which trends they can incorporate safely. When you have an idea, ask yourself the following questions:

• Do they align with your strategy? 
• Do they break brand guidelines? 
• Is it beneficial to your audience or confusing them? 
• Will it be outdated quickly? 

In summary, it's best to avoid trends and concentrate on creating timeless basics that give you a platform for creativity. Working with a graphic designer/agency who understands your business and customers' needs/wants can help future-proof your brand.