2025 Graphic Design Trends - Top 10 Styles Broken Down

let's talk about graphic design and creative trends for 2025 going into 2026 if you're new here welcome this channel creative director explains is all about learning how to become Better creatives Together around here we mix career advice focusing on improving as creatives and moving up to senior creative roles to tips and tricks and even Vlogs where you get a taste of what life is like at a creative agency in this video we're going to be disc discussing the top 10 styles that you need to know going into 2025 we're talking web design animations social packaging

advertising and everything in between so let's dive in number one hyper realistic first up we've got hyper realistic this is where we're seeing design go from graphic to something you can almost Reach Out And Touch think of design elements that feel super realistic real textures real Shadows real light in and for anyone who loves 3D design this is going to be something that you're going to love this year this is going to be your playground and what's really cool is we're seeing programs like Adobe Firefly really step up and help you create these hyper realistic

customized designs that are honestly so cool if you're a little bit more old school you can still achieve this look it's just going to take a lot more effort but as someone who has done it myself it is deeply satisfying it's just a little bit timec consuming number two custom customized typography another big Trend that we're seeing gain momentum is custom typography which is awesome there are more and more big brands that are leveraging customized and even handdrawn typography and it's great this level of dedication to craft is something that I am personally here for

as a typography lover and there have been some pretty big strides in terms of software that have made customized typography much more accessible to all graphic design ERS and so I personally hope that we see more and more of this trend in the future number three anaglyphs anaglyph effects are like those old school 3D red and blue glasses like when you misalign them and you kind of get that cool effect it's sort of like a throwback to early 3D movies but now it's showing up in everything from poster design album covers and sometimes even website

animations anaglyphs effects are really cool because they sort of add a glitchy distorted feel that make designs feel really bold and edgy but you can turn down the volume and make them feel just really really cool so if you're working on things like digital artwork or something that just reads needs that sort of unique twist anaglyphs are something really powerful because they can kind of be that memorable thing that will help you stand out without being over the top it's sort of a cool way to create depth and visual Intrigue and you can apply it

to just about any medium number four characters within branding now cartoon characters or characters within branding are really big this year um particularly within the world of branding it's nostalgic but it's approachable it kind of gives the brand a contemporary Vibe it's really cool now I'm not talking about like serial box characters or mascots it's it's more contemporary than that these characters are really cool they add personality they help Brands feel relatable and particularly for new brands this is kind of an easy way to sort of feel quite memorable and friendly very quickly Plus for

those of you who are into illustration this is a fantastic chance for you to Showcase your Unique Style and I found that the more handdrawn and bespoke they are the more contemporary they feel the more personality focused they feel and they feel a lot more cohesive number five Aurora now auroras are pretty popular in web design and I foresee this coming outside of web design uh particularly when applying more contemporary uh color palettes now within web design these sort of create this stunning light diffused background and they're kind of just begging for interactivity these soft

gradient Hues can of course mimic the colors of the northern lights but I'm seeing this trend Thrive with other more contemporary color palettes Aurora effects are perfect for websites where you want users to really linger H or any application where you want this sort of natural gentle motion really bring an immersive experience and depending on the color palette can actually be quite calming so if you're looking for a web experience that feels modern auroras are a very cool effect that you might want to try applying number six Bento boxes all right let's talk about Bento

boxes so they've been around for a little bit in 2024 going into 2025 and they don't seem like they're going away anytime soon so if you want to think about this just imagine your design L out in very clean but separate compartments so sort of like a well organized bento box now I personally find them a little bit tough to design with in the real world but if you get it right it's very cool it is an amazing way to guide viewers eyes sort of through these different sections without overwhelming them um great visual hierarchy

and it's also great for people who have that sort of minimalistic value but of course you want to keep things fresh as well um but like I said I found them a little bit hard to maintain but that might just be me if you love them very cool effect to try this year number seven neomorphism now neomorphism is a minimalistic trend that has been around with UI elements and they it sort of gives it a 3D sort of soft look kind of gives like a Sleek almost touchable Vibe now they've been super trendy on a

lot of imaginary products but it's it's been sort of discouraged in real world application because it doesn't always hit accessibility guidelines with within UI which of course is really important however I personally think that this trend works really well outside of UI uh particularly when creating hero images or background elements um typography you know that's more leverage for visual interest than it is about legibility packaging is a really interesting place for this as well because it sort of becomes tacti I think if you take the core elements outside of this trend and apply them in

other areas of graphic design or even areas outside of graphic design like animation or photography then you're in a really cool place number eight dark mode now moving on to something that is pretty eye-catching is dark mode it's really really cool now you can Pump It Up and add like a neon sort of against this dark background and it kind of gives this sort of like digital meets late night Vibe which is really really cool or you can stick with monochromatic and live in this very dark minimalistic Vibe it's so cool it's also really cool

outside of graphic design too we're seeing this pop up in industrial design experiential and a lot in interior design as well but let me tell you it looks so cool on the web as well I love it number nine AI generated obviously AI was going to be in here somewhere um you know it's going to be a big one for 2025 I don't think there's a shock there and I know it might sound intimidating because of course this is kind of a scary thought but to be honest it can be a huge help now I

think AI can automate some of the less fun parts of our jobs uh which gives you know it's not such a bad thing it gives you more time to work on the elements of your career that you absolutely love so this can be a really big timesaver if you want to enhance your work make sure you're enhancing rather than replacing your creativity though for example for myself I use mid journey to help during my time crunching so during pitches uh mid Journey has been really helpful for me to help clients visualize what our team will

create over the next few months during a project um it also helps sell ideas through to clients that might otherwise be a little bit more conservative or the projects might be daunting we've used it quite a bit on experiential pitches and film and video pitches another area that I've Loved using uh it for is specifically on mood boarding for photography pitches so on photography shoots where it assists during the mood boarding phase and the planning phase it also can help a little bit on the retouching phase but it doesn't replace any of the hard work

on set or the craft or creativity of the team if anything it just helps us move faster to our own Vision now ai is obviously something that feels very scary to all designers and hey I can't read the future myself maybe it will replace our jobs one day but right now in 2025 it's simply a powerful tool to enhance not replace our creativity so embracing it isn't such a bad idea at this point if you're smart about how you use it okay number 10 accessible design and finally rounding out our top 10 is not a

trend really it's rather a responsibility but it has been gaining more and more momentum every single year that comes along and it's something that every single graphic designer out there needs to be paying attention to it's all about creating work that everyone can enjoy and participate within whether that be people with visual impairments physical or audible impairments or just varying degrees of digital experience small things like high contrast colors legible typography and thoughtful layouts can make a huge difference and there you have it the top 10 graphic design Styles and Trends to watch out for

in 2025 going into 2026 which one resonated the most with you please let me know in the comments down below if you enjoyed this video don't forget to hit that subscribe button for more creative content and until next time thanks for watching [Music]