Graphic design trends follow cycles—minimalism follows maximalism, nostalgia follows innovation, monochrome follows color pop, and on and on. Contemporary design in 2025 reflects a growing tension between two opposing forces: the rejection of digital sterility and the return of ornamentation.
On one side, there’s a move toward imperfection, texture, and tactility. On the other, bold, striking visuals are making a comeback. Learn more about the graphic design trends en vogue and those that might emerge in the years to come.
Top graphic design trends of 2025
Aesthetic shifts are rarely neat categories—elements from one movement bleed into another, and what starts as a niche experiment can quickly become the next mass-market staple. The following five emerging graphic design trends offer a snapshot of where things are headed, with each responding to the same underlying tensions in its own way:
Chicken scratch
In a world where anyone can generate flawless illustrations with the click of a button, the most rebellious thing a designer can do is draw something ugly. Chicken scratch is the deliberate rejection of polish—hand-drawn, imprecise, and often borderline crude. But unlike past naive or folk-art aesthetics, this isn’t about warm, tactile charm. There’s no whimsical crayon texture, no carefully imperfect brushstroke. Instead, chicken scratch leans into a very specific kind of sloppiness—more bad doodle than artful sketch. These raw, irregular shapes and awkwardly drawn forms reject sleek polish in favor of something that feels purely instinctive, mimicking the untrained human hand.
Key elements include:
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Loose, shaky line work. Wobbly, uneven strokes that look rushed or unsteady.
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Digitally native. Digital mark-making as in iPad doodles or Microsoft Paint lines.
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A minimalist approach to layouts. Black-and-white color schemes or solid backgrounds to make scribbles pop.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has gotten remarkably good at imitating real-world materials—faux-oil paintings, realistic pencil sketches, textured folk art. What it struggles with is the awkward, low-effort mark-making of human laziness. AI can perfectly replicate a charcoal drawing, but it’s harder to get it to make something that looks like it was scrawled in Microsoft Paint in two seconds. That’s where chicken scratch thrives: It nods to the immediacy of digital tools but fights their unerring precision. The effect is raw, unpolished, and distinctly untrained—except, of course, that these choices are highly intentional.
This aesthetic is showing up across branding and packaging design, often paired with stark minimalism to heighten the contrast between carefully crafted design and deliberately sloppy execution. The skin care brand Radford and the probiotic brand Good Sh*t soda lean even further into the aesthetic, with logo and packaging that appear almost aggressively low-effort—like middle-school desk graffiti—paired with clean and contemporary sans serif fonts and ample white space to make sure the audience knows the choice was never unintentional.
Design agency Saint Urbain’s work for restaurant group Emmy Squared Pizza features mascots with wobbly, disproportioned features reminiscent of a preschool class project. Alex Ostroff, Saint Urbain’s executive creative director, says that the trend is “certainly a response to AI and wanting design that feels unmistakably human. Plus, food and beverage are more personal than any other industry—we’re so emotionally attached to our food memories. For Emmy Squared, our client had expressed an interest in ‘weird pizza cannibals,’ and we just ran with it. We wanted them to feel like something a weird kid would have drawn on a placemat while bored at dinner with their parents.”
Structured scrapbook
Designers have always loved to save stuff, but it’s only more recently that saving stuff has actually begun to be considered design in and of itself—and the emerging trend of “structured scrapbooking” is very much a designer’s game. It’s visually precise, methodical, and carefully curated, focusing on preserving moments and collecting references. Piecemeal elements and physical textures are layered with intention: Paper is torn just so, and stickers and stamps feel deliberate, not haphazard.
Key elements include:
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Layered paper textures. Torn edges, taped elements, and digital cutouts arranged with precision.
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Stamped and sticker-like graphics. Postmark-style seals, oval decals, and faux stickers adding structure.
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Mixed media compositions. Blending photography, scanned ephemera, and hand-drawn elements.
One of the key elements that makes structured scrapbook distinct is its use of decals, stamps, stickers, and tape—not just as embellishments, but as compositional tools. These elements provide a framework, anchoring text or imagery while adding a sense of tactility. Stamped seals, faux postmarks, and oval decals create a feeling of authentication, reinforcing the idea that this is a curated collection rather than an arbitrary collage. Tape, whether digital or real, appears as a visual motif—sometimes crisp and graphic, sometimes translucent and layered over images as if physically affixed to the page.
Porto Rocha’s brand identity for Tudum, Netflix’s editorial platform, leans into eclectic collage in the digital world, merging vintage print materials, scanned textures, and bold cutouts into a high-energy aesthetic that feels both archival and contemporary.
Structured scrapbook plays with reality—mixing digital and analog seamlessly to feel both timeless and current. Its embrace of physical textures and layered ephemera taps into a broader interest in environmental responsibility and DIY sensibilities, while its polished editorial approach naturally lends itself to featuring products—after all, scrapbooks tend to reflect what people enjoy. This makes the trend especially effective for brands looking to create visually engaging, tactile packaging and retail experiences.
Minimal maximalism
After the past few years of toggling between chic 2010s minimalism and dopamine-surging post-COVID maximalism, minimal maximalism tries to finally strike a balance between the two. This trend aims to capture both quiet luxury and extravagant excess at the same time by making one bold, expressive move while keeping everything else restrained. That could mean a quirky, high-impact logo on otherwise spartan packaging, a single eccentric illustration style within a streamlined system, or an oversized photo taking up space while the rest of a design remains stark and clean.
Key elements include:
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Oversized, bold typography. Large, confident type as the focal point of the design.
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Strong focal points with restrained layouts. A single high-impact element balanced by negative space.
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Contrasting type styles. Pairing chunky or decorative fonts with clean, simple sans type.
Brands are embracing this approach because it makes minimalism feel less generic and maximalism more approachable. Too stripped back, and a design risks looking corporate and forgettable; too loud, and it alienates audiences. Unlike ugly minimalism, which strips everything down to the point of sterility, minimal maximalism finds the middle ground—offering just enough personality without sacrificing clarity. It also reflects a growing rejection of default, off-the-shelf branding. Design is becoming more expressive, but in a way that still feels controlled.
Typography is often the key battleground. The rise of big brand logos and oversized type—especially in web design, where brands love to drop a giant logo in the footer—reflects this push and pull between restraint and excess. Second Marriage Studio’s work for Besties, a teen skin care brand, exemplifies this: Its multicolor logo is loud and playful, but it sits within a stripped-back system—single-color packaging, simple extended sans-serif typeface, and minimal visual clutter.
“The minimalist trend was so sad to me,” says Erin Rommel, creative director of Second Marriage Studio. “Yes, some beautiful, timeless design came out of it, but when every new D2C brand had a clean sans serif and a dusty pastel palette, it started to feel like a lack of imagination. We called it ‘zombie minimalism’—the designs became interchangeable and soulless. Simplicity does play nicely on the bathroom shelf, but personality traits are endearing, and eccentricities are lovable. I don’t want to eliminate them for the sake of being safe.”
Similarly, Caleb Vanden Boom Studio’s brand identity for Clue Perfumery leans on a quirky, connected display logo that dominates the label, while everything else remains clean and restrained. This kind of design works because it’s confident without being overwhelming—a single statement, given the space to stand out.
Hypercolor
2025 is shaping up to be a full-blown color riot. Muted palettes and tasteful neutrals are giving way to hyper-saturated hues, jarring contrasts, and artificial, almost radioactive color combinations. Unlike the carefully considered boldness of minimal maximalism, which makes a single big move within an otherwise restrained layout, hypercolor thrives on excess. It pairs colors that shouldn’t work together, pushes contrast to its limits, and fully commits to high-energy palettes that demand attention.
Key elements include:
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Bold saturation. Bright hues like greens, purples, and pinks.
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High-impact usage of color. Letting your palette be the focal point of a design.
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Playful compositions. Balancing bold color with other lively choices.
This trend has a lot in common with color palettes of yore: the acid-bright packaging of ’80s consumer goods, the bold colors of Goosebumps book covers, and the grotesque, exaggerated hues of Garbage Pail Kids trading cards. Although hypercolor may evoke childhood, it’s not really about nostalgia. Instead, it reflects the way color operates in contemporary digital culture: ultra-saturated screens, AI-generated dreamscapes, and social media filters that push hues into hyperreality. Hypercolor is visual volume as brand strategy.
Heyday Canning’s branding, designed by Outline, leans into the hypercolor trend with rich, tone-on-tone palettes that nod to midcentury design while keeping things bold, playful, and contemporary. Meanwhile, Earthling Studio’s work for iced tea brand Halfday embraces bodacious, clashing bright colors to channel the explosive energy of 1990s beverage branding—updated for the modern, health-conscious consumer. And in the world of sports, Brethren Design’s Invader paddle for Bread & Butter Pickleball uses a shocking purple and green palette straight out of a Nickelodeon slime vat.
Hypercolor is especially effective in consumer goods, where packaging has to stand out both in store and in the hands of influencers. These palettes aren’t just eye-catching—they’re engineered for engagement. The neon hues and extreme contrasts photograph well, pop on social feeds, and thrive in the highly visual world of social media marketing. If a color looks a little too loud on screen, that might be exactly the point.
Strange historicism
The 1400s are so hot right now (really). Designers are reaching further back in time for inspiration, trading midcentury throwbacks and retro visuals for something weirder, darker, and much, much older. Blackletter typography, tapestry-like patterns, and intricate ornamentation are making their way into branding, packaging, and visual identities, creating a design language that feels historical but not fully rooted in any single era.
Unlike the well-worn aesthetics of the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s, this trend leans into references that feel untouched, obscure, and rich with symbolism. Strange historicism is as much about world-building as it is about design. Rather than simply borrowing old styles, designers are constructing new visual languages from fragments of the past, remixing history into something unfamiliar yet evocative. The result is branding and visual identities that exude history—whether real or invented.
Key elements include:
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Blackletter and Baroque typography. Gothic-inspired fonts with ornate details.
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Dense, tapestry-like patterns. Highly decorative backgrounds with intricate flourishes.
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Dark, muted colors. Earthy tones like rich browns, deep greens, faded golds, and desaturated reds.
Deborah Khodanovich’s Gossip project and typeface renders a pixelated blackletter alongside cross-stitch-inspired illustrations, merging medieval typographic traditions with digital aesthetics. This trend extends outside graphic design into fashion and interiors—like Chappell Roan’s Joan of Arc–inspired suit of armor at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards, Halsey’s medieval-themed tour graphics, and the recent rise of chainmail in interior design.
Part of this resurgence is a reaction to the flattening effect of modern digital aesthetics. As design trends have become increasingly streamlined—dominated by minimalism, geometric shapes, sans-serif fonts, and AI-generated visuals—there’s a growing demand for complexity, ornamentation, and a sense of the human touch. Strange historicism offers that in abundance. Its appeal lies in its ability to carry multiple meanings at once: heritage and rebellion, permanence and decay, enlightenment and darkness.
How to incorporate graphic design trends into your visual strategy
Which of these trends will stick? Which will feel played out by year’s end? And how do designers engage with them without losing their own voice?
Jumping on every new design trend is the easiest way to make your work look instantly dated. Instead of chasing aesthetics for the sake of aesthetics, here’s how to use 2025’s trends in a way that feels intentional and original:
1. Solve a problem
Before using a trend, ask: Does this make my design better, or just different? The best trends solve a problem. Structured scrapbook, for example, isn’t an aesthetic alone—it’s also an effective way to add tactility and visual layering to otherwise flat, digital compositions. Minimal maximalism, on the other hand, might allow designers to keep things clean and readable while still injecting personality. Think through what you want your brand to say and that will guide you toward the trends most useful to you.
2. Mix and match
Great design happens at the intersection of multiple influences. If something is too purely “on-trend,” it won’t feel fresh. Instead of copying trends outright, mix them with unexpected references. What happens if you combine hypercolor’s high-impact hues with the rigid structure of Swiss typography? Or if you merge strange historicism’s medieval weirdness with photos you shot on a digicam? The best way to use trends is often by remixing and combining them into something unexpected.
3. Align with your brand strategy
Not every trend works for every brand. A clean, corporate fintech company may not benefit from the esoteric nature of strange historicism, and an old-school luxury brand might look ridiculous adopting chicken scratch’s scribbly, DIY aesthetic. But a fashion brand that wants to break category norms? A tech startup looking to stand out? They might find something unexpected in these trends. Hypercolor, for instance, makes sense in industries where attention-grabbing visuals matter most—like food, beverage, and sports branding, where bold color can drive recognition and recall. The key is to align design choices with strategy.
4. Make it your own
The biggest pitfall of trend-driven design is that it can become generic fast—as soon as something spreads across TikTok mood boards and branding case studies, it starts to feel played out. The best way to make trends work for you is to infuse them with your own perspective.
What personal references, ideas, or influences can you bring into a trend? How can you subvert it? The goal is never to keep up with trends for the sake of it—it’s to use them as raw material to make something new.
Graphic design trends FAQ
What are the current graphic design trends?
Chicken scratch, structured scrapbook, minimal maximalism, hypercolor, and strange historicism are all trending digital design styles in 2025.
What designs attract Gen Z?
Gen Z is interested in the chicken scratch aesthetic because it reflects a broader design impulse: As technology makes it easier than ever to achieve perfect results, some graphic designers are deliberately making work that looks careless to challenge traditional ideas and embrace the crude digital gestures that AI tools struggle to replicate. This rebellion against both automation and over-design channels the casual, thrown-together aesthetic that already exists in Gen Z’s online spaces—whether in lowercase musician names, hastily captioned TikToks, or lo-fi “deep fried memes.”
How do I incorporate graphic design trends into my brand visuals?
Remember that trends are ingredients in the broader creative process. Great design happens at the intersection of multiple influences. If something is too purely “on-trend,” it won’t feel fresh. Instead of copying trends outright, mix them with unexpected references and stay true to your brand identity.
