THE MOST IMPORTANT DESIGN TREND IN 2025

If you search ‘Design Trends 2025’ on YouTube, you’ll find lots of videos of designers and artists talking about what kinds of styles or colors will be popular in the coming year. It’s all in good fun, but I think it misses out on digging a little deeper than the surface level of what’s on trend aesthetically.

The people who are digging deeper are seeing another trend emerging. No, it’s not a re-emergence of Y2K graphics or which AI software is going to be the most popular. It’s authenticity. True and total authenticity.

There are so many brands vying for your attention. You see them on your way to work, when you’re scrolling on your phone, and when you’re doing research for a project. You can’t escape them. I think, at this point, we’ve hit critical mass. I mean, there are ads that play while you pump your gas. You don’t even have that 30 seconds of peace anymore.

There’s just too much competition for people’s attention. What we should be aiming for currently is to engage with people’s humanity. Forget that stuffy corporate brand identity. Forget that generic mission statement. Show us what you’re really about.

If you think of your brand like a person, are they too corporate? Are they too uptight and scared to be real? To be human? People are tired of soulless corporate baloney. If you want to connect with your audience, they want authenticity. Show them who you really are and why you care. Remove that corporate mask that you hide behind. It might feel safe, but it’s putting a barrier between yourself and the people you want to connect with.

Like in our individual lives, it can be scary to be real and honest and put it out into the world for people to judge. To do things in our own way instead of the ‘right’ way. It’s like walking off the established path. You don’t have the safety of following everyone else. You have to have courage and the right knowledge to stray from the path.

If you want to succeed in 2025 and beyond, if you want to truly connect with your audience, then you have to embrace your individuality and step into the new and unknown. It will be scary. It will feel wrong. But at the end of the day, if you remove the mask you hide behind, you can truly be yourself. And that’s what will bring people to you.

That’s why it’s so important to find an identity or brand designer who will give you the tools to walk off the path, be truly authentic, and really engage with the people you want to connect with.

If you’re scared and feeling unsure, I get it. It’s not easy to forge your own path. That’s what I’m here for. If you want to venture out into the unknown and create a brand identity that feels authentic and connects with the people you want to reach, then let’s have a conversation and figure out who you are and how you should show up in the world.

Let’s Talk!