Emerging 2025 Design Trends: Expert Insights and Predictions

2024

Written by

The Bang Design Team

What's in store for 2025?

As the design industry continues to evolve, our team didn’t shy away from calling out 2025 design trends they’re excited about (and a few they are ready to leave in the past). From taking risks to finding smarter ways to work, this year is shaping to be a year of bold experimentation, and conscious creativity.

Here’s what The Bang had to say.

Serifs Are Sexy Again

Candy Sinclair-Ford, Senior Designer: 
For the longest time, brands thought that to appear ‘modern’, you had to use a sans-serif like Proxima Nova to look at home on the web. Those days? They’re over. 

Right now, if you hop on any design inspiration site, you’ll see a wave of beautiful, elegant serif fonts making a comeback. Take a look at Creative Boom’s article on the 50 fonts that will be popular in 2025, you can find some lovely examples of serif typefaces on there—that seriously pack a punch. 

It’s great that brands are more open to the idea that you don’t have to part with personality to look good online. Serifs used to get a bad rap for being ‘stuffy’ and ‘old-fashioned’, but now they feel bold, sophisticated and strikingly modern. Sure, this design trend isn’t brand new per se, but it’s picking up momentum. I’m excited to see more brands embracing the character and warmth serifs bring in 2025.

Let’s Nip Process In The Bud.

Jack Mercer, Lead Designer:

This one’s close to home for us, but it’s something the design world as a whole could benefit from: let’s cut back on process for process’ sake. There’s something exciting about diving in, tossing ideas around, and seeing what sticks. Instead of bogging down the early stages of a project with overly structured frameworks, let’s give ideas room to breathe and evolve. Sometimes, the best work happens when you’re not checking off boxes. 

Another trend we noticed last year was how design systems became the go-to starting point for almost every project. Don’t get me wrong—design systems are great for consistency and efficiency. But when they’re the first thing you turn to, the creative spark can get lost. 

Personally, I think the system should adapt to the project, not the other way around. Start and build a unique visual style, and then fit the system to support it. Like we’ve done within our team, Jake’s been working on a brilliant design system that works wonders and feels organic to the visual design. 

Scroll through X and Dribbble, and it’s easy to spot projects where the system led the way. Everything starts to look the same. As designers, if we want to stand out in 2025, we need to put originality first and use systems as tools—not constraints.

The Return of the Generalist

Duncan Bell, Senior Designer: 

After a decade-or-so of new niche specialist roles in tech, I think we’re starting a swing back to generalists being the norm in the industry.

A combination of design getting its “seat at the table” figured out and the low interest rates of the 2010’s, the industry’s hypergrowth led to specialists like UX Writers, Interaction Designers, Landing Page Designers, UI Engineers and more appearing.

New design tools are being released at ever-increasing speed, and as a result the best designers are dabbling with new skills and trying areas that were once a little bit out of reach or someone else’s job.

Of course AI tools are the obvious headlines here, such as Cursor and Vercel’s v0, but some of the most exciting developments from the last couple of years that are now starting to solidify their place are the likes of Jitter & Spline (making animation & 3D much more appealing to work with on the web), and even how far you can push Figma’s design systems and prototyping nowadays. iOS-native prototyping with Play is another we’ve been enjoying lately.

Similar to the early days of digital design, it feels like the capability, standard, and output expected of a designer is broadening again and it’s exciting. And with the end of the ZIRP era, it’s likely economic factors will push this move to generalists too.

As it has done in the past, the pendulum will probably swing back eventually. In 5-10 years there will likely be entirely new roles and responsibilities that we can’t even predict and new specialisms will become normal.

Bye Bye AI (Sort Of)

Corina Yeung, Designer. 

AI was the buzz of 2024, and sure, it’s going to keep playing a huge role in 2025. But here’s the thing: we need to be more intentional about its use. AI comes with hidden costs—water usage, energy consumption, and a hefty carbon footprint that we don’t talk enough about.

I read this today, that one ChatGPT query consumes about five times more electricity than a simple web search. That’s wild when you stop and think about how many queries are happening every single day. And that’s just the start. Training these models creates even more carbon emissions. The data centers need a lot of water to stay cool, which seems a bit tone-deaf when you think about how dire the water situation is in some parts of the world right now. 

I’m not saying we should cancel AI (as if that’s even possible). What I’m getting at is that we need to start asking ourselves: How can we use AI in smarter, greener ways?

Even if it’s not something we can confidently integrate into our careers yet, just having it in the back of our minds is a decent start. Being mindful about our environmental impact leads into other areas of design too. Sleek, full-width images or videos might look great, but they run through a ton of processing power. 

As designers, we have a role here. We don’t need to have all the answers right now, but it would be great if we could shift the conversation on sustainability, even if we can’t act on it all just yet, it’s a solid place to start.

Looking Ahead

As we look ahead to 2025, one thing is clear: the design world is ripe for innovation, experimentation, and introspection. From embracing the warmth of serifs and rethinking rigid processes to welcoming the return of versatile generalists and tackling the complexities of AI with sustainability in mind, the coming year invites us to evolve as creatives and as individuals.

These trends aren’t just predictions—they’re calls to action. They challenge us to think deeper, create smarter, and design more consciously. The future of design isn’t just something we observe; it’s something we shape.

So, whether you’re a seasoned designer or just starting out, we’d love to hear your take. What trends are you most excited about? What bold moves will you make in 2025? Let’s keep the conversation going—because the best designs are born from shared ideas and collaborative visions.