On The Horizon – 5 Horizons

Predictions for 2025 Design Trends

December 20, 2024

Each year we ask our friends on the design team to give us a few predictions for design trends they believe will become popular in the new year. From attending conferences, exploring professional development opportunities, and their general awareness of the design industry as a whole, here are the top areas that our designers predict will be popular in 2025:

Accessible + Inclusive Design

Though accessibility has been at the forefront of design for a while now, 2025 will offer an influx in intentional designs that genuinely resonate with diverse audiences and ensure that all users have a positive experience. An emphasis on accessibility and inclusivity seems to be a big 2025 focus. For example, we may start to see more websites feature larger fonts, high-contrast color schemes, and easy-to-navigate layouts that are accessible to users with visual impairments.

Biophilic Design Elements

Biophilic design is an architectural style that focuses on the connection of people and nature in manmade environments. This may show up in graphic and digital design with an increase of organic shapes, soft flowing lines, natural textures, and earth-toned color palettes in digital design.

Dynamic + Animated Typography

Typography is so unique to different audiences, but our team feels that 2025 is going to bring more dynamic and animated typography to the marketing/advertising space. This type of typography is effective for grabbing attention and creating memorable user experiences. For example, we may see more websites feature animated headlines that change color or size as the user scrolls, or call-to-action buttons that pulses or glow to draw attention. Dynamic typography can also be used to create interactive text elements, such as hover effects that reveal additional information or clickable text that triggers animations.

Minimalism With a Twist

Minimalism has been popular for a few years now, but we’re starting to see a small push toward sprinkling bold typography, vibrant splashes of color, and oversized imagery into the minimalist landscape. This approach maintains the clean, uncluttered feel of minimalism while adding a sense of personality and creativity.

10 Adobe Tools to Keep an Eye on in 2025

This fall our creative team flew down to Miami to participate in the Adobe MAX conference and learn about new design features coming in 2025. Adobe MAX offered multiple days worth of keynote speakers, expert-lead sessions, and networking opportunities for our team to explore.

Similar to 2023, AI was still front and center at the 2024 conference, but the focus shifted from talking about creating content with AI, more towards integrating AI into existing programs and available tools. Here are the design team’s top 10 tools and program updates introduced during their week in Miami that stood out from the rest:

Project Concept––an AI-powered tool that can assist with team brainstorming and project/concept development
Adobe GenStudio for Performance Marketing––an AI-focused application designed to create larger campaigns for ads and emails
Project Neo––an AI-powered design tool for creating next-level geometric artwork and graphics
Adobe MAX Sneaks––a sneak peek at experimental programs for photos, videos, vectors, and 3D design
Generative Extend––a program to seamlessly add more frames to the beginning or end of a video or audio clip
Premiere Elements––a revamped application for editing video with the magic of AI for transitions, text, and color correcting
Remove Tool––a new Photoshop tool for removing distracting people, items, and objects with generative AI
Style Reference Image Tool––a new Firefly tool for style-matching new generative AI images
Realistic Mockup Tool––a new Illustrator tool to create digital mockups for brand identity and product designs by placing artwork or logos on real-life objects
Bulk Create Social Content Tool––a new Adobe Express tool for quickly generating large batches of social content with generative AI

Our creative team came back full of new ideas and excited about all of the tools, tips, and tricks they learned during the conference––but most importantly, ready to implement everything into their work in 2025.

Education is at the heart of everything we do. If you are looking for a partner who is constantly exploring and learning new technology, we are ready to share our knowledge with you and solve your digital marketing problems. Let’s connect!

Inside 5 Horizons: 2023 Design Tips

March 4, 2023

Hear from our talented Design Team as they weigh in on the top trends expected for the upcoming months.

Design trends are constantly fluctuating. It’s up to us on the Design Team at 5 Horizons to try new things, keep an eye on current styles, and constantly learn new skills to deliver fresh, accessible designs to our clients.

There is a lot that goes into design aside from what something looks like. User experience, advanced technology, and accessibility are all areas that our team focuses on when designing eye-catching advertisements or lead-generating websites.

Here are our top five design tips for 2023:

1. Nostalgia

One popular trend for 2023 is the vintage style of past decades between 20 and 100 years ago. Recycling styles from the past evokes a feeling of nostalgia in viewers that’s both familiar and comforting. It can also help to identify and target certain age groups when those vintage styles were popular.

2. Dark Mode & Customizable Viewing Experiences

Customizable Viewing Experiences include responsive website sizing (based on browser size or mobile device) and also offers Light and Dark Modes. Dark Mode is a light-on-dark color contrast that eases eye strain, especially during night time. Dark Mode uses text, icons, and graphic elements in lighter colors against a darker background to make readability easier. Incorporating both of these practices allows for a more personalized user experience.

3. 3D & Holographic Elements

Designers use graphic elements of different shapes, colors, spacing, values, and textures to convey a certain type of message or emotion. Our team predicts that 3D and holographic elements will be particularly popular in 2023 for adding futuristic, eye-catching styles to websites, presentations, and advertising. 3D and holographic elements are made with modern, trendsetting technology to capture viewer’s attention and emphasize the content.

4. Bold, Bright, Loud Color Palettes

2023 is already showing trends of bold, bright, and loud color palettes. This may play into the vintage trend and the recent resurgence of 90s styles. Loud color palettes, typically associated with vibrant and youthful moods, are already popping up in many campaigns and advertisements from leading brands for 2023.

5. Accessible & Inclusive Design Practices

Accessible and inclusive design practices are integral for quality user experiences in 2023. Accessibility focuses on creating personalized experiences for people with disabilities, while inclusivity broadens that accessibility to individuals with situational handicaps or impaired abilities as well. Making design choices that are inclusive to all customers is imperative to operating a business in 2023.

Our design team is ready to hit the ground running throughout 2023 with these top five tips to deliver innovative and high-quality trends for our clients.

The Inside 5 Horizons series includes stories and perspectives from our amazing team. Get a glimpse into our company culture each month by hearing from the unique voices of our copywriters, strategists, project managers, and more.