In 2024 brands continued to push for personalization, sustainable materials, and big shelf impact with their package design. What trends can we expect in 2025 and what will lose momentum? Here are our predictions for the coming year.
Front-Of-Package Nutritional Warnings – What’s Coming
In Canada, the final push to comply with new nutritional Front of Pack warnings will be top of mind. Impacted brands have been using this as an opportunity to revamp designs as well as introduce new products that aren’t required to display the warnings. As a result, we’ll see many new designs hit the shelves in Canada this year.
In the US, the FDA has been studying similar nutrition labels for a few years and was expected to announce them in 2024. Now that Robert F Kennedy Jr is poised to be the next health secretary, it seems likely that warning labels will move forward. Companies with products that will be impacted should start planning now, considering reformulation, redesign, line extensions, and structural design changes as potential ways to handle coming regulations.
What’s Out
Wellness-washing will come under the same scrutiny as green-washing, with consumers starting to understand how certain wellness-related words and phrases may be misleading. As healthcare is increasingly scrutinized from all angles, brands should be careful to communicate any health benefits transparently.
Image Source: Government of Canada nOfficial Website
Greater Emphasis On Circularity – What’s In For Sustainability
One of the challenges of sustainable packaging is finding solutions that truly lead to a better environmental outcome. For example, reusable shopping bags may not be a better option if customers only use them a few times and then throw them in the trash. In 2025 we expect to see continued pushes for circularity, improved functionality, and multipurpose packaging. Edible coffee cups, refill stations with reusable packaging, and returnable subscription models are some examples of what to expect to expand in 2025.
What’s Out In Sustainable Packaging Solutions
Sustainable solutions that increase consumer friction will struggle to succeed. Although consumers want sustainable options, they still want ease. They might be willing to make a trade-off if incentivized, say with a discount or other added value.
Image Source: Shutterstock
AI Experimentation – What’s In
In terms of design and marketing, AI can serve a purpose if used wisely. Brands will continue to dabble with AI-created marketing materials, including everything from copy to imagery. Consumers seem to enjoy quirky and humourous AI-generated content, such as unlikely mash-ups and caricatures. Nutella’s AI-generated labels meant every single jar was unique. It can be leveraged to respond instantly to a fleeting cultural moment, tweak copy for SEO, and help spur imagination during the ideation stage.
What’s Out When It Comes To AI?
Transparency is important to consumers when it comes to generative AI-created content. When consumers learn content they thought was created by humans was actually created by AI, they react with extreme negativity. If brands want to build trust in future use of generative AI, they can’t be caught trying to pass off AI-generated content as anything else.
Image Source: Dezeen Official Website
Is Maximalism Really Back? What Design Trends Are In?
Simplification has been a real buzzword in package design, with many brands reevaluating claims and design elements cluttering up the front of pack. That being said, a rise in electrifying color palettes, bubbly fonts and stunning illustrations seen in 2024 will continue in 2025, as the eclectic Gen Z aesthetic overtakes the subdued minimalist look preferred by Millennials. That’s not to say designs can’t be both bold and simple – they can. When extraneous elements are removed, bold designs stand out even more. The trend toward bold design includes a wide range of directions, including fantastical imagery, playful hand-drawn illustrations, and geometric shapes. It’s not a sweep for true maximalism so much as it is for boldness.
What’s Out In Package Graphics?
It’s not that minimalism is out entirely, as much as the precious look that leverages delicate palettes of beige, grey, white, and millennial pink, hyper-simplistic and fine fonts, and completely blank backgrounds. The minimalism that brands like the Ordinary and Glossier exemplify is being amped up with more exciting colors, fonts, and textures. Simplification is a powerful tool but it doesn’t have to be spartan. Paring back on low-value messages, such as most claims, ensures that the most important elements of your design stand out.
Image Source: Packaging Of The World Official Website
Conclusion
Package design should be treated as a strategic marketing tool for your brand. Keeping an eye on emerging trends is critical when planning a redesign or developing packaging for a new brand.
