We asked trends researcher Chris Reid to identify six global social trends, and how they will affect design trends in 2025. Now you know why you’re wanting what you’re wanting…
WORDS Chris Reid PHOTOS SUPPLIED
Design trends and social trends go hand in hand. What we think and feel will always inform the objects and spaces we create. Last year left us feeling unsettled and atomised, and 2025 promises more of the same. As a result, the main thing we’re seeking right now is connection: to each other, to our world and to our future. This shows up in a few different ways when applied to design – and these are six of the shift s we can expect to see over the coming year.
Mainstream Revival
The first, and most fundamental, change we’re experiencing right now is the resurgence of the mainstream. Since around the turn of the millennium, popular culture has become more and more fragmented – and looked down on. Now, we’re all actively seeking out shared moments and experiences. Pop music is more important and single-minded than it’s ever been (see: Brat Summer); blockbuster films are holding our attention; and design is taking on a totemic kind of function. In the world of interiors, we start to care less about decor that distinguishes us, and more about decor that unites our collective taste. This pendulum swing means that, over the coming years, we’ll be seeing more common design touchpoints, and less snobbery and gatekeeping in this world.
Underconsumption
The aestheticisation of sustainability has reached its minimalist phase, with concerns around environmental footprint being given the “quiet luxury” treatment. Underconsumption-core is less about pure frugality and more about consciously choosing to live with fewer, better things. In the world of design and interiors, this shows up in an almost anti-trend approach to style. It also means a greater focus on mending and repurposing what you do have rather than always buying something new. We’ll see the conversation around our homes slowing down, and people taking a longer-term view on the spaces they want to create.
Neutral Takeover
Along with the pared-back styling of underconsumption core, we’re seeing the continued growth in popularity of neutral colours in design more generally. From Mocha Mousse, Pantone’s mushroomy colour of the year for 2025, to the steady rise of browns and taupes in fashion, palettes are decidedly muted at the moment. It’s partly to do with our subliminal need for grounding in an uncertain time – but it’s also an indicator of us gravitating towards emphatically analogue colours in a digital world. There’s also the influence of material trends: as designers use more bioplastics, reclaimed textiles and earthy building materials, colour choices naturally follow suit.
Cosy Tech
Design trending away from the refined and sleek isn’t only evident in our neutral colour palettes. The styling of technology in general is softening and becoming cosier in nature. Devices and interfaces are becoming toy-like, more tactile and less threatening. That’s because our growing unease with advances in the digital world means that when we do integrate tech into our lives, we want it to have a softer edge. Where and how we place these objects in our home also changes as we renegotiate our relationship with them.
Focus on Process
The renewed focus on making is also a reaction to an encroaching digital world. The growing accessibility of generative AI means that anyone can produce images and designs with a few simple prompts. If the end results are stripped of their creative weight in this way, it’s the process of bringing something to life that will set it apart. The making is what matters. People care more about the backstory, intent and human imprint on objects. We want to see the processes, speak to the makers, and own things that look and feel as though they were crafted by a person.
Local Focus
Around the world, we’re seeing countries turn inwards and focus on their own identity. A more abstract, globalised aesthetic sensibility is waning in popularity; in its place, people are gravitating to creativity that’s rooted in country and culture. What defines contemporary South African design is an ongoing discussion, and it’s only set to be amplified in 2025. The key shift in our context is that the sentiment will become less a matter of “supporting” local out of a sense of duty and more of “aspiring” to local as it becomes desirable in its own right.
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