Where is typography going in 2025? With other design trends incorporating the rise of AI and others moving away from minimalism, typography trends will inevitably reflect where graphic designers and illustrators head with their work. If trends don’t seem important, think of it this way: there are always collective cultural shifts, and the five designers we spoke to were unanimous on what 2025 is going to bring.
The good news is that 2025 is looking bright for typography design. In speaking to Steve Matteson, Izzy Poirer, Kyle Wilkinson, Danielle Clark and Liz Mosley, all concluded that trends will see designs push for uniqueness rather than the mass reproduction of one style. For trends in other creative industries, see our digital art trends 2025 and 3D trends pieces but for now, here’s more on what the world of type will look like in 2025.
“My hope is that we will see more variety,” says Steve Matteson, former creative type director of Monotype and founder of Matteson Typographics. Steve is working on bringing out more of his own playful, ‘70s inspired fonts. As one of the most influential font designers in the industry, this move in his work signifies a shift in the industry away from ultra-minimalism and the stripped-back design we now see repeated so often. “I think there will be a continuation of playful character,” says Kyle Wilkinson, director of Haus of Thrills. “I think everyone got fed up of Swiss minimalist design,” he says.
Liz Mosley, host and brand designer for Adobe Live, feels that trends “swing from one extreme to another”. She mentions the Instagram trend of “utter minimalism, where everything was white. Now it’s definitely swung quite far the other way”.
Yoan Putra (above) is one example of a designer embracing maximalism in type.
02. Generative input and AI
(Image credit: Picsart)
With AI taking over all other aspects of our lives in 2024, why wouldn’t it go further in 2025? Kyle believes that AI will emerge into typography in the coming year. “That’s on the horizon for typefaces and fonts,” he says. “Some sort of generative input, whether that’s through AI or something else.” Although AI is “pretty terrible at it at the minute,” he says that “it will get better,” and when it does, it will get introduced to work and workflows. “God knows what’s going to come next,” says Kyle. Whether or not generative input being used in typefaces is right or wrong is up for debate, but Kyle says that’s besides the point. “It’s inevitable.”
Kyle’s not the only professional who can see this coming. “Who knows what [AI] is capable of,” says Danielle Clark, brand designer and strategist. But “maybe we’re going to see fonts that are created by AI technology,” she says. Danielle believes that AI’s involvement in typography will bring us amalgamations of all sorts of contrasting scripts that wouldn’t usually be seen together, and in 2025, “we’re going to see more experimentations like that because AI is giving people the tools to test and try things quicker”.
When asked what we’ll see next year, Liz’s first response was: “definitely more independent fonts”. She mentioned the increasing accessibility to the industry. Many argue that this is causing exponential over-saturation in the industry because there are now so many fonts to sift through, with fewer and fewer made by professionals. But Liz thinks this opens doors to illustrators who aren’t necessarily type designers but whose fonts are valuable and important to the type industry. This element makes the new accessibility a gift for illustrators and independent designers.
“I think the barrier for entry for font design has been lowered, so I think we’re going to see a lot more independent designers,” Liz says. Comic Sands is just one example of an independently created font in 2024.
04. Handmade styles
(Image credit: Taylor Penton)
With this trend will also come fonts that appear “hand-drawn, textured,” Liz adds. To accompany the rise in independent designers, typography designs will begin to match their independent roots with “retro” designs. “Not necessarily handwriting,” says Liz, “but things that look like a letterpress or just look like they’ve been hand-drawn a bit more.” She believes popularity for designs that reflect their independent making will soar in popularity.
The predicted rise in AI definitely plays a role in this reaction too. “As the trend for AI is so high at the moment, there’s a visual opposing trend where people want things that look more handmade or nostalgic,” says Liz. I think we can all look forward to seeing more of this in 2025 as a break from the overwhelming popularity of auto-generated content, with fonts like Kula by Taylor Penton.
05. Retro designs
(Image credit: Mark Simonson, Adobe Fonts)
One repeating theme that has clearly resounded from the opinions of all our designers is the rise of retro design. Danielle has seen “a nod to more retro fonts and fonts that take influence from the art deco era and the sixties,” echoing the direction of Steve’s new ’70s-inspired fonts. “You see history repeating itself,” she says, adding that we should expect to see designs that are “rounded,” “bold,” and “a bit more fun” (like Cheesecake by Mark Simonson).
This goes hand-in-hand with our designers’ predictions of maximalism taking over the industry. Izzy Poirer, livestream host for Adobe and founder of the Ottawa Design Club, believes that we’ll see “very futuristic” fonts as well as “super fun” design, reflecting the potential of a retro trend geared towards the ‘60s and ‘70s.
Kyle believes that typography is heading towards a time of more individuality. “I think that’s what people are searching for,” he says. In 2025, all our designers believe that we should be prepared and excited to see more extravagant, unique designs that reject the norm and old-school design rules. Looking professional and sounding professional will be rejected in favour of fresh styles, Kyle notes. Uniqueness will be celebrated and bold risks will be taken by designers, “rather than just looking at what’s gone before,” says Kyle.
