7 top creative trends shaping 2025: from wabi-sabi to AI-fueled Art

Prepare for the new creative year with valuable insights and expert tips. Discover concepts, aesthetics, and styles that will make your projects pop in 2025.

To boost your confidence in creative decisions, Depositphotos is committed to sharing ideas on how to effectively engage your audience and stay relevant to them. Today, the leading content platform presents its annual flagship project, “Creative Trends 2025: Elevated Perspectives”, which brings together key themes and aesthetics that will dominate visual communication in the near future.

The exclusive Depositphotos report came to life after months of analyzing search requests from 41m+ clients in their 300m+ library and collaborating with industry leaders. The result is seven eye-opening trends that reflect current moods and popular concepts in all areas of creative communication, from social media to design.

Meet the top trends that will drive the year 2025:

• The new contemporary
• Cluttercore
• Getting sentimental
• AI-fueled art
• Crafted harmony
• Embracing the dark
• Look from above

Each trend is complemented by analytics and expert comments, providing a deeper understanding of the concepts and how to apply them. You will also find thematic mood boards and hand-picked content collections, allowing you to visualize trends and download ready-made files for future projects.

So, what does the next year have in store for us? Prepare for a journey between centuries, philosophies, and artistic movements. Ultra-modern art will coexist with traditional concepts such as wabi-sabi and ikigai. Audiences will discover the dark appeal of the grunge aesthetics and keep connecting with sentimental stories. TikTok continues to set the pace and, this time, brings “friendly chaos” into our lives. Generative art will flourish even more, further transforming creative marketing. A bird’s-eye view of the world will help us to comprehend the scale of all these shifts.

"The Creative Trends report is our yearly flagship project designed to spark bold ideas for the Depositphotos and global creative community. Our goal is to inspire confidence in the future, empowering brands to stand out in an ever-competitive market and focus on what matters most: creativity. This year, we’ve highlighted seven diverse trends, from the revival of ancient or iconic styles—like wabi-sabi or 90s grunge—to innovative aesthetics like the one driven by generative tools and their users. Together with industry experts, we explored how businesses can adapt to the shifting creative landscape, apply trends authentically without conflicting with their brand DNA, build emotional connections with their audience, and leverage these trends meaningfully in both B2C and B2B settings," shared Maria Sibirtseva, head of content marketing at Depositphotos.

To enrich the report with practical tips and insights, the Depositphotos team reached out to creative professionals who are adept at using trends in their work.

• Martin Zarian, brand builder & co-founder at Factory 39 (Cyprus), shared how to engage millennials and Generation Z with ultra-contemporary design.
• Sam Wilkes, creative director at Vault49 (USA), explained the power of eclectic maximalism to reinforce brand storytelling.
• Lucas Yu, associate creative director at Superside (Portugal), described how hypersentimentalism can reinforce meaningful connections with audiences.
• Yoav Herstein, vice-president of creative at Bria (Israel), gave an overview of the future of AI art that will amplify brand identity.
• Ez Blaine, chief creative officer at Huge (USA), revealed how to convey tranquility and optimism through concepts like wabi-sabi.
• Tito Gouveia, art director at Leo Burnett (Portugal), shared the secrets of implementing a rebellious grunge aesthetic into projects.
• Macauley Johnson, creative director at Scholar (USA), explained how an unexpected look from above shows a bigger picture and provides extraordinary experiences.

Check out the full “Creative Trends 2025” report, filled with cutting-edge aesthetics and inspiring ideas. Be the first to adopt these trends to stay ahead of the competition and design projects that will mesmerize your audience!