Adobe has released its 2025 Creative Trends Forecast, which highlights four key trends shaping the creative industry landscape.
The report identifies "Fantastic Frontiers" as a significant trend where imaginative visuals are fuelled by generative AI and digital world-building.
This trend merges technology and culture, indicating a future where our imaginations are increasingly limitless. Years of digital world-building, particularly in gaming, have paved the way for consumer interest in these dreamlike images. Generative AI is playing a pivotal role in revolutionising creativity, allowing artists to create extraordinary visuals that were previously impossible.
This trend is evident in both traditionally produced commercial projects and AI-generated content.
Another highlighted trend, "Levity and Laughter", focuses on the use of humour to engage and connect audiences. According to Adobe, humour is highly effective in media, with 90 per cent of consumers more likely to remember funny advertisements over serious ones. Notably, at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, 52 per cent of category-winning films were comedies, up 43 per cent from 2022, showcasing the universal appeal of humour. Brands are leveraging memes and funny posts on social platforms to reach larger audiences, crafting content that builds more relatable and humanised brand connections.
This trend enables creators to address serious issues in a light-hearted manner, thereby enhancing engagement through joyful and meaningful experiences.
The "Time Warp" trend combines futuristic elements with historical and vintage styles, reflecting the rising interest in retrofuturism. This style, enhanced by AI, merges influences from different eras, such as ancient Rome, the 1920s, and the 1970s, to create a nostalgic yet fresh aesthetic. Adobe notes that this juxtaposition of past and future is drawing attention from Gen Z, who are increasingly interested in revisiting past eras they did not experience firsthand. The blending of past and future elements captures a rapidly changing world, offering a reimagined history.
The final trend, "Immersive Appeal", addresses the growing demand for multisensorial experiences as individuals spend more time on screens. This trend includes interactive campaigns that go beyond visuals to include touch, sound, and smell. Examples range from immersive art installations to experiential shopping, engaging consumers by invoking multiple senses. Brands are employing a strategy known as "world-building" to create fully realised universes, offering audiences an escape from screen fatigue.
A notable example is the recent Barbie marketing initiative, which incorporated a movie, real-world events, and themed experiences.
These trends provide insights into how brands and creators can develop content that resonates with audiences in evolving creative landscapes. Adobe encourages creators to explore these trends further in the 2025 Creative Trends Report to produce timely and engaging content.
