Design Is Getting Messier, Deliberately So

Design Is Getting Messier, Deliberately So

Imperfection, rawness, and the rejection of polish are set to dominate design and branding this year, creatives tell Hannah Bowler. After years of hyper-polished branding, designers are embracing work that feels visibly made by hand.


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Childlike line work combined with “oddly slanted type, if type at all” is having a major moment. Agustina Panzoni, head of culture at Death to Stock, said in a video on Instagram that this sits within the “broader naive design trend where designers lean into wobbly lines and visible human imperfections to bring emotion and texture into their work.”

This feels like a continuation of what the branding agency Stills listed as a design trend last year, which it termed “half finished”. This is where designers embrace half‑finished, hand‑drawn looks that feel “raw and real”.