One bus gleams with futuristic edges, marked boldly AI—promising speed, possibility, and a mind-blowing leap into the unknown. The other rolls up slower, wrapped in the earthy, grounded colors of sustainability—looking backward even as it pushes forward, inviting us to restore, rewind, and rethink. Both buses are filled to the brim with ideas, and both are heading to the same destination: the future of design.
This is the 23rd year of the LogoLounge Trend Report, and if there’s one thing I know after studying more than 30,000 logos from over 120 countries this year (plus thousands of major brand launches and redesigns), it’s this: trends aren’t fads. This is a trend report, not a trendy report. Trendy is a flash in the pan, a flavor-of-the-week style that feels clever today but dissolves tomorrow. Trends, on the other hand, track movement—the long arc of where design is going, the shifting forces that shape the trajectory of our craft.
Let’s break down the landscape we’re seeing this year.
Trendy is a flash in the pan, a flavor-of-the-week style that feels clever today but dissolves tomorrow.”
The typography space is splitting down both roads too. On one side, we continue to see exaggerated reverse-stress type, Letraset-style press-on letters from our guilty past, deep inkwells, extreme serifs, and wildly distorted swashes—a deliberate rewind to the hand-built, tactile charm of past decades. On the other, there’s a mini wave of stark sans-serif wordmarks, recalling the fashion world’s pivot a decade ago toward soulless minimalism. Both poles exist because both resonate with different consumer cravings: one for sleek innovation, the other for authenticity and warmth.
One of the biggest challenges designers face right now—and let’s be honest, this is especially true on the AI side—is the problem of too many ideas. AI is breathtakingly generous and lightning-fast in its ability to generate concepts, but that gift comes with a cost: editing. When you’re handed a hundred dazzling options, the temptation is to use them all. But design thrives not on volume, but on clarity. Editing has become an essential part of using AI for the good of design, turning its infinite well of inspiration into focused, meaningful outcomes.
When you’re handed a hundred dazzling options, the temptation is to use them all.”
There will always be more styles, more microtrends, more looks flickering across the design landscape. But remember: it’s less important to know where you are than to understand how you got here. That’s what allows you to chart your own path forward—and maybe, if you’re lucky, spot the next breakthrough waiting just over the horizon.
What is LogoLounge?
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And exciting news: judging for LogoLounge Book 15 has just wrapped, and the newest industry bible of logo design will hit shelves by the end of the year.
Join the global community shaping what’s next in logo design.
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01 | Logo Trend
Sharps
Designers have historically steered clear of plunging, dagger-like cuts in logos—for the same reason typographers long ago invented the ink trap. In the analog world, those bottomless visual chasms wreaked havoc in reproduction, swallowing detail and muddying forms. But in a digital age? Those concerns vanish. Now we’re seeing designers embrace these deep cuts as purposeful termination points, where swerving, freeform lines resolve not into chaos, but into playful, sharply controlled tension. These marks hold just enough classical constraint to still feel like logos—not random doodles—yet they radiate an organic, almost rebellious energy, as if the designer dared to press the blade right to the edge.
For the brands they represent, Sharps send a clear message: we’ve broken free from stoic traditions, but we’re no fools. There’s a feeling of freedom and risk-taking, yes — but underneath, these logos have been masterfully crafted with a deep understanding of the delicate dance between positive and negative space. As simple as they may appear, their brilliance lies in nuance: knowing just how far to slice, where to pull tension, and how to keep the whole structure standing. The result is a visual statement as fierce as it is finessed.
02 | Logo Trend
Smokies
All the sharps have been carefully extracted from this trend—like handing a designer a pair of preschool safety scissors. These marks call to mind the letters on old-school wooden park signs, where the spinning bit of a router tool cuts away material but always leaves a rounded termination; it simply can’t create a sharp point. That mechanical constraint baked softness into the shape, and now, on digital turf, the same effect is just a few clicks away. The power tool behind these marks? Likely Adobe Illustrator, where rounding off every cap and join is as effortless as toggling a setting. Softness isn’t accidental here; it’s a deliberate message. These logos radiate approachability and gently signal that the client’s rough edges have been smoothed down by time, experience, and intention.
Lil’ Smokies building blocks allow for infinite solutions once that aesthetic is baked in. There’s an old line that “a line is just a dot that’s gone out for a walk,” but here? That dot barely made it to the door before flopping back on the couch. And honestly, that’s the charm—a laid-back vibe that reassures you, we’re approachable, we’re thoughtful, and we don’t need sharp elbows to prove it.
03 | Logo Trend
Coves
Every year, a few surprise shapes worm their way into the logo landscape, showing up just often enough to make you pause. This time, the standout oddball is the cove—that exact little remnant you get when rounding off the corner of a card, or the same concave cross-section carpenters use to tidy up gaps where walls meet. Picture it as a four-pointed dazzle star sliced into quarters, sometimes recombined into half-dazzles. And while the original dazzle shape has always been about visual magic and sparkle, these quartered cousins carry a subtler charm—still magical, but maybe with a wink instead of a full-on glitter bomb.
What makes the cove shape so effective is its sly reliance on Gestalt principles. It’s not what’s there, but what’s missing—the suggestion of completed arcs and lines that our brains eagerly fill in. These marks thrive on active negative space, practically inviting the viewer to participate, to project meaning, to finish the story themselves. Even typography is joining the party: where the lowercase h or n naturally curves into a vertical, we now see designers echoing that cove cut on the crossbars of f and t, adding a fresh visual signature. Turns out, cutting corners isn’t always a shortcut—sometimes it’s the whole point.
04 | Logo Trend
Scalers
There are a few too many memes and motivational posters reminding us daily that if we’re standing still, we’re losing ground. The virtues of “just hanging on” are wearing thin. What brand doesn’t want to extol the imperative of change? Whether it’s gaining customers, increasing revenue, shedding inefficiencies (or shedding pounds), there’s always some form of progress to wave a flag over. Traditionally, a few graphs or bar charts were tasked with conveying that ambition—but this year, a growing crop of logos has stepped up to the plate, embracing the mission visually through scaling sequences. These marks use a progression of strokes—broadening, diminishing, stepping up, or cycling around—to show momentum, direction, and a clear corporate objective.
For both client and customer, there’s an assurance baked into these orderly cadences. They don’t jar the eye or disrupt our expectations; they pull us forward smoothly, creating a visual promise of measured, purposeful growth. And don’t overlook the role of negative space here—it’s not just the strokes doing the heavy lifting, but the gaps between them, creating a balanced rhythm of presence and absence. Turns out, even in the world of logos, we all like to believe we’re scaling up. After all, who brags about standing still?
05 | Logo Trend
Frilberry
There’s a quiet but unmistakable mood threading its way through this year’s logos—an ornamental use of leaves, berries, and natural forms that’s less about literal nature and more about filling space with a sense of handmade, crafted calm. Think of it as Frilberry—a leafy, berry-laced patterning that acts like nature’s embroidery, wrapping logos with an inviting, organic edge. This taps right into the rising cottagecore aesthetic, where consumers romanticize a return to simple, pastoral beauty: baking sourdough, foraging wild herbs, knitting by the fire. But it’s not just nostalgia—it’s about curating an environment where even a modern product or service feels rooted, natural, and touched by something slower, more intentional.
There’s also a subtle rewilding energy here: an instinct to bring wildness back into controlled spaces, to let vines curl at the edges of design, to reintroduce softness where corporate logos have often been hard-edged. Post-pandemic, many consumers rediscovered home life as a place of ritual and micro-craft, and they’re drawn to brands that reflect that shift. Frilberry patterns carry emotional weight—they signal not just “we’re natural,” but “we know how to fill your world with quiet, crafted beauty.” In a sea of clean lines and minimalism, sometimes it’s the leafy little frills that steal the show.
06 | Logo Trend
Crossovers
There’s a fluid grace to the logos in this trend—marks that find power in the sweeping, curvaceous lines of a half-twisted ribbon, folding over itself, tapering to nothing at the center, then reemerging in a new figural field. This isn’t just decoration; it’s geometry doing real brand work. These crossovers create fresh zones of positive fill, turning simple shapes into layered visual stories. Sometimes they’re abstract, sometimes literal (like the crab or the runner), but they all share a dynamic interplay of negative space, movement, and tension. They convey agility—the ability to pivot, flex, and merge—and they signal that a brand is nimble, capable of turning from one focus to another without missing a beat.
In branding, as in life, the twist is where the magic happens. These logos remind us: when you cross over, you don’t lose yourself—you double your impact. Whether bridging entities, merging elements, or just showing there’s more than one side to the story, these marks prove that clever design doesn’t always need to shout. Sometimes, a single elegant crossover says it all.
07 | Logo Trend
Squared
It takes a lot of guts to claim that squares have become a trend. After all, the foundations of geometry already have us defaulting to circles, triangles, and squares when building marks. But remember a few years back when USA Today, ArtCenter College of Design, and a dozen others were locked in an unspoken arm wrestle over who could “own” the flat circle? Now, we’re seeing a sudden escalation of square dependency. Sure, squares still make the best use of app button real estate, but unlike the old-school H&R Block solid-green square, today’s marks integrate the square as a structural component, meshing it with type or elevating it as a central building block in the system.
There’s no getting around it: squares carry weight. They signal stability, monolithic strength, intractability—traits that might not sound cuddly or playful, but they radiate longevity, trust, and resolution. Where Instagram’s bubbly gradients invite you in, these marks commit unapologetically to the sharp certainty of the right angle. And when you cluster a few together, the visual language unlocks even more layers: checkerboards or checkered flags waving a brand to victory, signaling strategy, precision, and a winning edge.
08 | Logo Trend
Typemelts
There’s a new batch of wordmarks out there that couldn’t care less about the old rules of ligatures. Classical typography teaches us that ligatures are delicate, highly controlled connections between specific letter pairs—the ones that naturally want to link up (looking at you, fi and fl). But the marks in this trend throw subtlety out the window. Designers are ramming letter pairs together—even awkward combos like round-against-straight—and fusing them with chunky, rounded bridges. It’s as if the type is made of some squishy, magnetic material, drawn together until the forms start to melt into each other. Picture someone squinting at type out of focus, then trying to redraw it in vector lines without realizing they’re working with letters—that’s the vibe.
Let’s be honest: this isn’t some deep revolution in typography; it’s more like a quick visual flex. These marks are engineered for contemporary brands chasing edge and disruption, not typographic purity. The effect is eye-catching, sure—a tasty little reminder that even letterforms like to bend the rules when they think no one’s watching.
09 | Logo Trend
BlurTails
These logos don’t sit still—they sprint. It’s like a mark trying to outrun the TILE tracker someone slipped in, darting just ahead, leaving a soft, gradient vapor in its wake. BlurTails leave behind ghostly trails wafting off solid icons or type, hinting at motion, speed, and presence. Whether applied to static logos or brand animations, the effect pulls the viewer in: you’re not just seeing what the mark is, you’re seeing where it’s been and maybe where it’s headed. Gradient tails suggest directions of travel, elements converging from distant reaches, or a once-static object slipping free and darting offscreen.
These visuals beg for a second consumer look—partly because they’re mesmerizing, but mostly because your brain needs to confirm: Am I going blind, or did that logo just... move? Even standing still, the blur tells a dynamic story. It’s a smart flex for brands signaling agility, momentum, or constant evolution. Sure, this aesthetic is tailor-made for animation, but even in static form, BlurTails say: we’re active, we’re advancing—and good luck catching up.
10 | Logo Trend
LongLegs
Straight line segments are some of the hardest-working soldiers in a designer’s toolkit—and when a project lets a type solution off-leash, you can bet they’ll stretch those limbs as far as the eye can follow. Take Paula Scher’s wildly flexible MAM monogram for the Memphis Art Museum: it taps straight into the natural affinity between letterform and architecture, creating a dynamic system that flexes and morphs alongside the museum’s multiple perspectives. These elongated, articulated letterforms don’t just sit pretty—they pull the eye in, inviting the viewer to play.
Each of these logos uses its long legs to do some heavy conceptual lifting. They bend and extend to suggest motion, terrain, or structure, layering unexpected meaning onto an acronym or wordmark. The Marie-Thérèse Allier identity, for example, incorporates dramatic flexing animation, echoing the avant-garde choreography tied to her name. Usually, we leave the heavy branding work to a singular iconic symbol, but these marks say, why should the symbol have all the fun? Here, the stretched, angular wordmarks carry the weight—strutting, bending, and twisting their way into the visual identity with a kind of wiry elegance.
11 | Logo Trend
SpinShift
We probably don’t give much thought to the idea that when we tell someone to turn up the volume, turn up the heat, or turn the channel, we’re invoking the ghost of a physical knob. If we weren’t so damn obsessed with knob control, maybe we’d be saying “slide” or “tap” or “nudge”—but turning, by its nature, is a rotation artifact. And rotation? That makes circles. So it’s no surprise these logos lean into that visual DNA. The spin of a knob has long been a signal of control, and in these marks, that same rotational logic universally signals progression, decline, escalation, or modulation—but always, always with the underlying idea that someone (or something) is steering the dial.
When you see these logos shift from warm to cool coloration, or scale from thin to thick elements, or fan out in visual weight, they’re embodying the capabilities of a product, a mission, or a corporate ethos. We may have forgotten the origin of the word “turn,” but we haven’t lost the visual cues that tell us this brand is dynamic, this brand adjusts, this brand responds. And next, maybe we should talk about why pressing a button in your car is still called rolling down the window.
12 | Logo Trend
PolyGrid
There’s nothing wrong with conformity—it has its place. But let’s be honest: we thrive on choice. There’s a reason it’s not called Baskin Robbins 1 or Heinz 1. As humans, we crave variety, we want our own favorites, our own desires, our own ways. And yet, there’s value in order—even if it doesn’t have to supersede independence. That’s the magic behind PolyGrid logos. They follow a clean, even cadence along an x-y axis, like a chessboard or a halftone field, but then they shake up expectations by dropping in a wild mix of forms: stars, crosses, circles, polygons. The result? Order and individuality, living side by side.
These marks are rising strong this year because they carry layered meaning. They might draw from the client’s own visual vocabulary, they might celebrate self-expression, or they might stand as a metaphor for individuals coming together under a shared initiative. Many of these logos have robust visual systems that extend into animated patterns or shapeshifting elements that flex depending on the message. Tools like Vectoraster have only accelerated this movement, making it easier for designers to spin up grids of custom icons, letters, or forms into dazzling, dynamic fields. Sometimes a tool drives a trend—and sometimes, the whole thing just clicks into place by beautiful, serendipitous timing.
13 | Logo Trend
BorderLand
Let’s face it: logos are tiny, overachieving little beasts. Designers sweat bullets trying to cram the entire soul of a brand into a shape the size of a boba dot—and if we’re being honest, sometimes we forget the outside of the package is ripe territory for delivering even more. Hell, who says you even need to fill the middle at all? These marks prove you can sling a message just by tricking out the edges. Most of them lean on simple, no-nonsense shapes—circles, triangles, swirls—because the outline alone is already doing half the talking. But it’s the patterned perimeter where the magic kicks in: think cultural signals, product vibes, tech pathways, motion, transparency, or pure playfulness, all humming right there along the rim.
The real genius? These marks leave the middle wide open, like a blank dance floor, inviting the consumer to step in and mentally complete the picture. The shape gives structure, the pattern piles on the meaning, and the negative space acts like a neon sign saying, hey, your imagination belongs here. It’s a perfect reminder that sometimes, the edges don’t just frame the story—they are the story.
14 | Logo Trend
Sprinklers
Over the past several reports, we’ve seen liquid elements seep deeper and deeper into logo design—first a drop here, a rivulet there, maybe a graceful chain of droplets linking together. But almost without us noticing, the forecast has shifted: this year, it’s a torrential downpour. These marks are all about droplets—classically shaped with that pointed tip and rounded end, so we know exactly which direction we’re getting the business from. And that matters, because these droplets are on a mission. Some logos deploy uniform drops, while others go full family unit: baby, mama, and papa drops blanketing the graphic like a fire hose.
Many of these marks lean into a back-to-nature theme, offering the assurance that no matter how technical H₂O sounds, we’re really just talking about original, irreplaceable nature juice. But more than anything, droplets signal motion—a process captured in the blink of an eye. These logos are never still; they’re about the moment, about activity, about the energetic phase between drop and result. And don’t forget the kicker: as independent as each droplet may seem, they ultimately come together, pooling their strength into one powerful, shared resource.
15 | Logo Trend
Hoopty
Mapping the unknown isn’t just curiosity—it’s baked into human destiny. We chart where we stand, trace our way to point B, and make sure we can get back home before the unknown has its way with us. These hoop-driven logos, orbiting along x, y, and z axes, evoke the ancient armillary spheres and astrolabes crafted over two thousand years ago—tools that let us imagine Earth (or the Sun) at the center, while precisely tracking the astral bodies above and the movements of ourselves below. It’s no surprise these shapes now tell brand stories of exploration, guidance, and the promise of navigating uncharted journeys—physical, mental, or spiritual.
The world and skies we inhabit came without straight lines, yet over centuries we’ve drawn longitudes, latitudes, borders, and constellations, all in an effort to frame the wildness around us. These marks tap into that same instinct: the urge to create structure, to tame mystery, to wrestle meaning from the swirling chaos we ride daily. Whether you see them as celestial, scientific, or symbolic, they remind us that discovery is never done—and that every brand wants to claim a bit of that eternal, irresistible pull.
The 2025 Logo Trend Report
2025 marks the 23rd year of this one-of-a-kind report. Each year, it offers the opportunity to literally review thousands upon thousands of logos one at a time, looking for nuances and artifacts of emerging trends. As we acknowledge that each design represents hours and hours of thought and struggle from designers around the world, we are as humbled and awed as ever by their dedication to the craft and grateful for the important role they play in helping us create these reports. So thank you to all of the designers who have and will contribute to the Trend Reports then, now, and for years to come.
For an even deeper look at this year’s trends, visit our course on LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com).
Next for LogoLounge
Exciting news: judging for LogoLounge Book 15 has just wrapped, and the newest industry bible of logo design will hit shelves by the end of the year.
Join the global community shaping what’s next in logo design.
Join Today