Packaging design trends in 2025 focus on a deeper focus on authenticity, emotion, and sustainability. This year, product packaging is seen as an essential touchpoint for customer connection, brand storytelling, and product differentiation. In fact, many brands now embrace bolder design choices, celebrating cultural narratives, and experimenting with digital experiences to engage customers through product presentation.
Hence, whether you’re a brand manager, marketer, or business owner, understanding the trends in packaging design is insightful. In this guide, we will explore the creative and most impactful packaging design trends of 2025 with practical insights and real-life case studies.
9 Packaging Design Trends Your Business Should Try
Packaging in 2025 serves as a brand’s voice, personality, and promise. By tapping into modern packaging design ideas, you can create deeper connections, help your product stand out, and increase consumer engagement.
So, let’s check them out!
Clever Cutouts
Clever cutout design is an innovative approach to minimalist packaging. The design comes with cleverly designed die-cuts to reveal part of the product and help guide the customer’s perception through visual storytelling. From geometric to uniquely shaped windows, this trend invites customer interaction and builds curiosity.
Key elements:
- Die-cut windows revealing parts of the product
- Geometric or custom shapes to spark curiosity
- Minimalist layouts with strategic cutout placement
- Focus on storytelling through visible product hints
- Tactile and visual engagement
Best for: Beauty products, food items, and luxury products.
Sunset Gradients
Subtle blends of warm to cool tones can really influence mood. This packaging design focuses on the gradients inspired by sunsets, clouds, and oceans as visual metaphors for serenity, optimism, and balance. Gradients create a calm yet modern aesthetic look. You can also tie the gradient to product benefits. For example, calming colors for stress relief teas or energetic blends for pre-workout drinks.
Key elements:
- Soft transitions between warm and cool hues
- Inspired by natural elements (sunsets, oceans, skies)
- Evokes calm, optimism, and emotional wellness
- Works well with transparent packaging
- Can match gradient tone with product benefit (e.g., calm vs. energizing)
Best for: Beverage products, health products, and skincare products.
Simplistic Scribbles & Etches
These days, many brands are leaning into imperfection for their cool packaging designs. Hand-drawn lines, scribbled accents, and pencil-style sketches are trending for their design aesthetics. This design speaks about care, craftsmanship, and honesty. Thus, it will be the best packaging design if your business wants to build trust, highlight handmade products, and market to emotionally driven customers.
Key elements:
- Hand-drawn illustrations and sketch-like lines
- Raw, imperfect strokes to evoke honesty and craftsmanship
- Textured finishes to mimic a hand-crafted feel
- Minimal use of color, often in earth tones or black ink
Best for: Handmade soaps, handmade candles, and health products.
Twisted Sustainability
Sustainable packaging is popular as one of the creative packaging idea. It sheds its earthy tones in favor of bold, vivid expressions. Bright typography, saturated colors, and eco-friendly materials redefine what “eco-friendly” looks like. This packaging innovation allows customers to enjoy aesthetic appeal and environmental responsibility.
To enhance the look of your packaging with this design, you can include eco-icons, sourcing information, or QR codes for transparency.
Key elements:
- Bold typography and saturated color palettes
- Eco-friendly materials (kraft, recycled paper, compostables)
- Transparent messaging with sustainability icons or QR codes
- Combining vibrant aesthetics with green value
Best for: Food items, apparel products, and skincare products.
Curated Frames
Minimalist framing transforms your packaging into a curated experience with clean borders, central artwork, and intentional use of white space. This minimalism guides the customer’s eyes to what matters most. The result is packaging that feels exclusive and refined, perfect for high-end or limited-edition products.
Key elements:
- Structured, clean borders, minimalist layouts with framed content
- Centralized artwork or product images
- Use of white space for a high-end, gallery feel
- Often paired with matte or textured finishes
- Clean lines and symmetry suggest exclusivity
Best for: Beauty collections, tech accessories, luxury products, and subscription box sets.
Marker Pen Mascots
This trendy packaging design is all about attracting a young audience. Here, you should embrace fun, illustrated mascots that feel more like cartoon friends. Doodled creatures, expressive characters, and marker-pen quirks make packaging feel approachable and social-media-ready. Plus, you can use your mascot in brand storytelling across your website, shipping boxes, and social media content.
Key elements:
- Illustrated mascots with doodled, playful expressions
- Cartoon-style graphics using bold lines or marker strokes
- Personal, humorous characters for brand storytelling
- Designed to resonate on social media platforms
- Versatile mascots usable across packaging and digital media
Best for: Snacks, cereals, and apparel products.
Fruity Hues
Another amazing idea to follow the new trends in packaging is embracing the color spectrum. From lime green and citrus yellows to raspberry pink, fruity hues offer immediate freshness and attention-grabbing power. These color palettes resonate with younger audiences. You can also pair them with organic shapes or transparent accents.
Key elements:
- Bright, saturated colors inspired by fruits (lime green, raspberry pink, etc.)
- Energetic and youthful visual language
- Pairs well with soft shapes or playful fonts
- Can be accented with transparent or glossy finishes
Best for: Food & beverage items, health products, and skincare products.
Gen Z Influence
Gen Z’s influence continues to shape product packaging trends, from inclusive messaging to eye-catching visuals. The design itself is optimized for social media platforms, such as Instagram and TikTok. To grab the attention of this demographic, you should focus on transparency, creativity, and individuality. This means that you should combine visuals and ethics in your packaging designs. For this, you can pair a viral design with digital interactive layers like QR codes, AR filters, or behind-the-scenes content.
Key elements:
- Bold visuals with inclusive messaging
- Packaging aligned with TikTok, Instagram, and unboxing culture
- Interactive elements like AR filters, QR codes, or digital storytelling
- Highlights authenticity, transparency, and purpose-driven branding
- Often includes memes, slang, and cultural references
Best for: Tech and beauty products.
Back to Your Roots
This year, many brands are reconnecting with their roots or cultural heritage by applying cultural motifs, language, and design practices to packaging. Whether it’s Japanese wabi-sabi design or American folklore, this trend adds depth and pride to product presentation.
To follow this trend, you should partner with creators from the culture you’re representing. This way, your packaging design ensures authenticity and respect.
Key elements:
- Use of traditional cultural elements (patterns, colors, fonts)
- Region-specific design inspiration (e.g., Japanese minimalism, tribal art)
- Focused on authenticity and storytelling
Best for: Handmade soaps, handmade candles, luxury products, and jewelry items.
For an easy comparison of the trends, have a look at the table below!
| Trend | Key Elements | Best For |
| Clever Cutouts | Die-cuts, minimal layout, storytelling | Beauty products, food items, and luxury products |
| Simplistic Scribbles | Hand-drawn illustrations and sketch-like lines | Handmade soaps, handmade candles, and health products |
| Sunset Gradients | Calming gradients, color transitions | Beverage products, health products, skincare products |
| Curated Frames | Clean borders, central artwork, and intentional use of white space | Beauty collections, tech accessories, luxury products, and subscription box sets |
| Twisted Sustainability | Bright typography, saturated colors, and eco-friendly materials | Food items, apparel products, and skincare products |
| Back to Your Roots | Cultural motifs, language, authenticity, and storytelling | Handmade soaps, handmade candles, luxury products, and jewelry items |
| Marker Pen Mascots | Doodled creatures, expressive characters, and marker-pen quirks | Snacks, cereals, and apparel products |
| Fruity Hues | Bold colors with organic shapes or transparent accents | Food & beverage items, health products, and skincare products |
| Gen Z Influence | Bold visuals with interactive elements like AR filters, QR codes, or digital storytelling | Tech and beauty products |
Case Studies: Examples from Our Portfolio
Sara Jamison for Custom French Fry Boxes
Her priority was keeping the French fries hot while performing her branding. Inspired by the “Clever Cutouts” and “Curated Frames” trends, Sara selected a sleek two-color print design that balanced clean visuals with appetizing appeal. We helped Sara Jamison by using grease-resistant, food-safe cardstock for custom French fry boxes to meet both health standards and design functionality.
This project reflects 2025’s focus on functional minimalism, practical design, and story-driven visuals, where packaging extends the culinary experience.
Ann Hartley Chose Custom Kraft Boxes
Ann Hartley’s story is a powerful reminder of how great packaging can revive a brand’s presence. Her vision came to life through two-color custom printing on custom kraft boxes, aligning with 2025’s “Twisted Sustainability” trend with earthy materials and artistic prints.
Ann’s packaging taps into the eco-conscious ethos of modern customers while blending in authentic artwork. This design captures both the sustainability and creativity trends shaping packaging in 2025.
Key Takeaway
These stories show how modern businesses embrace 2025’s top packaging design trends to connect with their audiences. Whether through sustainability, vibrant visuals, or authentic brand storytelling, these real-life applications prove that great packaging can shape the entire customer experience.
In Summary
Packaging design trends in 2025 are blending bold creativity with smart functionality. From eco-conscious materials and foldable structures to personalized illustrations and colorful Gen Z-inspired palettes, design choices are driven by emotional connection and operational performance.
Trends like “clever cutouts” and “simplistic scribbles” bring playfulness and honesty to packaging. Meanwhile, “twisted sustainability” and “back to your roots” tap into deeper values like environmental contribution and cultural identity. Whether using gradients to evoke emotion or mascots to humanize the brand, the best packaging designs blend form, function, and feeling.
Need help translating these trends into your product packaging? The packaging experts at Custom Box Makers are ready to work with you and create something unforgettable together.
FAQs
What are the most popular packaging design trends for 2025?
Trends include clever cutouts, hand-drawn etches, sunset gradients, cultural storytelling, and Gen Z-inspired designs.
How is Gen Z influencing packaging design?
Gen Z favors bold visuals, humor, social causes, and digital interactivity, which drive many brands to create shareable packaging.
Why are gradients so popular in 2025 packaging designs?
Gradients create a calm yet modern aesthetic, ideal for wellness and lifestyle products that aim to drive emotional appeal.
Can sustainable packaging still look vibrant and fun?
Yes, sustainable packaging in 2025 looks vibrant with bright typography, saturated colors, and eco-friendly materials.
What’s the role of minimalism in packaging trends?
Minimalism paired with storytelling (like die-cuts and curated frames) creates a premium and clean brand image.
Are cultural themes trending in packaging?
Yes, brands are increasingly drawing on their cultural roots to create authentic product packaging.
What packaging trends work best for food brands?
Fruity hues, clever cutouts, and hand-drawn illustrations are very effective for brands that focus on creativity for their food and beverage packaging.
Which packaging trends are best for luxury products?
Curated frames, clever cut-outs, and back to your roots are the best packaging ideas for luxury products.
Can we mix multiple trends in one packaging concept?
Yes, we can mix sustainability and the brand’s storytelling, such as clever cutouts, to boost a product’s perceived value and shelf appeal.
