Summer Design Trends 2025

The summer solstice on June 20 officially kicked off the season—and with it, new trends in how people shop, connect, and design.

We researched 2025 consumer trend reports, design studies, and Gen Z shopping habits to bring you this summary of what’s in, what’s shifting, and how to turn these trends into sticker designs your customers will actually use. Whether you're designing for your shop, a market booth, or a merch line—this guide will help your stickers resonate (and sell).

Dopamine Design: Joy on Full Blast

Design in 2025 is shifting from “serotonin aesthetics” to “dopamine design”—bold, expressive visuals meant to spark joy, motivation, and energy. According to the 2025 iF Design Trend Report, this is a “micro-trend” driven by loud colors, bold contrasts, playful animations, and gamified experiences that tap into the brain’s reward response.

“Dopamine is the feel-good hormone... key to motivation, reward and joy.”

– iF Design Trends 2025

Gamification—offering small surprises or rewards—amplifies this further, giving customers a sense of play in everyday experiences.

Sticker Strategy:

Use bold color palettes and energetic phrases. Focus on positivity. Create designs that immediately trigger a smile and feel fun to show off. The louder the sticker, the better (as long as your core brand stays clear).

Mindshift Revolution: Identity, Mental Health & Design

The iF Design report describes a major cultural shift: “A new relationship between identity and society is emerging… Design is breaking away from gender-specific manifestations and allowing more freedom for personality development.”

This aligns with what we’re seeing from Gen Z and Gen Alpha shoppers. They want brands that reflect their values: authenticity, emotional awareness, gender neutrality, and inclusion.

“GenZ has become the gatekeeper of what’s hot and what’s not.”

— Zoe Amora Iranzo-Laurina

Mental health is also front and center in this conversation. Designers are leaning into concepts like the “digital detox” and “designs that de-stress.” As Pinterest and TikTok suggest, more people are searching for balance—designs that encourage mindfulness, calm, and getting outside to “touch grass.”

Sticker Strategy:

• Design with inclusivity and mental health in mind.
• Avoid outdated humor rooted in gender roles or stereotypes.
• Use affirming language that speaks to emotional self-care.
• Lean into the idea of touching grass and getting outside. Create stickers for skateboards, bikes and outdoor equipment and gear that people will use outside and use these items in your marketing campaigns. 
• Create journal-friendly stickers, tap into the junk journaling trend that is taking over TikTok or launch a mental health collab with a mental health awareness nonprofit.

Bonus idea: Stickers for moms. According to iF Design, today’s moms are high-powered multitaskers—working, raising kids, and running side hustles. Design stickers that speak to their lives: think water bottle-worthy sayings, personalized decals for digital devices, or custom designs featuring their kids, pets or favorite vacation spots. Make it easy for them to feel seen, organized, and a little more joyful. 

Nostalgia: The 2000s Are Back

Gen Z is bringing early 2000s nostalgia back—and Millennials are cringing right along with them. From WordArt fonts to flip phones and vintage animation, the internet is flooded with retro revival. Smart phones that look like flip phones are hitting the scene. Streaming services are serving up MTV classics and 90s cult films on demand. And with shows like Stranger Things turning old songs like Kate Bush’s "Running Up That Hill" into TikTok anthems, it’s clear: nostalgia sells. So buckle up your JNCOs, grab your digital camera and channel those Y2K vibes into sticker designs your audience won’t be able to resist.

Sticker Strategy:

• Pull from your childhood: early 2000s icons, tech, fonts, and color palettes.
• Make it funny, familiar, and meme-friendly. You never know - your next sticker design could land in a viral meme!
• Create collector's edition stickers. Dutch Bro's has created a sticker fandom by doing sticker drops that they promote on social media and in their app. 
• Think mall food court meets AIM profile meets Lisa Frank chaos. 

Final Thoughts

Consumers today are thoughtful, fast-moving, emotionally aware—and they love stickers. And whether you like it or hate it, GenZ is influencing the top trends for 2025. From joyful color bursts to grounded mental health messages, 2025 is all about creating with intention and impact. 

Create custom stickers that you would use. Design with empathy. And when in doubt—keep it colorful, conscious, and ready to stick.