There is a growing demand for solutions that reduce our footprint on the planet and your packaging design can be part of this change.
In this article, we look at the trends and tendencies that futurists predict for 2025 and how they can be integrated into your packaging design.
When designing your packaging, it’s important that you also look at the trends of the time. There will be trends and tendencies that will affect your customers and therefore affect their impression of your brand.
Your customers see your brand through today's trends
Your customers see your brand through today's trends
At the turn of the millennium, the trend was to cultivate an experience economy where we sought experiences outside ourselves with travel, entertainment and learning, but during the Covid pandemic, we were cut off from the great shared experiences and had more time to look inward.
Time for reflection, spending time with only the closest relationships and long walks and activities in nature have made us look inward and focus on ourselves as individuals - we now talk about the attention economy.
Broadly speaking, 2025 trends look towards simplicity and minimalism with a focus on reducing our carbon footprint.
"When we work with packaging design, creativity and insight into current trends come together. We keep up to date with trend research so we can help our customers get a packaging range that is not only functional, but also contemporary and strategically well thought out."
Focus on nature, balance and relationships in 2025
Focus on nature, balance and relationships in 2025
Our inner life, both physical and mental, is in focus, and is a natural extension of a megatrend these years; we are interested in nature and our inner life, relationships and presence. We practice yoga and forest bathing. We talk about connectivity.
Awareness and concern about climate change are also reflected in consumer preferences and this places demands on your packaging. Consumers today look at the whole product - including the packaging. They expect eco-certified materials and packaging solutions that incorporate eco-friendly design considerations such as easy waste sorting or recyclability.
And our perceptions of brands are coloured by current trends. A brown paper bag in the colourful 80s was boring and easily overlooked. Today, the brown bag might be made from recycled paper or FSC®-certified paper and symbolize something much bigger. It may appeal to a huge group of environmentally conscious consumers who want to reduce their carbon footprint in their consumption.
Consumers expect environmentally friendly packaging solutions
Use current trends as inspiration for your packaging design
Use current trends as inspiration for your packaging design
Designers, trend researchers and colour experts translate today's trends into materials, looks and colours, which can give you a lot of inspiration for your packaging design. In a well-thought-out packaging design, every element should of course signal the brand's values, but also reflect current trends.
It gives the customer a sense of authenticity and presence.
Design 2025: Minimalist, transparent and interactive
Design 2025: Minimalist, transparent and interactive
Packaging trends for 2025 are both minimalist and transparent. They prioritise simplicity to highlight the product itself. There should be simple lines and designs that are easy to decode - they bring a sense of confidence.
The use of interactive packaging with elements such as augmented reality or QR codes adds a new dimension to the packaging experience. For example, it can be used to educate the consumer about the product's environmental journey from cradle to grave.
Transparency around the environmental aspects of packaging will also be in line with consumer demands for more honest and environmentally friendly packaging, which the Digital Product Passport (DDP) will also support.
Functionality - more than just a packaging trend
Functionality - more than just a packaging trend
Packaging should of course protect your products, but it should also do more than that. Your packaging should be functional and make it easy for the customer to both transport and return the goods, and this should be integrated into the design.
It should also be able to be reused for other purposes afterwards. A shipping box that can be used for storage or a bag that can be reused as a backpack.
There are many exciting and innovative ways to make your packaging useful in multiple ways, and designing packaging that has multiple reuse options can be both an environmental and practical advantage.
Materials 2025: Materials that make a difference
Materials 2025: Materials that make a difference
A clear trend for 2025 is consumers prioritising climate-friendly options - also when it comes to packaging trends.
They prefer more environmentally friendly materials such as recycled paper or recycled plastic, environmentally certified materials, biodegradable materials and innovative alternatives such as paper made from grass.
We have an exciting future ahead of us in material manufacturing and there are many innovative experiments underway, such as seaweed plastic and mushroom pulp that can be moulded into packaging inserts.
Choosing more environmentally friendly materials signals to customers that you care about the environment and that you as a company are taking responsibility. It becomes part of your narrative without you having to put it into words, and it also fulfils legal requirements and provides tax benefits.
Choosing more environmentally friendly materials signals to customers that you care about the environment.
Colours 2025: Nature is the starting point
Colours 2025: Nature is the starting point
A general trend for colours in 2025 is the evocative colours we find in nature. The blues and greens we find in the sea and the forests. The dark purple - like the cool shade under the leaves of the trees and then a little splash of colour, yellow like the light or soft red-orange shades as a colour accent.
But it's not just about the tone of the colours. The colours have a natural minimalist aesthetic. Even matt, tactile surfaces in print and material remind us of the simple and natural.
You visually and sensually express your commitment to more natural and unprocessed processes, and you can actively use this in your packaging design.
NCS is the name of one of the world's leading companies in the world of colour. NCS is a standardised colour communication system and their colour codes are a tool that gives industries the necessary tools to always achieve the right colour on their products.
NCS is also inspired by current trends when developing its colour collections. In 2025, for example, they will launch four colour palettes; Gaia, On & Off, Inner and Ethereal. Names that in themselves remind us of nature and spirituality and at the same time indicate colour palettes inspired by the same.
Here's a little introduction to their 2025 colour universe:
Gaia
Gaia
A celebration of nature and water with a focus on blue and green tones.
The effects of climate change resulting in a drier, warmer world attract us to colours that remind us of our most important resource: water.
These colours have a calming effect and natural presence in our surroundings and daily lives.
On & Off
On & Off
We live in a world of huge contrasts and seek refuge in all extremes. Light and dark shades are combined with two chromatic colours (chromatic colours are pure colours that do not contain black, white or grey).
It symbolises unity.
We strive to express a sense of connection and hope by bridging our differences.
Inner
Inner
As we become more physical, we look inwards and reflect on our inner selves. Self-examination leads to a fascination with exploring our minds. Ultimately, we translate this into a neurodiversity of colours, ensuring that our colour choices are relevant to everyone.
The colours are warm and earthy, calling to our inner life. They are mid-tones of burnt earth, blue and golden.
They are strong, humanly connected colours.
Ethereal
Ethereal
Our realities become fluid and AI makes us go further into this state of mind. Who are we really and what do we want to be? Living in a multiverse introduces us to an ethereal atmosphere that floats around in different realities.
The colours are extremely delicate and light in a way that seems out of this world and are described as ethereal and beautiful.
Other colour systems and trend researchers are working with similar concepts. Pantone proposes a colour palette similar to NCS and the Pej group is also inspired by current trends.
And colours affect us.
The global trend research agency WGSN, for example, conducted a study where 98% of respondents said that colours have a clear influence on their purchasing decisions.
Warehousing and logistics 2025: Compact and stackable designs
Warehousing and logistics 2025: Compact and stackable designs
Packaging also has a life before it reaches the consumer, and it's a good idea to design the packaging to take up as little space as possible.
Compact and stackable packaging designs reduce storage space requirements. It also reduces transport costs by minimising the transport of excess air, allowing you to transport more packaging per pallet.
This will reduce the carbon footprint of transport, which is an important parameter at a time when most brands are increasingly operating with an e-commerce platform, which naturally requires a lot of packaging for shipping.
Legislation and trend in symbiosis
Legislation and trend in symbiosis
But it's not just consumers and trend researchers who are declaring interest in the environment and climate as the big trend.
The environment is now on the EU's agenda and this will also affect the requirements for your packaging design.
The EU has launched what is called the Ecodesign Regulation, which sets new environmental and circular requirements for virtually all products produced and sold in the EU, including packaging. The Ecodesign Regulation is part of the EU's ambition to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050 and establishes a framework of environmental requirements for product design that must be met before products can be placed on the EU market.
What is Ecodesign?
What is Ecodesign?
Ecodesign is a set of EU rules that ensure products and packaging are designed with low environmental impact throughout their lifecycle - from production to disposal.
It's part of the EU's Green Deal, which aims to make Europe carbon-neutral by 2050. In short, this means that your packaging should be as sustainable as possible.
Read more about the Ecodesign Regulation here.
The Eco-design regulation is continuously evolving and gives us both an incentive and a tool to design better packaging with more environmentally friendly measures.
Eco-design regulation becomes your licence to operate
Eco-design regulation becomes your licence to operate
Consumers expect companies to be at the forefront of the drive for more and more sustainable solutions.
When you actively contribute to environmentally friendly initiatives in your production and products, you not only fulfil legislation but also make it easier for your customers to choose products that support their values, giving you a clear competitive advantage.
When developing your packaging in collaboration with your packaging supplier and want to stay ahead of the Eco-design regulation, there are a number of topics you can consider in your design:
- Can you make your packaging more energy and resource efficient? For example, by using less material and designing packaging that fits the size of your products so you don't transport excess air.
- Can you design packaging with more recycled content?
- Can you use mono-materials to make packaging easy to recycle at disposal?
Can you improve the shelf life of the packaging and can it be recycled (e.g. when returning an item for online sales)? - Do you have targets for CO2 emissions and other environmental footprint?
- Make information about the product's environmental measures and disposal options clearly accessible (Digital Product Passport).
Do you need packaging that combines packaging trends and legislation?
Do you need packaging that combines packaging trends and legislation?
When you want to future-proof your unique packaging design to comply with legal requirements and reflect current packaging trends, it's a good idea to contact a packaging supplier.
At Scanlux Packaging, we know everything about design, production and legislation, and we will be your professional advisor and partner in the project.
We actively work to integrate sustainability and circular economy into our design processes and stay updated on legislation, current trends and innovative solutions.
Up to 80% of a product's environmental impact is already determined in the product design phase.
Our goal is to ensure that our customers are prepared for the future demands of sustainability and circularity by providing them with packaging design solutions that meet these demands to focus on recyclable materials, longer product life and minimising the carbon footprint.
You can get a no-obligation review of your existing packaging solution (we call it a 'design audit') where you will review your packaging designs and get suggestions on how you can optimise the design of your packaging range while meeting the Ecodesign regulation.
The quality of your packaging affects your customers' perception of your product. So does your design.
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