Design Trends 2025

Fonk Magazine interviews Qindle’s Executive Creative Director Jason Kempen on the design trends of 2025.

Return to a Human Made World

What happened since we last spoke?

Jason Kempen, still just as enthusiastic as ever: ‘It’s been an action-packed year. The new leadership team is in place and our roles are more cemented within the organization. We’re strategically positioning ourselves for sustainable growth and long-term stability. One of the most significant trends we see, is the diversification of our client roster. We are continuing to evolve our work with longstanding larger clients, while also welcoming new players of varying sizes, including several start-ups, both internationally and within The Netherlands. This balanced client mix brings an energizing dynamic to the studio.

We’ve also continued to invest in our people this year – strengthening our strategy team, design team and marketing team with talented new hires. Working in deep collaboration with our clients, especially across such technical domains, we’re making sure our teams are supported on every level.

Looking to next year, we’re focusing on maintaining this rhythm: deepening and strengthening our existing relationships, as well as welcoming new, industry-disrupting clients across multiple categories – especially through our ventures platform. We’ve also enjoyed more face-to-face time with our clients. The last few months we did a lot of in-depth workshops and co-creation sessions. We noticed that companies are increasingly seeking a more grounded approach. These sessions allow people to step outside their daily routines, sparking new ideas and leading to fresh perspectives.

This is really fulfilling work for us – especially for the strategy team it’s exciting to have these types of conversations with our clients. But we still like to make it real, so digesting it all and making it actionable is key. We’re already looking forward to 2025 and setting the stage for the next wave of these interactions.

Sweet spot

That brings us right up to 2025. What new developments do you foresee for Qindle?

Kempen continues: ‘In the creative team we are constantly exploring ways to take our work to even higher levels. AI continues to dominate the conversations within our creative community – and rightly so – we’re seeing a real disruption in the ways that we work.

That said, for us the sweet spot is combining the best of both: human creativity and intuition, with the new possibilities that AI brings, especially in our visualization and motion work. It allows us to push the boundaries of creativity while continuing to deliver the work we’re known for.

Our work is often focused on making deep technology more understandable, bridging the gap between complex technological solutions and the audience that engages with it. Deep tech can come across as complex if you’re not familiar with it. Bit by bit, we want to break that mold by adopting more of an end-customer, use-case perspective and by making it more relatable. You already see this trend with more consumer-focused companies like Microsoft or Google – we see big potential to bring this approach to the wider B2B deep tech community, where many of the technologies, while being fundamental to our lives, can be difficult to understand, or even ‘invisible’.

Creative intelligence remains at the heart of what we do, and I’d say we want to really stay true to this as we continue to strengthen the relationships we have and gaining a deeper understanding of our client’s business needs. Building on what we have been doing this year, while planning together.’

2025: new trends, new perspectives, new technologies

As there are new developments for Qindle to predict, the same goes for the design-industry.

What do you expect and maybe hope for in 2025 in that respect?

‘I expect to see the generative AI trend maturing and becoming more embedded in our daily workflow. We are actively exploring its potential but remain dedicated to keeping our work strategically focused and creatively original. By staying on top of the developments, we’re able to navigate emerging trends and provide our clients with knowledgeable insights into what’s possible soon.

With the emergence of any new disruptive trend, there is always the countertrend emerge in response. In the case of AI, it’s about finding the balance between the possibilities that technology brings and maintaining the human-centered approach in design, development and decision-making. This Humanized-Technology trend, if you can call it that, is not about a return to analogue days, but it is about finding creative solutions that tap into human creativity while still feeling future-forward. If you ask me, that’s something incredibly inspiring, especially in today’s landscape.

It also speaks to the upcoming Generation Alpha. Connection, tangibility, a focus on simpler, straightforward things – but digitally native and highly savvy. For Qindle, this forms part of our design research, exploring how to shape the environments and experiences around our client’s products and for the generations to come.’

According to Jason sustainability can no longer be marked as a trend because it’s inherent in business and in our lives. It has a different look for every business, but today it’s a fundamental conversation within all parts of brand, product and marketing.’ Jason says. ‘There are so many approaches, but whatever you do, you must do something. And most importantly, it must be transparent and honest.’

Sweet spot

In the B2B tech space, the pace is going up, Jason says. And that creates momentum for both clients and the industry. Jason: ‘The work for B2B brands is becoming more explanatory and at the time as becoming more focused. As designers and strategists, we really are making a difference to help our clients translate their technologies and products in new ways, as there often is no preconceived idea about what these often quite abstract technologies need to or can look like. Certainly, for Qindle, as we work so closely with our clients and dive deep into their business – it’s a real partnership.

A core belief: Tap into the tactical relevance and storytelling power of consumer brands and find ways to leverage that for B2B. This comes back to the need to make things tangible for people that we spoke about earlier. Also, especially when it comes to tech marketing, it is just more deeply embedded within the business, and that really makes B2B the sweet spot for Qindle.’

Ambitious work for ambitious clients

What’s your tip for ambitious clients?

‘Take the time to craft, refine and really focus your story, and you’ll set the stage for something truly impactful.

It can be challenging to fully commit to one thing, but that’s where the magic happens – and for creatives this helps us make even stronger work.

My advice: Find your focus, embrace it, and the possibilities are endless.’

Download the article for the Dutch version here.