Adobe’s annual Creative Trends report looks at data to predict some of the biggest trends for the upcoming year – and the 2025 report suggests that next year’s creative trends could serve as both a break from reality and a reprieve from serious issues.
Announced on Tuesday, December 03, the Adobe 2025 Creative Trends report suggests surrealism and laughter will be key trends for the upcoming year, along with a mish-mash of past and future styles and immersive art installations.
The annual report looks at several creative industries – not just photography – and predicts what upcoming trends may be key for artists as well as brands and advertising. The impact of generative AI is noted in two of the four trends, an unsurprising move after many of Adobe’s software updates in 2024 focused on the rapidly expanding technology.
“The truth is that most new technologies are met with equal parts excitement and caution, especially by creatives whose tools and work patterns have become second nature,” Claude Alexander, the Adobe digital media B2B product and campaign marketing vice president, wrote in the introduction to the published report.
“Some leap at the chance to try new tools, while others may be more hesitant to change. That’s why one of the goals of this year’s report is to contextualize AI’s capabilities within the latest trends, and to demonstrate how creatives can use it as a tool within their process. AI is already having a profound effect on the output of businesses, brands and creatives, from design and video to animation and marketing.”
But will photographers that opt out of generative AI still be able to capitalize on 2025 trends? Yes; the authors of the report note that they have spotted the surrealistic trend dubbed Fantastic Frontiers in “traditionally produced commercial projects” as well as those that use generative AI.
Fantastic Frontiers: Adobe predicts surrealism will be a key creative trend in 2025
Fantastic Frontiers is the term the Adobe team gave to the predicted 2025 trend that describes magical worlds and an increasing desire for escapism. The report points to the growth of fantasy gaming and notes the success of recent advertising campaigns embracing a surreal world.
Adobe’s sample gallery of the trend often mixes the real world with the impossible, from a girl seated in a car surrounded by swimming goldfish to a floating television in the desert. Some images in the gallery are labeled as generative AI while others look as if they were made in a studio with specially designed props. Notably, infrared photographs pop up often in the surrealist collection of images.
Levity and Laughter: Adobe predicts humor will also go a long way in 2025
The second trend listed in the Adobe 2025 Creative Trends report is one undoubtedly influenced by one factor that tends to boost social media posts over others: humor. Adobe says that humor has been “media’s secret sauce” for a long time. But the report predicts brands will continue to use humor to make their message more engaging and memorable.
Outside of brands and advertising, the report notes that creatives could also use humor to tackle serious topics without feeling too heavy.
“Laughter and levity is a smart way to go in a year where there are an extraordinary number of elections around the world… you can address major issues such as mental health, sustainability, and political issues without courting controversy and dividing your audience,” Brenda Mills, the principal of consumer and creative insights at Adobe, wrote in the report.
Adobe’s sample gallery of images following the trend feel like the antithesis of the surrealist gallery, featuring more photographs than graphics with heavy use of genuine emotion and real world props.
Time Warp: Adobe predicts mixing vintage and modern will trend for 2025
The third trend listed in Adobe’s report may come as no surprise to photographers who have been watching the increasing trends towards retro cameras. Time Warp is a trend that Adobe says mixes that trend towards nostalgia with futuristic elements.
Like with the Fantastic Frontiers trend, Adobe’s gallery of images utilizing the trend seem to have heavy use of the AI label. But, the gallery’s AI-generated images of modern technology like VR with clothes and film simulations of previous decades could potentially spark inspiration for in-camera use of the trend.
The report’s final trend “cures screen fatigue” with immersive art installations and multi-sensoral experiences. Called Immersive Appeal, Adobe predicts more brands and creatives will tackle this trend by creating art that appeals to more than one sense at once.
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