So, here’s the thing. We look at a lot of packaging design—a lot. This year,
we published over 1,700 pieces, a wide-ranging collection of interviews,
features, news items, editorials, and packaging projects. 

And that’s just the stuff that gets published.

Take an infinite scroll back through the year, and a detailed story about the
packaging space would start to unfold—you’d be in the know about the designers
and agencies you need to follow on Instagram and Behance, the innovative
packaging substrates that could potentially become a single-use plastic
killer, or what start-up brands everyone is fiending over.

But trends? Trends are hard.

You’re taking your best, educated guess at what the future holds, and while
every designer will tell you that they detest trends, they will happily gobble
up a few thousand words on the topic because it’s fun. Who doesn’t want
to play
Miss Cleo and tell
you about the next thing in design?  And, if you truly refuse to abide by
all of the latest trends, well then maybe you should pull a chair up and read
on just so you know what to avoid.

Of course, part of the problem with forecasting packaging trends is that
packaging touches so many things. Yes, we’re talking about design, but you
also can’t explore packaging without discussing branding and sustainability.
And while we’ve covered these topics in past trend reports, this year, it made
sense to break it down into those three distinct categories—package design,
branding, and sustainability—because the space demands that you take a closer
look at these three categories.

Oh, and did we mention there are 27 trends? That’s right. It’s Dieline’s
biggest trend report yet.

So strap in, folks. We’re going to cover a lot of ground. From cozy redesigns
and head-scratching brand collabs to YouTuber brands and making powdered
everything, we’re breaking down what 2023 has in store for the world of
package design, branding, and material innovation. And, yes, there will even
be mushrooms (again). 

Broken Promises

In 2008 Starbucks promised consumers that they would develop a recyclable cup
by 2015. Of course, that never happened, and while they have trialed reusables
and plastic-free cups and incentivized customers to use their own refillable
tumblers, back in 2015, they made another announcement saying that now they
will phase out single-serve cups by 2025.

A quick Google search of Dieline and 2025 will show you even more far-fetched
promises from brands that know more about moving the goalposts than disrupting
their supply chain and innovating with plastic-free materials.

You might even start to think that brands are waving the white flag—Coca-Cola
claims they want to collect a bottle for every one they sell, and that they’ll
use more recycled content, while STILL using virgin plastic. Coca-Cola and
PepsiCo could tell you tomorrow that they’re never going to sell a beverage in
plastic again, that they’re going to shift entirely to aluminum cans, but you
and I both know that’s never going to happen.

So, is this a trend? We guess it is, and we’re guessing it’s a trend of
sadness. The fact is, you can’t trust many of the major CPG players to get
this right, particularly when it feels like they can’t be transparent about
the goals and benchmarks they set for themselves.
Regardless, brands need to be held accountable for the waste they create
and distribute. 

If we’re looking for sustainable answers and innovation from the major CPG
players, we might need to start looking elsewhere.

Open Source Sustainability 

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Where do we draw the line between profit and progress? While we understand
that companies have to look out for the bottom line, when it comes to
sustainability—particularly with single-use plastic waste—we’re dealing with
an issue that affects the entire world in the immediate future. If companies
and brands don’t band together and share their sustainability discoveries, we
risk advancement in this space happening at a much slower rate than if
knowledge is openly shared.

And that’s why we’re excited to see more
open-sourced sustainability initiatives
in the packaging industry.

Colgate developed recyclable toothpaste tubes and has made the design information accessible to anyone,
royalty-free. Guacamole Airplane, a design studio focusing on sustainable packaging, lists their supplier guide online “to inform and encourage brands beyond our client base to work
toward better packaging solutions.” The same can be said for PlasticFree. Built “by creatives, for creatives,” this army of material scientists and
innovative dreamers work to solve the single-use plastic crisis by sharing
proven circular systems alongside material change and creating a veritable
library of inspiration. Because Ecovative open-sources some of their information, companies like Magical Mushroom Company can exist and further push the boundaries of what is possible in
eco-friendly packaging design.

By open-sourcing materials or information, processes and products can
essentially be double-checked by a different party. Knowledge from one
discovery can also get used to further other research and other research
beyond that. The phrase “a rising tide lifts all boats” couldn’t be more
fitting—and when it comes to the future of Mother Earth, shouldn’t we all be
in this together?

Sustainable From The Start

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There are a lot of considerations when starting a new company. Aside from
developing a product, raising money, hiring, designing a visual identity, and
so much more, many consumers expect a new brand to have some sustainability
bonafides.

We’re seeing many new companies put sustainability at the top of the list and
develop the entire enterprise in a way that creates the smallest ecological
footprint. That has inspired clever designs and solutions requiring no
compromises
for the planet.

Babies go through a lot of stuff. Unfortunately, that means a lot of plastic.
Juno
makes bassinets from organic materials, including durable cardboard components
and cotton mats (the shipping box also serves as a portable carrying case).
Woolybubs
makes infant shoes from a material that safely dissolves in boiling water. The
kicks are durable enough for a new human but also break down easily; even if
the Woolybubs don’t get boiled, they will biodegrade. Instead of shipping a
box inside another box, Woolybub’s packaging, made from 100% recycled
materials, serves as packaging and shipper.

But there are plenty of obvious ways to achieve this. Are you making a hip
nootropic wellness beverage or a mushroom-powered energy drink? Well, why
would you use plastic, to begin with?

Before Liquid Death,
Brita
was one of the original plastic bottle killers. The brand recently expanded
into the RTD space and built on the sustainability of its home products with
premium water in aluminum bottles.

It’s easy to take cheap shots against companies using materials like plastic.
But it’s more challenging for an established brand to upend its supply chain
to be more sustainable. That’s no license to continue using plastic, and
brands should be held accountable for their progress (or lack thereof) on
sustainable packaging. But let’s face it—if you’re a new brand, it will always
be easier to start with sustainability and stick to it than to course correct
down the road.

Mighty Mycelium Is the New Fun Guy On the Block

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As the search for plastic alternatives continues, many look to nature for
inspiration. By using organic substrates, brands reduce their dependence on
petroleum and synthetic materials like plastic. But they also create
single-use packaging that degrades in nature instead of festering forever in
our waterways, in sea life, and inside human bodies.

Expanded Polystyrene (EPS), Styrofoam, is a handy type of plastic. It’s
lightweight and can be formed into suitable shapes to protect fragile products
in shipping. But it’s also next to impossible to
recycle, and it’s particularly awful when it hits waterways as it floats and erodes
quickly, turning into ingestable pieces.

Mycelium-based substrates like
Ecovative
provide a sustainable alternative to materials like EPS. In 2022, we also saw
Adidas and Mr. Bailey use a mycelium-based substrate from
Magical Mushroom Company
to make the box for their OZULENT sneaker
collab. Candle packaging is a great use case for mycelium-based substrates. Like
EPS, materials made using mycelium can be custom formed into light, rigid
forms, but these fungus-based blocks naturally decompose. Personal care brand
Haeckles
also uses mycelium-based materials to protect its candles.

Life Element’s CBD bath bombs come packaged using compostable materials; the outer sleeve
is paper and surrounds a heat-treated mycelium-based, 2-piece box that
protects the fragile bath bombs from moisture and impacts, which would ruin
the product.

Replacing EPS with a compostable, organic alternative like mushroom packaging
is genuine progress, and we can look forward to seeing more brands take up the
‘shroom.

Materials of the Future

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We’ve always been material nerds. If there’s something completely insane you
can utilize for packaging, we’re here for it.

Material innovation is fast becoming the name of the game when it comes to
sustainability, particularly when the world’s most iconic and
recognizable beverage
maker is shooting for 50% recycled plastic in all of their packaging by
2030—that’s not going to cut it. More than ever, we need viable solutions and
genuine, scalable alternatives for single-use plastic.

Luxe personal care brand
Haeckels
underwent a refresh this past year and started using compostable jars and
tubes made from a biopolymer that’s essentially fish food called Vivomer.
Companies like
Newlight Technologies are capturing
carbon emissions
and creating new kinds of biodegradable plastics that can break down in water
or on land—there’s even a company taking air pollution and making inks with
it, similar to how
Johnnie Walker and Bulletproofdid this past year. And let’s not forget
beeswax,
carrot pomace,
coffee grounds,
potato waste, and
seaweed materials. If you really want full circularity, it helps if you’re using non-synthetic
materials. Duh.

Of course, all those things take time—no one is saying waste-free packaging
will happen overnight (though it would be nice if brands were a skosh more
committed to making it happen). But it’s OK to get excited about what the
future holds. Next thing you know they’ll be making packaging out of
pineapples.

Oh, wait,
they can already do that.

Bursting the Plastic Bubble

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Clear windows, plastic bubbles, clamshells.

It’s the dreaded plastic packaging decision we see in everything from pasta to
collectible toys, the reasoning of which has always been sound as it allows
shoppers to inspect the product. In the case of premium toys, the transparent
window or bubble lets collectors protect and display their items.

But pressure, legal or self-imposed, has companies redesigning packaging by
omitting those plastic bits. Toy maker
Hasbro
aims to eliminate nearly all plastic from its packaging by the end of 2022.
Packaging for all 6-inch figures will now come in cardboard boxes with “highly
detailed artwork” instead of the actual figure (though the toymaker will
continue to use blister packs for its retro and vintage 3.75-inch
collectibles).

As part of its 145th anniversary, Barilla turned to agency Robilant for a
brand
refresh, which included replacing plastic windows with eye-catching pasta
illustrations in European markets.

Pasta packaging doesn’t need plastic windows to be attractive and win over
consumers—we all know what spaghetti looks like by now. This year we saw Lupii
launch a line of lupine-based
pasta
with packaging design by Gander that wows through great typography and food
photography, with no plastic windows required.
Makaria
is a pasta brand that does more than remove plastic windows.
Alvardo Design and
Clara Vendrell‘s concept
uses upcycled wheat waste to create molded fiber packaging. The two-piece
boxes are biodegradable and feature striking illustrations of pasta.

There will be industries where removing plastic packaging features like
transparent windows and bubbles will meet consumer pushback, such as
collectible toys. The transition to plastic-free packaging means big changes
to the toy-collecting hobby. But the only ones crying
foul
are adults, not kids, and keeping grown-ass people devoted to amassing action
figures appeased at the expense of more plastic is perhaps one of the most
wasteful uses of the planet-choking material.

Refillable & Fabulous: The Best of Both Worlds

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We know the mantra: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. In a world where
sustainability is taking center stage, packaging that puts Reuse to good use
has flourished. Gorgeous and refillable packs give consumers the best of both
worlds—aesthetics and eco-friendliness.

Consumers increasingly report they
want to buy brands that embrace a purpose and champion sustainability, and refillable packaging satisfies today’s eco-conscious consumers.
Loop
was a big player that came onto the scene in 2019, offering food, beauty
products, and household essentials from well-loved brands like Herbal Essences
and Häagen-Dazs, all in reusable packaging. In recent years Unilever has set
up
refillable shampoo stations in select Walmart locations in Mexico
and for
other personal care at Target locations in the U.S.
While demand for refillable items exists, though,
actual consumer behavior may reflect a lower usage rate.

This intersection of pretty packaging and sustainability is where brands can
put more energy into improving that rate.
Haeckels
not only offers a discount for customers who want to refill their body care
items, but the packaging gets made from
Vivomer, a bio-polymer that’s
both industrial and home-compostable. Meanwhile, deodorant brand
Bite
makes reusable containers a thing of luxury. Refillables have touched other
industries, too, including healthcare, with sleek medicine bottles from
Cabinet Health.

It’s helpful to remember that Reduce, Reuse, Recycle gets listed in
that order for a reason. Recycling is a last resort, especially since
only 5% of plastic waste gets recycled in the U.S.
Aside from getting consumers to become more aware of what they use,
encouraging them to reuse what they can is one of the best ways to battle the
planet’s single-use epidemic.

Powder To The People

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If there’s one CPG product that’s tied to the space program, it’s
Tang. NASA engineers quickly realized that injecting water into a pouch filled
with the flavored powder made for an efficient, non-messy way of keeping
astronauts hydrated, even if Buzz Aldrin thought Tang
sucked.

But there’s a lesson that we can learn from that flavored orange beverage—add
water, stir, and maybe we can rid ourselves of plastic waste. And not just
powdered drinks. We mean powdered everything.

Brands love to moan about how hard it is to go sustainable, but one of the
best-kept secrets in reducing your carbon (and packaging) footprint is to
remove the water from your product. After all, how much water constitutes some
of the products we love? Ketchup, for instance, is about 70% water. But if you
buy
AWSM Sauce, a line of powdered condiments, you skip out on the plastic bottle and get a
pouch of deliciously flavored powder you add water to in your own jar. It’s
that easy AND tasty. There are also
smoothies and
fizzy drinks
in Alka Seltzer form.

Powdered products aren’t anything new, but consumers are catching on to the
fact that when you ship products, often you’re just shipping around a lot of
H2O that you can provide yourself. It’s coming for your bathroom as well.
Blueland
was already doing this with cleaning products, but they’ve since expanded into
skincare.
Want powdered shampoo and conditioner? Try
Meow Meow Tweet. And, if you ever long for the suds of your youth,
Mr. Bubble
will always have your back.

So take note young brands—be like Tang. Just add your own water.

Literally “Literal” Typefaces 

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Proprietary typefaces have been all the rage for years. So long as they exist
as another line for an agency’s invoice to a client, they’re likely not going
anywhere anytime soon, even if they look like
Helvetica
knockoffs straight out of Canal Street.

Recently, some agencies have taken direct inspiration from the brands
themselves, incorporating some of their notable attributes and characteristics
into bespoke typefaces. Sure, it’s not uncommon to see some thematic details
worked into a logo, but some brands are willing to take it further.

There’s no better example than
JKR’s refresh for Kraft Mac & Cheese. Dubbed Blue Box Sans, the shape of Kraft’s noodles makes its way into the
typeface and has an over-the-top—but adorable—macaroni-powered shelf presence.
Auge’s redesign for
Leibniz-Kek
takes the rounded edges of the biscuits themselves, applying them to the
customized logo and type used throughout the project.
Casey Roarty’s design for chili oil
Gulp
takes the oily drips from the logo and works it into other parts of the
branding suite and typography, while
Collected Works’ Slug Club uses
sea slugs to form the letter shapes for a funky, fun kombucha.

Quirky, imaginative letterforms are all the rage, boldly-shaped formations
that break from the stranglehold of Helvetica and Futura. Look for more
thematically on-point typefaces that express a brand’s individuality and add a
little more pizzazz in the process.

Not-So-Simple Wordmarks

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Some of this year’s most striking wordmarks kept things straightforward, but
that doesn’t mean brands sacrificed cleverness for the sake of minimalism.
These wordmarks say more with less and beg you to read between the lines.

Facile, for example, has a crisp and colorful design, but the word itself,
facile, is Italian for easy or simple.
Bath Bomb
is just that, but the fun, squiggly font mimics the fizziness of the product
when it’s dropped in water.
Neat
keeps things clean, quite literally, with a design that works perfectly with
their personal care and home cleaning products. And if you like greenery in
your home—ahem, of the cannabis variety—then
Houseplant
has you covered for all the sophisticated paraphernalia your heart could
desire.

That we get bombarded with
four thousand marketing messages on the daily
makes a no-nonsense brand name a bit of a mental relief. But the surprise and
delight that comes when realizing there are hidden layers underneath connect
consumers to the brand in a significantly more meaningful way.

Inspired Regionalism

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Give us the vibes and nothing but the vibes.

You know all about
travel through packaging
as discussed in last year’s Trend Report. Now brands are all about gentle nods
toward destinations and other cultures—enough to evoke the feelings of a place
but not enough to look like tourism board-approved swag at a souvenir shop.
Think of these designs as going to your friend’s house and having a cocktail
while they show you a slideshow of their best Greek island vacation photos.
Instead of beachy sunsets and palm trees, it’s all about textures, patterns,
and design motifs that celebrate a destination’s culture.

Take Harry Styles’ beauty line,
Pleasing, which looks almost as good as a holiday on the Mediterranean with its
cobalt blue and sun-drenched yellow hues. Sonoran Desert-inspired
Parch uses adorable
desert illustrations paired with a Southwestern US and Mexican design-inspired
layout. Whole Foods’ exclusive bourbon whiskey
Rustic River
features a Kentucky waterfall in the background of the label—not any one
waterfall in particular but one that’s representative of what it feels like to
explore and find one in the wilds of the state.

Brands and individuals fear the ominous cancel culture, but at the same time,
consumers crave something simple and feel-good after
life got turned upside down by COVID. Packaging that gives us pure vibes is satisfying yet flexible—something
that fits into our lives rather than forcing it the other way around.
These designs may not be the most groundbreaking, but they do harken back to
distinct cultures in a non-offensive way, and are comforting and fun in their
own right.

Collage Core

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Welcome to impossible fantasy worlds. 

Brands are creating surreal designs and turning their packaging into a vibrant
canvas with collage techniques. Besides, who doesn’t like playing around with
a little Mod Podge and some old magazines (or at least pretending on
Illustrator and PhotoShop)?

Mad Lemon’s
kitchen sink aesthetic radiates with psychedelic-tinged images for their
lemonade-based cocktails, while
Magia Negra
brings a soothing ethereal vibe to their coffee liquor bottle. Kilinga’s
bacanora packaging from Colangelo and
Algoritmo Design spices things up with a
label featuring a collage of desert flora interweaved with portions of the
female form. The punk rock-inspired
Tank Garage Winery
has been doing this for years but most recently created a mystical image of a
woman wearing a helmet made of crystals for their
crystal-fermented wine. 

Liquor brands have been doing this for ages, but it’s interesting to see how
other brands outside of that category experiment with the technique/aesthetic.
Day Job made the “chuegyest shit” you’ve
ever seen for sustainable bottled water brand
Gen Z Water
by utilizing 90s-styled computer graphics featuring seals puking waterfalls
and orangutans resting on boom boxes.
ToiletPaper Magazine also
released a beauty and cleaning line with surrealist graphics and a bizarre
POV—retro images of spaghetti on dish soap? Let’s do it.

Bottom line—it’s OK for brands to get a little weird! After years of primped
and preened visual identities and blanding, brands are still getting out of
their comfort zone and giving consumers something extra. Frankly, it’s a
welcome sight.

So get out those scissors and glue sticks, kids. Channel your inner
Bob Pollard.

I Still Love the Old World 

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We’re all drowning in the aesthetics of yesteryear. For every significant
brand redesign, it feels like designers look to the archives and bring back
retro elements, just “refined.” But why try to emulate the 70s, 80s, 90s,
or—heaven forbid—the early aughts when you can look back even further to the
Old World?

Blink and you might miss it, but brands are going back to basics with elements
of classical design, whether it’s inspiration from Greek gods and goddesses,
Art Nouveau flourishes, or Renaissance-leaning looks. This past year,
Botticelli-esque nudes grace
OLDKNOW’s
spiked seltzer cans, while the silhouette of Cere, the Greek goddess of
agriculture, dominates
Ceria’s
non-alcoholic beers.
Royal Salute
is a blended Scotch whiskey fit for royalty, and
Le Leccia’s
olive oil is the very definition of sophistication. 

And, yes, you can find Beyonce stately perched atop a horse on her new album
cover like she’s
Lady Godiva
while pranksters
MSCHF made holy water. Er, sacred seltzer.

Not only is there something lush and gentle about those designs, but the
familiar classic looks add a touch of elegance. And maybe—just maybe—it’s
giving cottage core,
coastal grandma vibes? Who says you can’t class up the joint anyway?

Stickermania

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An emoji is worth a thousand words. Case in point: you can text your best
friend a string of smileys, and they’ll understand exactly what you mean, no
words needed. Sure, some may claim peoples’ attention spans have shrunk, but
perhaps we’re just using modern-day hieroglyphs. Either way, stickers
communicate something quickly in a way that all those wordy words cannot.

Brands are leaning more and more into the quirky, playful appearance that
stickers can give—a mishmash of thoughts and ideas that’s reminiscent of Lisa
Frank’s zany illustrations or middle school math class where you’d decorate
your favorite notebook with doodles and actual stickers. 

Glonuts
and
Henry Mantecas
use stickers to bring the consumer’s attention to valuable product
information, like the flavor, carb content, or the type of ingredients. In the
case of
Crema Colada, the graphic stickers look just like ones you’d find on fruit in the produce
section—an adorable approach for a drink with pineapple and coconut flavors.
GoodPop
and the
Fishwife and Fly by Jing collab
use a combo of sticker-like graphics that reflect the product itself, but they
also add a sense of joy and playfulness. Stickers can also get incorporated as
part of secondary branding or assets, like with the heating sleeve of
Hot Pockets
or snack brand Toodaloo.

Thanks to emojis, memojis, GIFs, and photo and video social media apps, visual
imagery has become a common way to communicate with others. At first glance,
it might appear chaotic, but the designs harness an addictive, youthful energy
with a method to its madness.

NFT Creatures From Beyond

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Since we started googling “what’s an NFT” in 2021, we’re now witnessing brands
bring the cartoon aesthetic that has dominated much of the space. Yes, we’re
all bored of bored apes, and they have most likely worn out their welcome. But
brands are still bringing adorable, anthropomorphic characters to their
packaging, particularly in the beverage world. 

Often, these cartoony personalities serve a dual purpose—sure, they’re fun and
lively, but if you create a few thousand of them and sell them as NFTs, they
can help a startup raise capital and drum-up interest. Functional beverage
Leisure, for instance, created over 4,500 “leisure creatures,” inviting folks to
fork over cash (er, ether) and get community perks like suggesting new flavors
or accessing “partner experiences” (but, let’s be honest here, mostly to get
their money to fill their coffers).

But even beyond these Web3 beverages, plenty of brands deploy cartoony
mascots. Companies like
Jibby, Fillo’s, and Yummos
have trotted out adorable, fun characters to win over consumers as they help
build the brand’s personality and give them a playful boost. What’s more, they
can become a natural extension of a brand’s identity, something beyond just a
wordmark or logo. If you think of Coca-Cola’s brand world, it’s more than just
an iconic logo and memorable glass bottle—frolicking polar bears are just as
synonymous with the brand.

Mascots and cutesy figures are nothing new, and it’s not necessarily a
surprise to see such a renewed interest in them—after all, they humanize a
brand and help make it more approachable. We just didn’t think there would be
so many.

But, hey. There’s merch that needs selling, guys.

The Comfy Redesign

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The current economic outlook is cloudy. Inflation has hit consumers with
rising prices on practically everything. As expenses balloon and stress over
making ends meet collide, folks are looking towards their old, budget-friendly
brand favorites to stretch paychecks and fill up on yummy, carb-loaded
classics.

This year, we saw several brands that fit the bill go through refreshes that
highlight the warm and familiar comfort of their offerings. The JKR
refresh
of Kraft’s Mac & Cheese retains the soothing blue and oozy yellow in a
flattened design that includes a bespoke typeface inspired by the rounded
curves of elbow pasta. Moreover, JKR’s Kraft refresh adds a prominent place
for the satisfying drip that comes off a spoonful of macaroni and cheese.

Nestlé-owned Hot Pockets is another comfort brand that underwent a refresh in
this Not-A-Recession year. Hot Pockets is the kind of frozen food that isn’t
winning many culinary accolades, but it hits the right flavor notes, for the
right audience for not a lot of coin. The brand turned to the agency
Interact to create a new brand
identity that plays to Hot Pocket’s strengths by leaning into its munchies
legacy through a dynamic, comics-like graphic system that’s fun and relatable.

There’s also less cash for eating out these days, and many of us are more
comfortable in our kitchens after spending the last couple of years at home
anyway. Within this reality, cookware stalwart Pyrex
recently
turned to Pearlfisher to refresh the brand to encourage consumers to cook at
home, even if every dish isn’t Insta-worthy. The illustrations have a homey
look with varying widths and patterns seemingly drawn by a Sharpie marker
that’s both clever and confidence-boosting.

The latest global economic outlook
report
from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) sees a continued slowdown in the
world economy, citing inflation, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and
lingering effects of the pandemic as reasons for the weakest slowdown profile
since 2001, save for the 2008 financial crisis and the most acute period of
COVID.

Get ready for more wallet-friendly brands to undergo refreshes as consumers
turn to them for some comfort in these trying times.

Groovy Feels

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Whether you lived through the Age of Aquarius or just really, really wish you
did, packaging design inspired by psychedelia is giving us a trip through the
60s and 70s. Psychedelic art flourished during this age when drugs like magic
mushrooms and LSD were popular. Plus, it was an era of free love, man!

This instantly recognizable aesthetic—band posters with bubbly, almost
amorphous letters, dreamy depictions of animals like peacocks, and humans with
luscious, flowing hair—pulled a lot of influence from Art Nouveau. This “new
art” came about during the late 1800s and early 1900s, a time of technological
change, so artists wanted to highlight the beauty and vibrancy of life in
response. Their work incorporated plants and flowers, abstract lines and
shapes, elegant figures living their best life, and juicy color palettes.

Today, we’re going through unbridled change, just like society was back in the
Psychedelic 60s. Between political strife, racism, and war, these far-out
designs remind us of the beauty in life. We’re seeing a resurgence of this
design with heaps of
trippy typography, including
Crooked Coffee
and
Alive. Other brands like
Mad Lemon and
wine from Pedro Ximenez
give us divine visuals with punchy color palettes.

As we look ahead, we can first take a gander back to see that Art Nouveau was
followed by Art Deco. Perhaps we’ll soon enter an era of more angles and
symmetry—but for now, we really dig the groovy vibes of this trend.

Unconventional Brand Collabs

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In an age of fast-moving social media, brands have teamed up to capture the
world’s attention for a day. Every week, there’s a new publicity stunt that’s
more creative—and unhinged—than the last.

Some brand mashups make sense. A Jack Daniels and Coca-Cola RTD
cocktail? A natural fit. But this year, we witnessed some mashups that are more
unconventional.

In 2022, we saw Mondelez team up its brands
Ritz and Oreo
to create a new, salty-and-sweet snack that combines both and sparked plenty
of conversation. Hipster favorite Milk Bar recently
collaborated
with Fruit of the Loom for a modern holiday collection. Earlier this year,
pancake purveyors IHOP and Pepsi released a viral
collab
that mixed maple syrup with cola. Finally, beauty brand HipDot and instant
ramen legend Cup Noodles worked
together
on a makeup collection inspired by the noodle snack. What about
adults-only Happy Meals
from McDonald’s and Cactus Plant Flea Market, and are you brave enough to try
French’s Mustard Dough Doughnuts? 

There seem to be no signs of unexpected brand collaboration, and we expect to
see more brands band together to create limited-edition products that sell out
before you get a chance at one. That said, we probably don’t need another
4Loko and Fleshlight
collab.

Eat The Rich

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The planet is boiling and buried in plastic. Still, the world’s
billionaires—say, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos—are spending
truckloads of money on colonizing new planets, creating virtual metaverses
instead of fixing the home we have now, or union-busting. The
Kardashians
use 300,000 gallons of water in the summer; meanwhile, California asks
everyone else to conserve throughout neverending drought conditions. 

The resentment towards the 1% is genuine, with research from
Pew
showing roughly 3-in-10 Americans feel billionaires are worse for the country.
You can even find it in the
movies with the likes of The Menu and Triangle of Sadness.

Brands and agencies are taking that populist attitude towards the wealthy and
adding a dose of playfulness.

Velveeta, for example, has positioned itself as a luxurious and opulent product, a
play on years of being considered low-brow and “fake cheese.” In this
Not-A-Recession, cheesy, gooey, warm Velveeta sauce drizzled over humble food
is about as close as the hoi polloi will get to a Michelin-starred meal. Are
they pouring on the satire with its La Dolce Velveeta campaign? Do we really
even want a
cheesy martini?

Art collective MSCHF poked fun at the billionaire uber-class with a set of
frozen
treats
on a stick that resembled the likes of Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg, and Gates.
Similar to ice cream snacks with faces from our favorite superhero and cartoon
franchises, the treats remind one that while we want to eat the rich, we also
keep using their products. We can’t escape the ultra-wealthy, but thanks to
MSCHF, we got to live philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s
words
as a tasty frozen snack.

Investment advisor firm Vanguard
forecasts
that global markets, except China, will continue to be affected by
inflationary and supply-chain pressures, with an increase in unemployment.
There’s little reason to believe that negative sentiment toward billionaires
will suddenly turn positive in a sustained down economy.

Updated Delivery Systems 

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We love it when brands take nearly forgotten product delivery systems of the
past and update them in new, fun ways for consumers. 

TakePzaz
and its Binaca roots—instead of doling out fresh breath, they spray misted
energy down your throat. Or considerPlink
and those Alka Seltzer vibes. Just drop one of these tablets in your drink,
and you’re not only being eco-conscious, but you’re getting a tasty, fizzy
beverage without the single-use plastic bottle.

The humble whipped cream can is for more than just topping off a slice of pie
now. Sure, our former middle school self stans an Easy Cheese nozzle shot, but
what if you could put
ranch or blue cheese dressing
in one of those cans for a more decorative ??hors d’oeuvre presentation. And
what about sunscreen? Because that’s just what the retro-fantastic luxury
sunscreen brand
Vacation
just did.

Products like these have a nostalgic kick built into their design, and using
packaging that typically has another more well-established use, gives
consumers something to jaw about online and create silly TikTok Videos.

So what’s next? Body wash in soda cans? Cannabis in sardine tins? What about
butter in a Magic 8 Ball? 

All signs point to yes.

Year of the Designated Driver

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No alcohol, no problem.

We’ve reported before on the rise of non-alcoholic booze, but 2022 took it to the next level. Due to
the desire for a healthier lifestyle and the sheer cost of alcoholic
beverages,
drinking rates have declined worldwide since 2000. Furthermore, as a result of the pandemic, drinking did increase,
but the number of people drinking alcohol actually decreased. In tandem, we’ve seen plenty more low- and no-alcohol options pop up,
meaning no one even misses that ABV.

Still, Americans turned to the bottle to deal with
pandemic-related stress, and plenty of us needed a break.

Canned mocktails were a hit this summer, with designs ranging from folklore-inspired
Wild Folk
to RuPaul’s delightfully retro
House of Love. Non-alcoholic aperitif
Figlia
is no-nonsense and sophisticated, reflecting the drink’s “all-natural ingredients, no added sugars, no preservatives, no pressure.”
Surely
also goes for simplicity, giving us a classy wordmark and minimalist approach.
Meanwhile,
Amplify
looks like a gorgeous piece of abstract art, giving consumers a feast for the
eyes and an array of refreshing tasting notes. 

With these beverages, consumers can enjoy unique flavor profiles and creative
ingredient combinations in the same way someone might admire a lovely French
cabernet or a finely crafted cocktail. They’re not hiding that they lack
alcohol, although they may play up the appeal of a night out experience. Since
these low- and no-alcohol options have become more prominent, we’re naturally
getting the same innovative and stunning packaging design that we’ve seen for
years in the wine and spirits space.

DTC Now Includes IRL

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For the last few years, nearly every Consumer Packaged Good (CPG) startup
launched as Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) stans. Who needs Big Box Retail when you
can reach your target consumers online without spending all that money and
effort to land on a Target shelf? 

And yet, Dirty Lemon eventually arrived at
Walmart. Likewise,
Glossier is now at Sephora.

Startups now understand that you can’t ignore a physical presence. Brands
might launch with a DTC play, but many are now chasing retail sooner than they
might have as recently as a year or two ago. Retail isn’t just landing in
Walmart or Target; it also means regional distribution deals with supermarkets
like Whole Foods, Erewhon, and Gelson’s.

New digital commerce platforms like GoPuff and Foxtrot can bridge the gap
between the costs and friction of DTC and retail. Consumers not only turn to
services like GoPuff for convenient delivery of snacks and booze, but these
apps keep customers coming back to discover new products, like
Good Eat’n. The conventional path to big retail is no longer the only IRL path for
emerging brands—pop-up stores like
Pop Up Grocer
are becoming destinations for adventurous consumers looking for the newest
products.

“The middleman has become more of an ally as opposed to an obstacle,” says
Andrea Hernández, snack trendspotter and founder of
Snaxshot. “Pop-Up Grocer is just starting
their first headquarters but has had an impact already as a validation for
brands. Stores like Pop-Up Grocer, Foxtrot, and independent grocers likeMonsoon Market, have become beacons of what’s cool, trendy, and new.”

“I do think we’re starting to see a redemption arc for the middleman,” Andrea
added.

Mushroom Hype Is Real—No Cap.

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Last year, the New York Times
declared
mushrooms the ingredient of 2022, and they’re making their way into scores of
products (even Bjork
albums). 

Riding the alt-meat trend, mushrooms are popping up as the base for
plant-based proteins like Meati, which
promises animal-free alternatives to popular meats like steak and whose drops
sell out fast. In the snack food aisle, we saw the debut of
Popadelics, a mushroom-based, vacuum-fried, better-for-you vegan crisp. The branding
and packaging, by agency Freshmade,
incorporate psychedelic graphics as a nod to mild-altering fungi like
psilocybin (Popadelics won’t get you high, though).

The decriminalization of psychedelic mushrooms has perhaps nudged interest in
fungi with purported positive effects on health and well-being, as they have
proven helpful in treating depression and
PTSD. But totally legal mushrooms like chaga, lion’s mane, reishi, and cordyceps
get used in brewed teas and coffees from brands such as
North Spore
and
Inlands Mushroom Coffee. This year, RTD kombucha brand
Rowdy Mermaid
expanded with a line of sparkling “clarity tonics” featuring lion’s mane.

So as the fungus among us continues to sprout up in pop culture, packaging,
and the grocery aisle, be on the lookout for those functional friends, as the
market can expect
even more growth.

YouTuber Brands

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Smash that like button and order some burgers.

Celebrities parlaying their fame and fortune into new brands and business
ventures are nothing new. What’s unique is the rise of brands helmed by online
streamers and content creators that your kids spend hours watching on Twitch,
YouTube, and TikTok. 

In 2020, YouTube sensation Mr. Beast successfully launched MrBeast Burger, a
chain of virtual, delivery-only restaurants that continues to
expand
nationally, including the recent grand opening of a non-virtual location that
drew
10,000 fans. Early in 2022, content creators Logan Paul and KSI launched
Prime, a line of hydration drinks initially sold via heavily hyped drops that sold
out quickly. Now you can score Prime at retailers like GNC, Walmart, and ASDA.

Betches is a female-led media giant with a community of 45 million that rose
to prominence thanks to its ability to leverage social media platforms like
Instagram and TikTok. The female-focused social media giant took what it knew
about its followers to develop an RTD cocktail line in partnership with Gallo
called
Faux Pas
with bright, approachable branding and packaging.

Brooklyn and Bailey McKnight
have amassed nearly 7 million subscribers on YouTube with their vlog-style
videos. The twins recently launched itk (“in the know”), a skincare line, as a
Walmart exclusive this year. Focused on simplicity, affordability, and
transparency, itk leverages the direct feedback of Brooklyn and Bailey’s
millions of subscribers and followers.

Fans of new media stars respond to the sense of authenticity these creators
present to their audience. Online platforms allow fans and celebrities to
engage directly with each other, and the current crop of social media stars
are digital natives that best understand what it means to be famous in the age
of content creators because it’s what we have always known. 

Hi-Tech Plants

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When Beyond and Impossible came onto the scene in the 2010s, they brought a
product so meat-like in texture, taste, smell, and appearance that my little
vegetarian heart could hardly handle it. Over time, these brands won consumers
over, offering an option to lessen or eliminate meat consumption—something
better for health, better for the environment, and better (or at least
different) than the
Morningstar Farms
brand that seemed to long dominate the veggie meat section.

Nearly one in four in the U.S. report cutting back on meat, and the number of people in the country dedicated to
plant-based diets has surpassed 9.7 million. With growing numbers and interest, brands can experiment more with
ingredients, flavors, and packaging.

Simulate
leans into the forward-thinking, lab-created aspect of their products, while
Prime Roots
will make you look twice because their packs look like they come straight from
the deli.
Nowadays,
Mantra, and
Meati
lean into taste appeal.
Peas of Heaven
has an elegant, downright divine look,
Nuaqui
looks hip and modern, and
Carrot Dog is
fun and playful. And these are strictly plant-based meats—other plant-based
brands like
Camp do nostalgically premium packaging, while
Wholly Veggie
uses a punchy color palette and bubble letters that pop on the shelf.

The bottom line? When it comes to designing plant-based products, anything is
fair game.

Mundane Luxury

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It’s one thing to treat yo’self to a big-ticket item, but 2022 proved that
anything and everything feels a little bit luxe. After all, we spent much of
2020 and 2021 social distancing and stuck at home, so it makes sense we’d want
to look at things that actually look nice. If you’re not able to engage
in pricier
revenge spending, then this everyday luxury for the most common of items proves that even in
the face of an economic downfall, it’s possible—nay, necessary—to
indulge. 

Elegant lighters
for lighting fancy candles. A
delightfully designed cheese
that transforms the dairy compartment of your fridge into a thing of beauty.
Feminine hygiene products
that make menstruating a little less painful.
A gorgeous, refillable deodorant stick
to turn those armpits into a rose garden.
Chic dog food packs
for our furry BFFs. The ordinary becomes extraordinary.

It’s no news that
we’re heading into another recession,
battling epic inflation, and floating along a
sea of stagnant wages. Consumers will continue to look for products they interact with daily to
boost their serotonin, even just a little, and design can play a part. For the
near future, at least, it might be the only way folks can genuinely splurge

Benchwarmer Aesthetic

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Welcome to the next generation of hydration.

Long the domain of uber triathletes and gridiron gods, the Gatorades,
Powerades, and Vitamin Waters of the world have asserted their sports
supremacy for decades, resulting in a visual aesthetic built on athletic
extremes and performance enhancement of the non-steroidal variety.

But it’s also fair to say that the category has not only grown tired but that
our idea of what a “sports beverage” is might be changing. Athletics no longer
just constitute sportsballs and their ilk—there’s gaming and hiking, two
opposite ends of the spectrum, sure, but they also point to a new generation
of thirst-quenchers. Nootropic beverage brand
Local Weather’s
entire ethos stems from this central idea—that we need to consider movement
and the mind when replacing electrolytes. That means basketball, yes, but it
could also mean TikTok dances, a day-long DnD fest, chess, rollerskating, or
painting.

Beverages like
Courtside
and
Almighty Active
have an endearing, preppy shine and wouldn’t seem out of place at the US Open,
even if their vibe is more local pickleball league. Yes, some of these drinks
come loaded with caffeine or electrolytes, but there’s less emphasis on
performance and more focus on fun, casual hangs where you might break a sweat.

Sports beverages share some DNA with the energy drink sector, but some of
these drinks are making a play for an evolving audience, too.
Juvee offers
“rejuvenating energy” with a decidedly non-aggressive Monster shine (and a
more curated 7-Eleven cooler mainstay).
Madrinas Coffee
is a caffeinated powdered beverage made specifically FOR gamers that promise
improved performance but with flavor illustrations that are definitely not
Gatorade lightning bolts.

And do we have a
Gym Weed (er,
“hemp extract”) now? Yes, there’s even a Gym Weed. 

So whether you’re hounding beasties in a dungeon crawl, entering a cornhole
competition, or chasing your personal best marathon time, there’s a beverage
for you.

Trend Report by: Theresa Christine, Bill McCool, & Rudy Sanchez