Curious About Culture: 2024 Trend Roundup

1. Our Quest for Joy, Amplified

The Consumer Trend Explained: Amidst the chaos of today’s world, including economic uncertainties and geopolitical tension, there is an increasing pursuit of authentic happiness. While the quest for joy is nothing new (the Seeking Optimism trend was highlighted last year) what sets 2024 apart is the intensification of this pursuit as consumers allocate more time, resources, and energy than ever before to embrace and amplify the joy they crave.

To achieve this, many are turning to tools such as mindfulness training retreats, joy coaches, and socializing prescriptions. With these resources, consumers are hoping to live a happier and healthier life in 2024. Cities like New York are also joining in on this trend by organizing events like Reading Rhythms and creating dedicated spaces such as Soft Space Wellness.

Design Trend Influence: Creatives are shifting away from bland brands and muted colors to favor something more exciting and dynamic. They are embracing design inspiration from various sources and combining them into a unique and eclectic mix. The result is a creative explosion of ideas that blends influences from different eras with a modern twist, which tends to include a creative color palette, diverse illustration references, and typography that breaks from the traditional san serif font collections. This “newstalgia” influence in design is a guaranteed way to bring a sense of familiarity and comfort, and even a smile to consumers’ faces.

2. Analog Resurgence in the Age of AI Growth

The Consumer Trend Explained: AI is enticing a return to all things human, analog, and primal. It’s no secret that AI is showing up in more and more spaces in our lives. The prevalence of tech is causing the equal-and-opposite reactions we expect, with consumers seeking balance through ultra-human, tactile, and old-school experiences. Think: increasing sales of vinyls and film cameras, limited-edition print-only art such as Nike’ free zine, Nike <3 NY, in partnership with indie fashion magazine HommeGirls.

Design Trend Influence: We are noticing a growing trend in design that incorporates handcrafted elements, such as hand-drawn illustrations, hand-lettering, and other crafts, into branding, packaging, and marketing materials. Doodles and sketches are also making their way into designs, offering a playful touch that adds a unique and personal feel to products, creating a sense of authenticity and human connection.

3. A Heightened Focus on Wellness & Aging

The Consumer Trend Explained: Health is still a top concern for consumers in 2024,, but the new focus is on healthy aging. (Anyone else fascinated by the Blue Zones docu-series trending on Netflix?). Across generations, consumers are seeking products that will help to support and prolong their lifestyles for now and decades to come. There is a growing emphasis on healthy aging, inspired by the concept of Blue Zones. These regions, known for their high concentration of healthy and long-lived individuals, serve as inspiration for creating environments that enhance well-being and prioritize longevity. In 2024, we will witness a shift towards adopting the habits and principles of these Blue Zone, including embracing plant-based diets, engaging in regular physical activity, fostering strong social connections, and ultimately having a balanced approach to physical and mental health.

Design Trend Influence: Consumers today want a real, relatable, empathetic experience and to know that brands understand their wellness wishes. This means design elements showcase transparency and authenticity—being real looks like having a human tone of voice, an easy-to-read, scannable information hierarchy, and using packaging and marketing to broadcast inclusive values and wellness, which shouldn’t feel like another item on a to-do list.

4. Untamed Individualism

The Consumer Trend Explained: A trend that speaks to one of the values here at Beardwood, untamed individualism is all about being anti-bland and challenging the restrictive societal expectations around maintaining perfection and standardization. We are seeing consumers accepting the chaos that is life, and leaning into the mess in a big, bold way. Terms like “goblin mode” and “carcass time” are trending on TikTok with people leaning into soft life, embracing bed head hairstyles, and intentionally miss-matched outfits.This rule breaking can also be seen in the food and beverage world with people rejecting the crunchy healthy better-for-you options in favor of ultimate indulgence with decadent mashups such as cheeseburger wraps or gummy candy kabobs.

Design Trend Influence: This rebellion against standardization translates to bold maximalism, distinguished by its embrace of elaborate packages exuding personality and unapologetic boldness. This aesthetic incorporates elements of tackiness, cringiness, glitziness, and sensory obnoxiousness to create visually striking and individualistic designs. The trend, marked by effortless drawings, ironic undertones, and bold typography, moves away from the simplicity of minimalism. There is a deliberate departure from understated norms as designers actively seek to challenge conventional aesthetics with a sensory overload that transforms ordinary packages into vibrant expressions of bold, maximalist creativity.