Looking forward to 2025

Designers are culture makers and trend setters. At Selma Digital we stay on the cutting edge of digital design and innovation through constant immersion and education. Kicking off 2025, here are some key insights and predictions that you can expect to see more of this year.

The Growing Demand for Authenticity in a World of AI

Forecast from Tess Weinberg

More and more, we have a hard time knowing if something is “real” or not. Earlier this year, I saw an ad campaign for a fashion brand that was eerily ethereal. It wasn’t until closer inspection and some online searching that I realized they were showcasing their new AI-generated model campaign for that season’s wear. The images were striking and a bit creepy, which I believe was their intention—the campaign did its job. It stuck with me.

But it wasn’t the fashion that stood out. It wasn’t the brand name I remembered. It was the feeling of, “Is this real?” And furthermore,“Am I supposed to believe this is real?” The uncertainty makes the viewer uneasy.

Why is it so unsettling to not know for certain whether or not something is “real”? Besides the romantic notion that it is in our human nature to seek the truth, I think from a consumer standpoint, it’s about trust. If a fashion model is AI-generated rather than existing in the real world, who’s to say the clothes the model is wearing aren’t made up, too? Who’s to say the brand itself is real and I’m not being scammed somewhere down the line?

With the omnipresence of AI-generated content, I can see more “real” objects breaking through the digital noise. I believe a trend for 2025 is authenticity: authentic humanness. Content and products that have a proven human hand and touch stand out boldly against AI-generated content. Consumers and users can recognize when something doesn’t feel authentic, and some AI-generated content can feel gimmicky.

At Selma Digital, we have explored many ways to utilize AI. Over the past year, we’ve found AI to be useful for brainstorming, note-taking, as well as organizational and administrative tasks. This frees up the team to focus on creating our own designs, reports, and libraries. The return to authenticity in the digital realm feels like comparing a handmade ceramic mug to a mass-produced one: they both serve the same purpose, but one feels far more special. When a product—digital or physical—feels authentic, it becomes more precious, coveted, and cared for.

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We are seeing the human touch reappear in a few design-specific ways that are worth highlighting:

#1 Fonts

Creative Boom’s Top 50 Fonts for 2025 highlights a growing preference for hand-drawn styles. Of the 50 fonts mentioned, 8 feature a hand-drawn element. From the bold, sign-painter quality of Obviously Extended to Gooper, the “sticky typeface made for the use of squishy, living things,” there’s a clear appreciation for the powerful expressiveness that human-inspired fonts provide—a quality absent in minimalist sans-serif fonts.

#2 Gifts

The Rise of Handmade Christmas Gifts reflects a growing trend toward meaningful, handcrafted items. In my family, handmade gifts were always a tradition. My mom would make me custom dresses, and my brother would draw us pictures. These were always my favorite gifts to give and receive.

It seems the rest of the world is embracing this sentiment. Google searches for “handmade Christmas gifts” surged by 5,000% over the past year. This surge can’t solely be explained by the pandemic’s crafting boom. Even if people aren’t making gifts themselves, they are seeking to purchase handmade items. In a survey of 300 people:

• 80% said they bought a handmade gift because it’s unique.
• 95% said handmade gifts are more personal.
• 75% liked buying handmade gifts because they support small businesses.

This trend underscores a desire for connection and community—something AI and mass production simply cannot replicate.

#3 Hobbies

Crafting is making a comeback, and the numbers support this trend. According to Business Research Insights, the global arts and crafts market was valued at USD 42.88 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach USD 70.33 billion by 2032, with a CAGR of 5.6% during the forecast period. People are rediscovering the joy of creating with their hands. “Crafting” is no longer a thing of the past—it holds real value, both in the process of making and in the finished product.

These trends demonstrate that there is innate value—both personal and monetary—in human craftsmanship. As we look forward to 2025, we are ready to embrace authentic human-hood in our creative process.

How AI Dominates the Startup Landscape

Forecast from Wayne Luan

For three months, promising new startups backed by startup accelerator Y Combinator undergo a robust program (aptly named the YC Program) to develop their businesses. What is essentially a three-month sprint provides these burgeoning startup founders with professional counselling, connections, sales strategies, and (of course) funding to get their product off the ground.
Coming out of this season’s program is the Winter 2024 Batch (or WC 2024), which Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan offered congratulations to in an article on their site. Announcing the new batch of founders, one of the first things the new CEO mentions is that out of the 260 companies that have joined this season, over half of them “are building around AI in one form or another” (ycombinator.com).

Over 130 companies from one startup accelerator alone, with many similar accelerators following in tow. As big of a technological trend as it has been, where will the hype train lead to in 2025? An analysis of over 400 companies from the YC 2023 and 2024 cohorts shows common industry intersections between AI and healthcare/biotech in 45 companies, fintech in 38 companies, 37 in developer tools, 34 in sales/marketing, and 18 in education (Medium). More interestingly, 81.1% of these AI and AI-adjacent startups provide B2B offerings, largely overshadowing the 18.9% of B2C products. These statistics are a testament to AI’s continued potential for integrating into existing technological markets as well as growing opportunities in markets outside of the tech industry. The large share of B2B solutions offered by AI tells us that the trust of AI’s potential is high among businesses and investors. With continued trust in AI’s ability to save costs and upscale businesses, only more and more AI startups will emerge to attract the attention of companies willing to align their enterprise goals with growing AI technology.

AI Isn’t Going Where We Think

But is the rocketing growth of AI a certainty? Many data scientists don’t seem to think so. With even the largest LLMs facing model collapse from poor quality or AI-generated data and many known failures to adapt to edge use cases, researchers are putting less trust in the current trajectory of AI development unless significant innovations come along. As Gary Marcus, a vocal critic of AI’s current trajectory, points out, “there are no guarantees that scaling alone will resolve foundational problems like common sense reasoning and long-term memory” (NY Times). Without breakthroughs in areas such as explainability and generalization, the growth curve for AI could stall, leaving many of today’s startups vulnerable to technological and market stagnation.

These discoveries are not new, so the more important question to ask is: why are investors still on the hype train? It’s not that investors are turning a blind eye. Startup accelerators like Y Combinator are addressing these limitations as they become more evident, but argue that the potential for AI to transform and disrupt industries is still there and “too big to ignore.” AI’s capacity for automation, efficiency, and innovation provides a compelling narrative for continued investment. However, this optimism must be balanced against real-world constraints such as resource consumption, ethical dilemmas, and over-reliance on unproven algorithms.

Tackling AI’s Challenges with Evaluation Platforms

Fortunately, another AI-powered solution always does seem to come along. Evaluation platforms like Hegel AI help generative AI models prevent model collapse, as well as detect bias and evaluate general models’ fairness metrics. They can also address many of the ethical issues many AI technologies face, such as discrimination based on race, class, and gender that continue to tarnish the developing technology’s reputation. Such issues are already being deeply explored at the university level, where Arizona State University’s (ASU) Enterprise Technology department has recently developed an AI evaluation framework that has received attention. The evaluation, including both a human and automated screening, assesses LLMs based on a multitude of factors including “accuracy, robustness, fairness, bias and efficiency” (ASU) that they have already used to assess 20 of the university’s own AI models based on these standards.

The Role of Regulation in AI’s Future

Beyond the academic and technical frameworks, AI’s trajectory is also influenced by regulatory intervention. Governments across the globe are starting to implement regulations that tackle the ethical and societal implications of artificial intelligence. For example, the European Union’s AI Act aims to create a legal framework for trustworthy AI by categorizing AI systems based on their risk levels. These regulatory measures may slow down progress in certain regions but are crucial for building public confidence and ensuring widespread adoption. In contrast, countries like the United States have adopted a more hands-off approach, placing trust in industry self-regulation and innovation. How these differing strategies play out could significantly impact global AI development over the next few years.

Whether these evaluation platforms will be the answer to the technology’s plateauing growth is yet to be seen this coming year, but it certainly won’t be stopping investors from pouring their money and faith into its continued evolution in 2025. As all eyes remain on the technology’s evolution and what it will mean for the world, the investors have one thing right: its impact in 2025 will be too big to ignore.

Looking Back to Move Forward

Forecast from Malena López

The resurgence of nostalgia and anemoia is becoming increasingly prominent as we approach 2025. These concepts, deeply rooted in human experience, are reshaping our cultural landscape, influencing everything from travel to media consumption. It’s fascinating to witness this trend unfold. As a millennial, I find myself (old!) caught in the middle of generational shifts that are reshaping our collective experience of nostalgia.

Recently, I’ve noticed young girls taking “retro” pictures with colorful Sony digital cameras. For me, those cameras were once cutting-edge technology, symbols of modernity during my youth. Now, they’re celebrated as retro artifacts, while the film cameras I remember from my childhood are viewed as true vintage. This shift is a stark reminder of how quickly perceptions change and how I now occupy a space between generations.

Understanding Nostalgia and Anemoia

Nostalgia has a long and complex history, once being diagnosed and treated as a disease. Severe cases of nostalgia and homesickness were often addressed with methods like bloodletting, leeches, and opium. As medicine shifted away from treating nostalgia, those feeling heartsick turned to poetry and art for solace. The term nostalgia refers to thinking fondly or wistfully of the past, such as places you’ve been or people you’ve known.

Today, the longing for the past isn’t limited to those who have lived through it. A yearning for a past that one has never actually experienced is known as Anemoia, an emotion particularly prevalent among younger generations. They connect with past cultural references through music, fashion, and media, creating a bridge between their experiences and those of previous generations.

Why Nostalgia is Resurging in 2025

• Response to Uncertainty: The last few years have been marked by significant upheaval, from the COVID 19 pandemic to economic instability. This environment has led many to seek comfort in nostalgia, providing emotional relief from ongoing anxieties.
• Cultural Reflection: Younger generations often perceive their current situation as less favorable than that of previous cohorts. Factors such as job insecurity and high living costs contribute to a sense of disillusionment about the future, prompting them to idealize earlier eras as periods of greater security and happiness.
• Digital Influence: Platforms like TikTok have played a crucial role in reviving nostalgic content. Viral trends often feature music and aesthetics from past decades, allowing younger audiences to engage with and share these experiences widely.

The Impact on Culture and Community

What’s particularly interesting about the nostalgia trend in 2025 is its integration with technology. Unlike previous trends that focused solely on reviving cultural artifacts, such as music or fashion, this year emphasizes blending these elements with modern advancements. For example, airlines are expected to personalize in-flight entertainment using AI algorithms that cater to individual preferences, allowing travelers to enjoy nostalgic content while benefiting from contemporary conveniences like high-speed wifi.

Moreover, there’s a significant shift towards seeking authentic experiences that evoke personal memories. Travelers are increasingly interested in revisiting childhood destinations or engaging in activities reminiscent of their youth, like camping trips or adult summer camps. This focus on authenticity reflects a broader societal trend where people prioritize genuine connections over curated experiences.

The reunion of Oasis, tapping into the collective memories of fans who grew up during the Britpop era, and Cadbury’s Memory Bars, highlighting the emotional connections tied to food and memories, are some other cultural moments that reflect a broader movement where society is increasingly looking back to find comfort and connection in familiar experiences. They symbolize a deeper yearning for the good old days.

It’s clear that nostalgia serves as both a coping mechanism and a cultural touchstone. We’re not just looking back, we’re reimagining our past within contemporary contexts.
This interplay between the past and present creates opportunities for deeper connections that enrich our lives today while honoring the experiences that shaped us.

In this era of nostalgia and anemoia, I find myself straddling two worlds, the one I grew up in and the one being shaped by younger generations who look back at my childhood with fascination. While time marches on, our collective memories remain vibrant threads connecting us all.

As we move forward into 2025, it will be intriguing to see how these sentiments continue to evolve and influence our cultural landscape.