The workplace is always changing, and this is especially true in 2025.  AI tools, experience centered jobs, remote/hybrid work, mental health, job instability—there are so many things at the forefront of everyone’s mind when it comes to being a working professional. Being a designer, while facing similar changes, comes with its own set of challenges. Currently, everyday there seems to be a new way to use generative AI to expedite the creative process. On top of that, creative teams are constantly being downsized and work responsibilities are shuffled around. So, what does it mean to be a designer in 2025?

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“Do more with less” has become a common adage amongst designers. As time goes on, responsibilities grow, teams shrink, while deadlines grow shorter, and the workload grows.  There is now an explicit expectation that AI tools will be used to handle this increase in productivity. While using AI may feel counterintuitive as a designer, it really calls out the quiet part out loud. As a designer in 2025, we are not only being paid for our skills, but also our taste.

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Having taste as a designer seems like a given, but it is especially important in the age of AI—where images can be generated from words. While the volume of images that can be produced is significantly higher than before, it takes an informed and creative designer to sift through all the information in search for something that can be used. In 2025, we are our own art director, creative lead, and designer rolled into one.

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Designing in 2025 is exhilarating, exhausting, scary, and rewarding all at the same time. Creative teams are downsized, and more is expected from us. Learning new tools and staying up to date with past, current, and future trends has never been more important. There is always something changing, and next year will be no different. But most importantly, we are and will continue to be here. As designers, our most important tool is us. What we like and recognize to be good design is something so inherently creative and human and that is the one thing that won’t be changing in 2025.