Nailed it or missed it? Revisiting our 2024 trends forecast

Design Director
Senior Industrial Designer

At the beginning of the year, we sat down with some of our Smart Design designers, strategists, and technologists to predict what 2024 would hold. Let's take a look at what we got right, what we got wrong, and what we saw instead.

Personalization first

Examples:

Gatorade’s AI-Powered Bottle, Nike By You, Dyson’s Airwrap Styler with AI Guidance, and Samsung Bespoke AI Refrigerators

Prediction:

In the beginning of the year, we predicted that a brand’s personalization strategy may be just as important as the success of the product itself. There would be a focus on personalization during the early stages of the design process.

What we saw:

Throughout 2024, we saw personalization and customization as essential components of product strategy. Traditional options—like custom lettering and colors—remained popular, yet new creative approaches helped expand upon the product possibilities.

Brands are now harnessing advanced technology, AI, and interactive elements to create tailored experiences, as seen with Gatorade's AI-powered bottle.
Albert Kwak
Principal Designer

Truth tools

Truth tools

Examples:

AI generated labels on content from Meta and TikTok, ChatGPT disclaimer, Gemini and ChatGPT revealing sources, Notebook LM giving user’s control over sources

Prediction:

As the year began, we noticed a rise in AI generated content and thought there would be an increase in user discernment. Not just when viewing the content itself, but in understanding the inputs the models use.

What we saw:

During the year, we saw a rise in tools integrate fact-checking features directly into their AI software, ensuring that content creators and consumers alike are held to higher standards of accuracy and truthfulness.

Many platforms now incorporate mechanisms that highlight potential biases or inaccuracies within the content generated, offering real-time corrections or warnings.
Cameron Hanson
Strategy Director

Colorful collaborations

Examples:

Dunkin x Scrub Daddy, Polly Pocket x AirBNB, Heinz x Absolut, Charlotte Tilbury x Formula 1, Lipton x Cruel Pancake, and Lush x Minecraft

Prediction:

Riding off the success of collaborations in 2023, we thought this momentum would carry into 2024 and bring about new partnerships. We thought brands would double down on this strategy and that consumer reach would be paramount.

What we saw:

While the Wicked Movie is fueling this year’s largest amount of colorful collaborations—like last year’s Barbie—brands seemed to have taken a slightly more cheeky route in 2024. With a focus on thinking outside of the box, a lot of brands decided to be less about color and more about cuteness to drive consumer interest and discovery.

With a diverse collaboration type across the board, designers continue to be crucial in perfecting these partnerships, and I would argue there’s been an influx in deeper, more strategic thinking behind them this year.
Louis Filosa
Design Director

Perfectly imperfect

Perfectly imperfect

Examples

Lawson Fenning x CB2, Nike’s “Crafted” Sneakers, Levi’s “Wellthread” Denim, Anya Hindmarch X Uniqlo, Bose’s “Handmade” Headphones, Élan Byrd‌ x Lulu & Georgia, and Woolrich Textiles

Prediction:

This year, we thought we would see brands embrace the imperfect and intentionally incorporate these “wrong” elements into their product strategy. An emphasis on authenticity and honesty were what we thought brands would shift their focus to.

What we saw:

While this was true of smaller brands, larger brands seemed to struggle to scale their product imperfections in meaningful ways. In 2024, we saw how big brand collaborations with independent designers are proving to be a successful marriage of scaling up imperfections.

Imperfections through craftsmanship are more meaningful to consumers than manufactured imperfections.
Lulu Mills

Smashing styles

Examples

Coke x Marvel, L’Oreal Try On AR, Nike AR Filters, Burberry x Roblox, and Coach x Tabby

Prediction:

We thought 2024 would bring about a bigger acceptance of different styles living together overall, possibly even extending further into how brands approach their visual strategies. A prediction of a mix of forms, colors, materials, fonts, and graphics would be at the forefront of design.

What we saw:

While we didn’t see visual brand strategies mix styles across traditional graphic components, we did see brands mash up styles more in digital mediums like AI, AR and VR. Brands are prioritizing these experiences with being more playful, useful or captivating instead of favoring strict brand continuity.

This year, brands redefined engagement by experimenting boldly in digital spaces, focusing on creativity and connection over uniformity.
Angela Han

The virtual spectrum

The virtual spectrum

Examples

Apple Vision Pro (launched 2023), Xreal Air 2 Ultra and Beam Pro, and Meta Quest 3 and Quest Pro

Prediction:

At the start of the year, we thought there would be a push in the AR space to help fuel productivity and replace the need for physical technologies, like monitors. A boom in accessibility to users was predicted, creating an opportunity for new forms of media consumption, mobile gaming, and the arts.

What we saw:

We started to see experiences gain momentum with innovations like the Meta Ray-Ban glasses and Orion seems ready to push this trend even further. Yet, the rapid rise of GPT has shifted the spotlight, potentially overshadowing a period that could have been transformative for IoT advancements powered by augmented reality.

John Anderson

Tangible AI

Examples

Meta x Rayban sunglasses, AI Apple Pin, Rabbit R1, and Xiaomi Smart Glasses

Prediction:

Early this year, we predicted a rise in explorations, prototypes, and Gen-1 hardware introductions to bring AI into the physical world.

What we saw:

While we did see some notable attempts to breech the AI x Hardware space, there were major pitfalls with the products that were delivered. There were also conversations surrounding products’ privacy, security, and lack of compelling features. These many challenges offer clear space for improvement and opportunities for growth.

Consumers noted plenty of challenges, such as: a lack of sophistication, a steep price point, and a failing claim that it can replace someone’s phone.
Anna Bodney

Let’s design a smarter world together.