7 Types of Graphic Design You Need to Know in 2025

As a team of well-known graphic designers in Michigan, we often discuss current trends and new ideas. It's no surprise that many brands invest in high-quality graphic design. Beyond aesthetics, great design fosters meaningful interactions, engages audiences, and enhances user experiences.

We continuously explore new possibilities and bring them to life. In 2025, the landscape of graphic design is being shaped by technology, emerging trends, and new mediums.

If you're a brand looking to leverage graphic design, it's essential to understand which type best suits your needs. Here, we'll walk you through the key types of graphic design we offer at Tribe Spark.

1. Brand Design (Visual Identity Design)

Brand design focuses on developing a cohesive visual identity for companies, organizations, or individuals. It involves creating logos, color schemes, typography, and brand guidelines that establish a strong, recognizable identity across all platforms. You can think of Apple's logo, Starbucks' color scheme, and Atacz's branding.

Credit: Apple

2. UX/UI Web Design

User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) design are the most critical components in digital interactions. That's why we always prioritize accessibility, micro-interactions, and seamless user flows in the web and app interfaces. It usually involves things like dark mode optimization, 3D elements, and AI-powered personalization.

For example, Pinterest is a social media platform for publishing and discovering information as pinboards. Its UX follows a clean, distraction-free design that prioritizes images and videos. Another example of UX design is Spotify. It leverages personalization, data-driven content, and a dark theme that reduces eye strain for users.

In terms of UI design, Discord is one of the prime examples. It has a vibrant, intuitive design with a cohesive visual theme and efficient categorization.

Credit: Pinterest

3. Motion Graphics & Animation

Motion graphics have taken over social media, advertising, and digital platforms. It includes short-form video content, animated logos, kinetic typography, and AR-integrated graphics. Brands can use these types of graphics to enhance their marketing efforts. For example, look at this Reddit animation video:

It includes a vibrant, eye-catching quality animation with bold colors and seamless transitions to promote their newly launched mobile app.

4. 3D Design and CGI

3D design involves creating three-dimensional visuals used in advertising, architecture, gaming, and film. CGI (Computer-Generated Imagery) brings realistic or stylized graphics to life, enhancing visual storytelling.

Have you watched Jurassic Park or Avatar? In these movies, the creatures are created using CGI and animation. This showcases the power of graphic design. Businesses can leverage such designing for commercials and unique website/app interfaces. For example, visit zoox.com. It has a beautiful CGI animation opening for a bold, on-brand introduction. With its clever on-scroll animation, you will understand Zoox's main features and benefits through imagery and videos.

Credit: Zoox.com

5. Packaging Design

Packaging design involves the creation of product packaging that is both functional and visually appealing. It considers materials, shape, typography, and graphics to enhance brand recognition and consumer engagement.

For example, Coca-Cola. If you visit a grocery store, you can easily find a bottle of Coca-Cola within 10 seconds. The color, shape, typography, and logo placement are too recognizable even for a 10-year-old kid. Even after several redesigns and experiments in 135 years, the brand's packaging design still stands out in the market.

If you are a product-based brand, you have to do your homework and focus on your product's packaging graphic designs.

Credit: Coca-Cola

6. Marketing and Advertising Graphic Design

Marketing and advertising design involve creating visuals that promote products or services. This includes digital and print advertisements, menus, retargeting ads, postcards, flyers, infographics, social media graphics, billboards, email marketing templates, and promotional banners.

Many brands and businesses use this type of graphic design in their marketing plans. For example, McDonald's and DoorDash's print and digital OOH campaign titled "Faster Food." This out-of-the-box had horizontal abstract art of recognizable yellow, white, red, and orange colors of both brands. [See in the image below]

Credit: McDonald x DoorDash

7. Publication and Editorial Design

Editorial design focuses on creating layouts for printed and digital publications, including magazines, brochures, newspapers, and eBooks. It involves typography, imagery, and page composition to ensure readability and visual appeal.

For example, take the Washington Post, which is one of the oldest newspapers in the USA. It is maintaining its old design patterns with exciting layouts to attract the new generation. The opinion page is now reinvented in a way that breaks the traditional boring grid structure and follows exciting layouts.

Similarly, Print Awards winner Louisville Magazine is also inspiring for editorial design. It is well-known for its black, white, and subtle yellow contrasts with the interplay of images and typography.

Credit: Washington Post

Final Thoughts

Graphic design is a vast and dynamic field with many specializations. Whether you need a strong visual identity, engaging digital content, or innovative packaging solutions, understanding these 7 types of graphic design will help you make informed decisions for your brand.

At Tribe Spark, we are passionate about bringing creative ideas to life with cutting-edge design solutions. If you're looking for a trusted graphic design company in Michigan, we're here to help. Let's create something amazing together! Contact us now!