Through strategy, research, and conversations with people like you, we learned a great deal about creating engaging experiences and memorable spaces in 2025. Here’s a bird’s-eye view of where we’ve landed.
- Going into 2026, design trends predict a shift away from anonymous minimal lobbies toward more expressive, personality‑driven reception spaces (1stdibs.com)
- Hybrid workspaces are now the norm, with over 90% of organizations combining remote and onsite work (officeprinciples.com)
- Hotel guests are expecting and prioritizing brands with sustainable operations in 2026 (think energy efficiency, reduced waste, and authentic eco‑initiatives) (hospitalityinsights.ehl.edu)
In 2026, we’re excited to continue working across so many industries. Based on all of our conversations in 2025, here’s our design forecast for the next year, curated by our subject matter experts in brand storytelling, marketing, and design.
Oat Foundry Predicts: 2026 Design Trends
Let’s start with words. Here are a few key words we’re using to describe how design will be shaped this year, including: balanced, interior branding, curated, color, phygital, crafted, and character. If you subscribe to our newsletter, you know that character is a big one for us this year!
- Balanced – Spaces reconcile stimulation with calm, maximal with minimal, individuality with function, and digital with analog. (Forbes)
- Interior Branding – Companies lead redesign and new construction with guest profiles and personas, creating a welcoming space that converts visitors into brand advocates. (Oat Foundry)
- Curated – Interiors feel assembled over “years” and seasons, rather than purchased and styled in one sitting.
- Color – Color becomes a part of the brand voice, with vibrant palettes and “atmospheric color” schemes used to cue emotion and recognition. (Vogue)
- Phygital – Erasing boundaries between the tactile and digital, with technology integrated into architecture. (Drake and Khan)
- Crafted – The return of handcrafted materials and tactile details, with design and decor that represent values such as heritage, locality, or sustainability.
Character is the north star of 2026 design. Character allows a space to tell an impactful brand story through layered textures, colors, and materials, as well as a bit of “intentional clutter” to keep spaces human. The word “character” also communicates a stance against templated trends, fast-furniture and decor churn, disposable digital, and over-curation.
So what does all of that mean in terms of design? Read on to see how these words translate to an ever-changing year of vibrancy, pattern, and movement in spaces.
Trend #1: Sensory Spaces
Adobe predicts a year that “harnesses the power of tactile and sensory experiences,” citing “puffy, soft, and squishy textures” as examples of sought-after materials for spaces. Better Homes and Gardens also anticipates this as an emerging trend, with “sensory design” focusing on how people feel in a space rather than how it looks.
At Oat Foundry, we see this translating into softer fabrics, an investment in high-quality, handcrafted furniture and textiles, and a greater focus on lighting, sound, and natural light. All of this will create multisensory, three-dimensional spaces that feel crafted and curated for guests.
Trend #2: Hospitality-Driven Design
After the pandemic era, some people never quite shook the familiar feeling of being at home. As a result, more and more consumers and workers are seeking a homier, more balanced experience out of the house. For brands, this means prioritizing human-centric design and emotional engagement, and it’s prevalent across many industries.
“I have the privilege of working with creatives from the top Architecture & Design firms around the world, where I get an expert pulse on design trends,” says Kristy Brunhofer, Director of Sales. “One trend that resonates deeply with my work at Oat Foundry is that of hospitality-driven design. The focus has shifted to creating inviting, immersive, and experience-driven spaces; a reflection of a growing desire for environments that feel both functional and emotionally resonant.”
A recent article on Martha Stewart Living also cited this trend, naming rich wood tones, handblown glass, carved accents, and “standout antiques” as character-driven elements likely to make their way into interior design this year. Vogue calls this a “lived-in” aesthetic, a shift that calls on designers to create spaces that feel more hospitable. Tokyo architect Keiji Ashizawa describes “memorable interiors (as) are not necessarily those with the strongest statements, but often the ones where people naturally want to stay longer.”
Trend #3: Smarter Personalization
Design is also becoming a critical part of the customer experience rather than an afterthought. Personalization is already everywhere in the customer journey, and people now expect to see it more and more in the real world. In industries like hospitality and tourism, for instance, where hotels use predictive AI and guest data to personalize stays, they are also curating spaces that feel curated to the individual. Every element of brand identity is explored, from a guest’s preferred lighting to go-to temperature.
This kind of smart, phygital design requires a carefully crafted online and offline framework that makes it possible to “choreograph” sequences, truly customizing the guest experience from start to finish.
Trend #4: Visual Curation
The art of “visual hoarding,” writes Ellis Tree for It’s Nice That, is driven by “the act of collecting.” In a recent article, the author describes “this impulse towards inventory” as a former design trend that has evolved into layouts resembling “an entomology display.”
Tree aptly correlates this trend with “Gen Z need to order and organize items visually” and taps into the “joy of ownership and curation”. At Oat Foundry, we’ve seen this trend emerge with a greater emphasis on branded statement walls and creative donor recognition walls, which allow brands to flex their personality and character without decor becoming chaotic.
Melissa Houghton, Digital Marketing Specialist at Oat Foundry, admits to being a “maximalist,” and agrees that “visual hoarding” is on the rise. “As visual hoarding becomes more prominent in textures and prints,” she says, “I think we’ll see a return to neutrals on walls, ceilings, and floors. Pops of color and pattern are much more prominent on an expansive blank canvas.”
Trend #5: Quiet Luxury
Quiet luxury is a trend that is both literal and metaphorical. The rise of sound-absorbing architecture and custom-built soundscapes showcases the underutilized sense of hearing. From “quiet, cocooned” calm spaces like spas and wellness centers to specialty background audio content, low-fi soundtracks, and intentional white noise, soundscapes are increasingly used to reduce stress, improve mood, and inspire more creative thinking.
Featured Project: New York or Nowhere Retail Signage
The NYON NYC retail split-flap sign personalizes the POS experience, sharing greetings and New York-themed tidbits.
Here at Oat Foundry, we think a lot about sound. Specifically, what our split-flap sounds like in spaces. For us, the ability to accelerate a Split Flap for more pronounced sounds (think in a bar or at a sports stadium) or slow it down to soften it (think within an office or hotel lobby) is a great example of a soundscape at work, intentionally curating an environment that fits the needs of customers and guests.
Trend #6: A Return to Craft
The New York Times predicts that 2026 will refocus on craftsmanship. “Homeowners are showing a growing appetite for handcrafted furniture,” writes Misty White Sidell. Thanks to brands like Medley and Uhuru Design, we predict that office furniture and amenities will follow suit. For companies, this means greater investment in higher-quality products and less focus on disposable digital, plastic, and run-of-the-mill coffee makers, office chairs, and boring conference room tables.
We predict that rising demand for craft and nationwide retail price increases will drive consumers back to local stores. To be intentional about spending and get their money’s worth, brands will also need to be more transparent about how their items are made and where materials come from. (See how one of our Split Flaps is made!)
Trend #7: Food as Brand Identity
In restaurants, hotels, bars, and cafes, food isn’t just an afterthought or amenity anymore. Hospitalitynet calls it an “active driver of brand identity,” that feeds “not only the palate, but also the social and cultural appetite of today’s discerning guests.” This requires both hotels and food and beverage to evolve their businesses into active third spaces, a “place maker, differentiator, and driver of revenue”.
In the past few years, we’ve already seen this happen with the opening of the Tiffany’s Blue Box Café at the famous jewelry store, making it possible for people to actually have “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” Retailtainment like Eataly is also expanding, leveraging the curiosity for new foods with the need to gain cultural capital, without leaving the country.
Trend #8: Three-Dimensional Signage
The luxury food hall Le Bon Marché, located in Paris, never abandoned the need for an elaborate holiday window display, and its patience stood the test of time. As people tire of digital engagement, the pressure will be on for retailers to balance screens with traditional and analog displays and advertisements – but ones with the same wow factor as their online counterparts. Senior Sales Representative Colleen Wilson has seen this play out throughout her client partnerships, especially with the image-driven Picture Flap.
“A quickly-changing display with a whimsical animation would attract attention in a storefront. Alternatively, a slower pace with a simple, delayed animation may invite more reflection on the content of your imagery and capitalize on the delight of anticipation, ideal for art-forward designs,” says Colleen. We’ve seen Picture Flap used in a plethora of applications, ranging from a “3D collage” at agencies, showcasing previous work, to a modern photo flipbook for residential lobbies, displaying local attractions.
Trend #9: Inventive Sustainable Design
Green design is here to stay. From biophilic buzzwords to the never-ending urgency to create “green space,” brands worldwide are finding ways to integrate sustainability into their day-to-day operations. In 2026, Creative Director Sarah Van Bemmel hopes to see this trend evolve into new and exciting use cases.
“We’ve seen the ‘bring the outside in’, we’ve seen huge glass panels. We’ve seen roof gardens. What’s next? I expect a new round of sustainable materials,” she says.
So far, outlets such as Fast Company report emerging sustainable materials and methods, including “climate-adaptive paint,” “superwood,” and building techniques such as “rammed earth.” The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), which has continued to recommend the use of low-impact woods, recycled plastic, and composite lumber, also highlights the use of reflective and “cool materials” to mitigate urban heat island effects and reduce energy consumption.
Trend #10: Spaces That Blur the Boundaries
Top architecture and design publications explain how city design, as well as the spaces within cities, will “blur boundaries” in terms of functionality. Gensler identifies adaptive reuse as a major marker in 2026 design, as well as construction that anticipates and recognizes the impact of climate change.
In 2018, Architectural Digest said the future of cities was centered on human-centric design, and its latest AD100, recognizing 100 leaders in architecture and design (Pg. 118, Jan/Feb 2026 issue), reinforced that belief. Michael Misczynski was quoted as saying his work is “more about atmosphere and mood than objects,” reimagining spaces as environments that greatly influence human emotion.
Take our newly launched Chroma Flap, for instance. Chroma Flap, an all-color kinetic wall installation, uses the same mechanical movement as our signature split-flap, but displays pixel-style illustrations, landscapes, geometric patterns, and data visualizations, bringing movement and energy into otherwise static, flat spaces.
As described in our report, “The State of Hybrid Space: Why Analog Display Statement Pieces Are Gaining Ground,” these analog kinetic installations create value through “physicality, simplicity, sensory engagement, and emotional resonance,” often overlooked in digital technology such as video walls.
Trend #11: Celebrating Human Art and Imperfections
In 2026, “many creators will become unbothered by perfection, polish, or creating for the algorithm, and instead embrace the human imperfections that make work personal, raw, and honest,” says Cat van der Werff, Executive Creative Director at Canva. Kittl.com seconds this prediction, emphasizing that “native design,” or “where messy beats perfect,” will likely find its way into branding, lookbooks, and more.
Multimedia Specialist Jah’meir Reed called this one one of his top predictions for this year, citing high-end luxury brands like Chanel, Hermes, and Bottega as examples of companies that outsource to true artists.
“With AI art coming into the zeitgeist, handcrafted art will be what people search for,” he says.
Featured Project: Austin Visitor’s Center Retail Signage
Austin Visitor’s Center has a custom-colored indigo split-flap that adds movement and sound to the storefront, mirroring the eccentricities and quirks of the beloved Texas city.
Trend #12: Storytelling Through Design
Jah’meir also anticipates that more brands will use design in their storytelling, a trend we’ve already seen in hospitality, with hotels and restaurants prioritizing “Instagrammable spaces.” From photogenic food to better backdrops, Jah’meir also identifies analog technology (such as our Split Flap) as an opportunity to practice interior branding and “anchor” brand voice across their channels.
“On social media, where authenticity and visual interest matter most, your Split Flap can also become a storytelling centerpiece that connects your followers to your brand’s personality,” says Jah’meir Reed, Multimedia Specialist. In practice, this looks like sharing quotes and fun facts, rotating through schedules and specials, welcoming VIP guests and large groups, and even hosting engagements. Nolita Hall, one of our restaurant clients in San Diego, uses its sign to indicate the direction of nearby aircraft.
Trend #13: Disguised Digital
By now, we’re all familiar with screen fatigue (headaches, tired eyes, broken pixels). While some brands are cutting out digital entirely, Nespresso takes a different approach in its new NYC flagship. Their digital usage is “selective” and, honoring the phygital approach, seamlessly integrates with the space’s architecture.
Nespresso, similar to some of our Starbucks partnerships, uses one of our oversized Split Flaps to display eye-catching animations, complementing a large LED wall and a transparent OLED display.
The balance between analog and digital elements enables more imaginative, adventurous design and user experience, rather than placing everything in the online or offline bucket.
Trend #14: The Return of Print
Here at Oat Foundry, we’ve predicted the return of print for a long time. With a rise in distrust driven by AI online, print newspapers, catalogs, and books remain trusted, tactile sources of information. Gen Z, raised in the digital ecosystem, desires “real-life experiences,” as evidenced by the resurgence of analog products such as records, landline phones, and analog cameras.
TrendHunter extends this trend to “playable press” and brand adaptations of “classic layouts, newsstands, and editorial aesthetics,” as well as “pop-ups” for branding campaigns for everything from TV shows to new product launches.
Trend #15: Interactive Analog Art
With companies shifting more to offline or nondigital art and architectural features, brands are still figuring out how to make spaces interactive – a challenge that can thankfully be solved with clever analog design. Kinetic elements can be moved by natural forces such as wind and water, while phygital puzzles and responsive textures can provide the interactivity needed to engage visitors and guests.
Melissa Houghton, Digital Marketing Specialist, connects these dots with the help of Algorithm, the companion technology for both Picture Flap and Split Flap.
“Imagine a cocktail bar menu that lets guests cycle through drink specials based on their liquor of choice,” she says. “Or at a hotel, a concierge welcome board that could invite guests to rotate through nearby attractions. Maybe even an office centerpiece where visiting clients and employees can flip through past projects, trivia, inspirational quotes, or go-to favorite lunch spots. It’s all possible with Algorithm.”
With Algorithm, brands can create a collection of branded phrases, questions, ideas, and recommendations. Think: the advantages of frequent content management without the headache.
Gearing Up For Analog in 2026
We’re in one of the most innovative periods in history, where the fading reliance on “everything digital” is making analog an adventurous and exciting choice. From displays that gently cascade through color, words, and images to the return of handheld print catalogs to a more strategic, streamlined place alongside monitors and screens, in 2026, opportunity is where you least expected it to be – offline.
(Speaking of catalogs… want the newest edition of our printed lookbook, Analog? Fill out this form to get one shipped your way!)