Year in Review with… Freelance creative Danny Heffer

What design trend caught your eye most in 2025?
The rise of the Norman. For those that haven’t spotted them, they’re the 20s/30s-ish mustachioed man that loves craft beer, sandos and artisanal anything. In terms of design, there’s a big lean into the chicken shop aesthetic and anthropomorphic imagery of pizzas and pickles.

At BLE this year I noticed there were quite a few brands leaning into this trend with their characters. It could be part of the ageing up of character licensing that’s spearheaded by pop culture fandom. Following Japan, older ages are more willing to buy into and wear character now here in the UK. Great for the industry – and great for Normans.

What development in licensing and design took you most by surprise in 2025?
I see these things in the most ‘live’ sense through the lens of my kids – and for them this year has been about KPop Demon Hunters.

They’re desperate to get their hands on merch and it’s been really slow to come to market. What I’ve noticed here is that there’s a lot of unofficial, unlicensed products springing up to meet the demand. What this means in terms of design is that everything looks a bit fake (it is!) and weird (it is!) This though in turn has its own aesthetic and so the market becomes awash with wonky renderings and applications. The movie looks great though and I’m looking forward to seeing what Mattel and Hasbro do with it.

What has been the biggest design or business challenge you faced in 2025?
For me it’s been an unwillingness to press the start button. I’ve had so many positive conversations about projects, but particularly towards the end of the year things have ground to a halt. I think mostly it’s been about The Budget and the budgetary year. There’s a huge lack of confidence in Westminster at the moment and it’s been frustrating looking for anyone to turn that around. For me that’s the challenge – I sense business wants to push on but a general sense of caution pervades.

“I thought Skew’s work for the British Museum was a real stand out.”

What design or business development from outside licensing has influenced you the most in 2025?
AI is obviously seeping into everything at the moment. Too big a subject for here, but personally I think it’s a positive. I see it as a tool that enables faster development of ideas and concepts. Yes, it takes some fee-charging tasks away from us but some technology will always come along that does this – that’s progress. I’m also watching what will happen with the Adobe rival Affinity. Adobe hasn’t been great at consumer relations over the years so I’m not surprised someone’s come to topple the incumbent. I haven’t quite made the switch yet – but I’m expecting to.

What was your pick of style guides in 2025?
I thought Skew’s work for the British Museum was a real stand out. In particular the character design for Bastet, their cat character, based on an object from the collection. Creating characters from scratch can be a tightrope from cute to cringe but this was masterfully done. A really smart design that has enough kawaii appeal to work internationally as well as at home. Hats off to Sara and Oliver!