The rise of craftcore in graphic design: Risograph, letterpress fonts, and zine vibes

Cardigans, crochet and… Harry Styles? Yup, craftcore has fast taken over cottagecore as the wholesome design aesthetic to covet in 2025. The craftcore trend brings the focus back to traditional skills and a homespun aesthetic, but it’s a long way from grandma’s penchant for knitting scarves. Maximalism and analog styles are going mainstream across fashion, interiors, and branding, with craftcore graphic design bringing a charming flipside to more digital-focused or AI design trends.

In this article, we’ll trace the rise of the craftcore aesthetic, spot the brands who are channeling this tactile, analog style in commercial design, and look at how you can create a crafting aesthetic in your own graphic design projects. We’ll also explore how you can use creative AI prompts to nail the craftcore look.

For creatives and crafters alike, craftcore is big news in branding right now, and it feels just right alongside other ‘anti-digital’ trends like nostalgic design, letterpress fonts, and zine design, so read up and get crafting for impactful brands and designs.

Do you own a tufting gun? Or how about a letterpress machine? Do you like mugs… but only the wonky, splattered stoneware sort? Do you love immersing yourself in the twee aesthetic of Wes Anderson movies, ideally while knitting in a crochet-covered armchair?

If the answer to any of these is yes (or if the idea appeals), you may be Demi Lovato, or more likely you’re a budding proponent of craftcore, the slow living trend that values forgotten crafts and homemade items.

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Craftcore breathes new life into traditional ways of making, from weaving to quilting, prompting us to appreciate the skill and time it takes to lovingly hand-make a product from scratch. 2025’s iteration of craftcore balances authenticity and slow design with a serious dose of dopamine fun. Think sorbet-hued quilts and rainbow-crocheted bucket hats. 

Craftcore is not just about handmade beanie hats, however — it’s a much broader design aesthetic that brands are champing at the bit to experiment with. So why is craftcore so desirable right now? Perhaps in part because it taps into a wider consumer desire to move away from hyper-consumerism and another parallel penchant for nostalgic, pre-digital design. Craftcore is tactile, authentic, and takes time to cultivate, forcing you to slow down and savor the skill of how something beautiful has been made painstakingly by hand. 

In fashion, the craftcore aesthetic has translated from Etsy and pre-loved fashion to the runways, with the likes of Loewe, Jonathan Anderson, and Jacquemus all sending hand-crafted couture down the catwalks. A raffia bag that looks like a hand-me-down from your French grandma for $3,000? Get with it: that’s craftcore couture, people. Also see Bottega Veneta’s May 2025 marketing campaign, Craft is our Language, which brought the focus back to the historic fashion house’s famous basket-weave through an artistic tribute to human hands.

In interior design, craftcore feels a little different to the New Craftsman movement in product and furniture design, which has put hand-crafted interiors back on the commercial map over the past decade, and has a much more colorful, youthful mood. The aesthetic has filtered across into the retail industry, with brands like Urban Outfitters stocking crochet slogan pillows and tufted throws.

Of course, it raises the question: is craftcore simply about something ‘looking’ like it’s handmade, while craft is the genuine article? The jury’s out on that one.

In graphic design, craftcore translates seamlessly to a range of projects, from website design to logo creation. It’s a great design style for bringing warmth and tactility back into a digital design, and taking the glossy edge off AI-generated imagery or minimalist graphics.

Think adding torn edges in Photoshop, pressing noisy textures over the top of a poster design, or translating a paper collage art style to a landing page. A craftcore aesthetic might reference vintage design, grunge, or a blend of styles, but the intention is for it to look like it was created by hand in some way. 

Major brands channel craftcore to bring tactility and comfort to designs, giving even the freshest of projects a well-loved look that is the opposite of ‘instant’.

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Big brands and independent creatives alike love the craftcore trend for its ability to bring a cosy, friendly feel to projects. When brands channel an analog aesthetic, it’s likely they are aiming for a consumer market that feels itself to be non-consumerist or a little different from the mainstream. Audiences who are design- and eco-conscious are also good markets for craftcore brands. Here are a few well-known craftcore brands using elements of the design aesthetic in their brand identity.

Pinterest publishes trend predictions and trend reports multiple times a year, with the mood board platform frequently championing a craftcore aesthetic. The recent summer trends report highlighted rustic farmhouses, cottages and — yup — needlework as big trends for craft-conscious pinners. 

The company’s “Don’t Don’t Yourself” campaign took craftcore into more youthful Gen Z territory with super-bright posters emblazoned with neon graffiti fonts, encouraging people to channel their crafty, artistic side. 

The spiritual home of craftcore? Marketplace site Etsy is a hotbed of local makers and artisans, with a craftcore aesthetic and message used by the brand in ad campaigns and website landing pages. From digital campaigns that champion human makers (“There’s a person behind every piece”) to video ads that highlight the sheer hard work that goes into crafting Etsy pieces (“What it Takes”), Etsy is a masterclass in how to bring the human element back into craftcore branding. 

Where a craftcore aesthetic meets boho fashion, clothing retailer Free People frequently uses craftcore design elements to curate a free-spirited, vintage aesthetic. Think crochet and lace backgrounds, handwritten fonts and delicate embroidery graphics. 

Arguably the spearhead of the craftcore couture trend, Italian fashion house Gucci found its perfect craftcore muse in pop star Harry Styles, who became a long-term collaborator and frequent wearer of designer patchwork cardigans.

In its branding, Gucci frequently touches base with craftcore style, crafting off-beat ‘granny chic’ marketing campaigns with nostalgic photography, traditional serif fonts, and an eclectic mix of craft-inspired textures, materials, and colors.

The modern godfather of nostalgic cinema, director Wes Anderson is as much admired by graphic designers for his attention to visual detail as movie lovers for his unique cinematic style. Many of Anderson’s movies feature credits, typography, and special details that reference the craftcore aesthetic.

Think woodblock type in The Fantastic Mr Fox, stitched summer camp costumes in Moonrise Kingdom, and letterpress cake packaging in The Grand Budapest Hotel. The effect? The retro textures and crafting aesthetic encourage the viewer to slow down and immerse themselves in the details, creating a visual feast for the eyes.   

Beyond brand design and marketing, craftcore can be used to bring tactility and authenticity to a wide range of creative graphic design projects. Find even more craftcore inspiration with these examples of analog style in website design and logo design.

LA-based creative studio Watson channels a craftcore look in its website design to beautiful effect, with origami paper textures and collage overlays giving its portfolio a unique and layered style that emphasizes the craft of making visuals for film and television.

Production company Smile, based in Madrid, takes craftcore style into rave territory with jaunty graffiti graphics and neon color. The effect is still hand-crafted, just a little more free-spirited and anarchic — a great example of lo-fi graphic design. 

French hiking brand Quechua uses a craftcore aesthetic in its latest lookbook campaign, with animation emphasizing collage cutouts around model photography, faded background textures, and an overall travel collage style. It’s a subtle yet super stylish way of integrating an analog aesthetic and paper collage art into digital design.

Netflix introduced a new ‘N’ icon to its brand identity some years ago, but it still remains the most distinctive asset in the company’s branding toolkit. With 3D shadowing and a folded-paper look, it makes a subtle nod to craftcore and cinema heritage.

While it may be one of the biggest companies in the world, Google is also partial to a little craftcore! The company is known for its Google Doodles, in which illustrated, hand-created, or unique versions of its logo are swapped in for the company’s usual rainbow-hued branding to honor particular occasions. The best versions are often craft-inspired, with patchwork lettering or hand-drawn fonts.

In 1975, mountaineering brand Patagonia introduced its now iconic logo featuring the silhouette of Mount Fitz Roy. Remaining largely unchanged over 50 years, the logo features a painterly purple-streaked sky and an artistically rendered mountain skyline. This is old-school craftcore branding that still has impact.

The alt-culture shoe brand Vans stays true to its skateboarding roots with a simple logo with slightly wobbly edges, giving it a distinctly hand-stamped look. The brand’s slogan, “Off the Wall”, inspired by 1970s skater slang, is also rendered in an analog aesthetic within a hand-drawn skateboard.

Even the most digital of trends, such as AI design trends, can be given a craftcore makeover with these helpful tips and tricks. If you want to ‘de-digitize’ your designs with hand-crafted touches, look no further…

A craftcore aesthetic is about giving the impression that something has been hand-crafted, with imperfections and material tactility. For websites and other digital designs, a paper collage art style can dilute the overly glossy effect of AI images and other graphic icons, making things appear more haphazard and human.

To create the style, try an ink bleed effect Photoshop or torn edges in Photoshop to distress images and give a layered, collage effect. Add crumpled paper textures, faded photography, and sticky tape edges for an authentic look.

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Recreate a zine aesthetic with hand drawn cursive fonts, letterpress fonts, or woodblock typography, all of which will give your project that lived-in look beloved by craftcore. For lo-fi graphic design and urban edge, opt for paint splatters and graffiti font styles.

Bring materiality into your craftcore designs with different materials and retro texture. Wool, linen, ceramic, wood, and aged metal textures will lend the backdrop of your designs tactility and warmth. 

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You can bring a crafting aesthetic to digital designs for posters, websites, or apps with risograph effects and letterpress textures. These analog Photoshop actions will give a hand-printed appearance to any design, bringing in plenty of texture and faded tones.

Craftcore is a broad trend that has emerged in fashion, popular culture, and design, likely in response to fast living and hyper-digitization. When everything is instantly accessible on a smartphone, like fast fashion and food delivery, these things can lose both monetary and psychological value. Craftcore prompts us to think differently about how we consume products, putting the process of making back at the heart of design. 

Craftcore is related to other slow living trends, such as cottagecore (which, as the name suggests, romanticizes rural living), dark academia (a nostalgia for a literary, collegiate past), and the slow food movement. 

Craft is the traditional process of making things by hand, which craftspeople and artisans have been doing for millennia, whereas craftcore is a recent trend-driven interest in handmade items and the aesthetic of techniques like crochet, quilting, and collage.

An interest in analog style and handmade items seems unlikely to disappear anytime soon. Given that the world is becoming increasingly digitized, it’s natural for people to find solace and renewed interest in handmade items and slow ways of living. So watch this space!

Feeling crafty? Collate your craftcore ideas with unique and inspirational boards on InspoGen, or get started with using this fun inspo tool by watching how-to videos in our quickstart guide.

Alternatively, dive into Envato’s vast library of creative resources to explore craft-inspired textures, fonts, and graphics. For even more creative inspiration, read up on the latest web design trends, graphic design trends, and 3D design trends to keep your designs looking fresh.