When I published Dieline’s 2025 Trend Report, where I predicted design aesthetics and themes I thought we might see in 2025, one direction I thought we might see was the “Emoji-fication of Design,” inspired by Funyuns’ release of a limited-edition flavor that ditched words entirely and opted for a string of emojis: “👸💖✨🦋💕💅.”
Funyun’s idea was chaotic, yes, but also telling. The internet is already fluent in this kind of language, the shorthand of trends like Nancy Myers, Whimsigoth, or Softboi. These aesthetics aren’t about clothing, location, or behavior; they’re about a mood, an energy. Why not take the same approach with food and beverage?
1 response to “Shelf Life 062: The Rise of Vibe-Based Flavors”
Great article. At Creature Theory, we’ve seen that this trend, among other brand attributes, often have origins in “craft” size brands and products that may have less perceived creative limitations, or are less accountable to entities that may have a lower appetite for risk. Per this article, one the first things that came is mind is when Might Swell Seltzer hired us to create names for what would become their Keep It Weird variety pack back in early 2021, which itself had inspiration coming from how craft beer had been so expressive with beer or flavor names for decades. Fun to see more creative expression happing in larger scale CPG spaces.