Creative Trends Forecast For 2026

The February forecast episode of Creative Juggle Joy explores the creative shifts shaping 2026.

 Hosts Kaylie Edwards and Delores Naskrent unpack what’s fresh in tools, textures and teaching: the all‑new Affinity app, browser‑based design apps and AI‑powered ideation tools. 

They discuss how AI becomes a supportive partner rather than a replacement, echoing reports that 2026 design is about “human‑first, AI‑powered creativity” with calm palettes, tactile details and intentional imperfections.

Delores celebrates the rise of flexible learning platforms like Skool and Circle, which blend community and courses into one home. 

The hosts then dive into aesthetic trends. 

 Kaylie and Delores finish with a pep‑talk on creative longevity: pick your lane, embrace technology as an assistant, and build sustainable rhythms that align with family life and joy.

Transcript

Kaylie Edwards: [00:00:00] Hey, lovely creatives and welcome back to the Creative Juggle Joy. I'm Kaylie Edwards and I'm here with the one and only Delores Naskrent

Delores Naskrent: Hello friends. Today we're diving into our creative forecast for 2026.

It's a look at new trends, tools, and shifts that are shaping how we create, how I teach, and how Kaylie teaches and we, and how to share our work this year. It's gonna be a fun one. It's a mix of practical ideas and big picture inspiration. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yes, there has been a lot of movement over the past year marketplace shakeups, new tools popping up left and right, and a growing wave of creatives craving more meaning, more control, and more joy in their work.

If you haven't listened to our diversifying income episode yet, we recommend going back to that one for a deeper dive into Etsy shifts and [00:01:00] the move towards owning your own platform. 

Delores Naskrent: Because today we're going beyond that. We're looking at the creative side, how art and design software and the tools we use every day are changing.

What's working, what's fading, and what's feeling super fresh for 2026. 

Kaylie Edwards: So let's start with creative tools. Affinity Designer three has been a game changer, bringing vector raster and publishing all into one space. The seamless studio length workflows means less tool hopping, more flow for anyone juggling multiple disciplines.

Delores Naskrent: Yeah, affinity has such been such a breath of fresh air for independent designers. I personally love how the new version finally feels like the full creative suite. You can sketch and paint and build layouts all in one place without that constant switching of gears feeling, you know? And yes, [00:02:00] Canva continues to impress me.

Between the Magic Studio AI and the brand kits and their updated layout tools, it's becoming so much more than a quick post platform. I use it all the time now for mockups and marketing visuals. It's easy and it's intuitive, and it's actually kind of fun. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah, it's surprising me a lot more and, I'm hoping to get a video out soon, on YouTube, about how to create your emails aesthetically in Canva, because that's a new feature that they've come out with.

So I'm playing around with that at the moment. Wow. Yes. I'm also seeing a rise in browser-based tools that make design more accessible platforms like Kittl, which I've, I'm using. Vectonator. And even Figma are being adopted by surface designers and digital illustrators who want speed, collaboration, and flexibility.

Delores Naskrent: Totally. I think the magic word here is flexibility. I find that artist tools are mixing more than ever. We [00:03:00] sketch in one place, we painted another, we build repeat somewhere else, and it's becoming easier to move seamlessly between them. And for teachers or membership leaders, I love seeing how the platforms are changing, like school and circle and heartbeat.

They're blending the community and courses and coaching into one home, which is really cool. It's just simplifies things so there's less bouncing around between apps and that means more time for the good stuff, the actual creating. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yes, and I've seen a lot of Facebook group owners moving their Facebook community to Skool in the last year, some I was a part of.

We're also seeing more creative experiment with AI enhanced ideation tools like Midjourney, Ideogram, Adobe Firefly. Not to replace the art, but to test compositions, explore palettes or Spark stylist directions. 

Delores Naskrent: Yes, exactly. I'm, I'm using them a lot for the brainstorming, sort of [00:04:00] like a brainstorming partner.

I use it for kick-starting ideas or for seeing concepts from a new angle, but it'll never replace my personal touch. It won't for anybody. Your taste and intuition are still what makes your work yours. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yes, you can use it a lot like you would with Pinterest where you are putting different things on a mood board of what you wanna do.

And it's very good with ai, you can ask it to give you stuff instead of you having to search for it all the time. You can actually ask it for what you are visualizing and add components to it that you can create a load of. Assets and then put them together and make something really cool out of it.

Delores Naskrent: Mm-hmm. 

Kaylie Edwards: So let's talk, color, texture, and style. One of the biggest predictions this year is an aesthetic duality, soft and sensory versus surreal and electric.

Delores Naskrent: On the softer side, I am loving how [00:05:00] organic everything feels again. So I'm thinking, you know, I'm seeing definitely, and I'm using more of the sort of clay reds, like terracotta color, mossy greens, linen kind of tones, that color of the year, Pantone color of the year, the tactile hand touched looks of everything.

Everything's feeling warm and grounded.

Pantone's Moca Mousse really captured that last year. It's cozy, calm, and comforting. 

Kaylie Edwards: Absolutely. Moca Mousse carried us into that handcrafted, earthy direction last year, but 2026 Brings a fascinating shift because Pantone. Has now chosen, Pantone's 2026 Color of the Year, which is cloud dancer, Pantone 114201.

It's their first ever white chosen as color of the year. It's very off white.

Described as an airy other, real off white, a whisper, a piece in a noisy world they said, and a symbol of the global [00:06:00] desire for clarity, softness, and emotional reset. 

Delores Naskrent: Ethereal is definitely the way I look at it. It's very angel like.

It's pretty, it's like a blank canvas and it's a calm space to breathe. Again, it's neutral, but it has that presence that makes everything around it shine. I've used it a couple times now and I find that it pairs so beautifully with those earthy tones that I'm loving. So if you're looking for something cozy or you like brighter, more surreal, surreal colors for contrast, it works beautifully with both.

Kaylie Edwards: Yes, and it's amplifying the trend toward handmade textures, visible brushstrokes, fiber, texture, ripples. Soft grain designers are using cloud dance as the quiet foundation that lets emotion and detail shine. 

Delores Naskrent: Texture, I think is everything right now that that sense of something being touched by hand or that you can touch it and you're gonna feel something when you do touch it.

I think we're all craving that connection through our visuals [00:07:00] again. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah, especially with it is been so heavy with tech, the last few years. I think a lot of people are craving that. 

Delores Naskrent: Yes. 

Kaylie Edwards: On the opposite side of the spectrum, we have hyperchromatic and electric pastel palette coming in. Yeah. Acid green, glowing lix, neon yellow, digital pink.

These tap into like Gen Z, nostalgia and internet culture, 

Delores Naskrent: which yeah, I've seen that. I've been seeing it a lot. And. It's really cool. Some of the illustrations that you see. You know, it's, I just love the way people are using this color for highlights and shadows and things. It's just fearless, you know, designers who are into having fun and playing with their digital illustration,

creative rebellion, but in the best way. You know? Like it's beautiful, even it's not my thing, but it's beautiful, it's joyful, and it's full of personality, and I love how it just sits nicely beside the quiet neutrals, so it's [00:08:00] fine. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah. It's joy, rebellion and energy. We're seeing this in dopamine deco, maximalist, stationary, bold repeat patterns and expressive brand visuals like it's not my cup of tea.

Yeah, I think I found one thing that had kind of like the neon and neon green and the pink, and that was literally on my A CDC T-shirt. I was like, that's the only one I have. And I thought, that's quite a grungy T-shirt. And I thought that's the only one I can find that has those colors.

Delores Naskrent: It's interesting. I definitely have seen that with my, granddaughter who's now 12 going on 20. She loves the whole surrealism trend, you know, so floating shapes, distorted text, dreamlike collages. It's really a fun counterbalance in a way to minimalism. It's a single, surreal element that can make something.

Instantly memorable. So I'm respecting it.

When it comes to themes, I'm seeing a real [00:09:00] return to tactile craft, though PIPA, the Pipa fine art, called it ultra tactile Craft, and I think that's actually spot on. We're seeing a lot of hand woven pieces, lots of hand done ceramics, really layered and textural ceramics and layered paper, lots of fiber art.

I've seen a lot of that, and they're all kind of celebrating. Depth and imperion. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yes. Yeah. And yes, butterflies are back trending across Home Depot. Kids markets, digital collage and stationary. Symbolism includes transformation, softness, and nostalgic beauty. I love butterflies, so this one is one I may play with more.

Delores Naskrent: Yeah, me too. I absolutely, I plant flowers specifically to attract butterflies. I've got lots of different sort of butterfly ornaments around, and they're time. Right. Like I've had some of them. I've [00:10:00] had them for 20 years, and they always bring that sense of hope and renewal. I'm also noticing a lot of PLAs and checkered fabrics showing up.

Again, it's softening things up and. I am personally really enjoying hand drawn and uneven lines, so more painterly interpretations. I'm, you're gonna see that a lot in my art this year. I just feel like it's all fresh again. You know, they, that kind of artwork just feels so, even if it's done digitally, it just feels so hand drawn.

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah, retro aesthetics are also rising neo deco it's called. Geometric patterning. Gold touches arches symmetry, Pinterest Forecast, show glamor, how to look at that, and maximalist nostalgia continuing in decco and gift. 

Delores Naskrent: It's so fun to see this kind of a blend of nostalgia [00:11:00] and modern craft, especially because I've lived through it, right?

So to me it's like looking back, you know, the seventies, Hey, I remember the seventies. It was fun. The common thread, people want art with feeling, whether it's modern or vintage inspired. I love vintage art. I could look at vintage art all day long. Everybody is drawn to the personality of it and the story.

Kaylie Edwards: Yes. Yeah. One of my favorite 2026 trends is global local storytelling. So Adobe calls it real and regional. People want to know the origins of the art they're buying. The culture, the landscape or lived experience behind it, which is something I talk about all the time about storytelling in your art. If you want people to buy, you have to connect with the buyer and the art piece itself needs to tell a story, and you need to be able to express that story in your words when you are promoting your art on wherever you're promoting it.

Delores Naskrent: [00:12:00] Yes, that totally speaks to me. Kaylie, no matter where you live, your region has something really unique to offer. And I feel that all the time when I'm meeting with people from other areas, other parts of the world. And you know, we talk about things like our seasons, you know, the weather, we talk about, symbols, we talk about color.

These little details are about you details of where adds soul to your work. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yes. Different parts of the world have different, community, different cultures, and bringing some of that into your own art as well is such a good idea because it's another story behind the pieces that you create.

Yeah. 

Kaylie Edwards: Brands are collaborating more with local artisans as well. Creatives are blending traditional craft with modern digital workflows, so it's a way to get in as well. 

Delores Naskrent: Exactly. If you're a textile art artist, maybe that's a pattern inspired by your local plants or architecture. If you're an [00:13:00] illustrator, maybe it's a piece that tells a story from your own childhood.

I commented on a friend's art the other day on the wall in behind her on my monitor, and it was. A piece that was done with retro fabrics, retro old re retro purses, and things all cut up and you just was amazing. Just gorgeous. So those personal touches make the art feel alive. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yes. Those stories build emotional loyalty that no trending audio ever could.

Delores Naskrent: So how do we stay relevant without burning out Kaylie? 

Kaylie Edwards: By choosing a lane. My focus this year is rebuilding creative rhythm, gently leveraging AI to assist my workflows and designing systems that keep pace with my family life. And not fight against it. Start to bring back in creativity for joy, not just work.

And I'm starting to slowly build that in this year, hopefully. 

Delores Naskrent: Good for you. Yeah. I feel that so, [00:14:00] so deeply. For me, it's all about flow over force. I'm sticking with batching and seasonal planning so I can build ahead and leave space for more of that spontaneous creative time. It's a rhythm that lets me read.

Kaylie Edwards: Both of us are centering our memberships and communities, the Spellweaver Creative Hub, and my new app, CraftPath and Delores's thriving artist membership to help creatives grow with alignment and joy. 

Delores Naskrent: Exactly. This year isn't about keeping up with every new trend. It's impossible. Trust me, I've tried.

It's about creative longevity and building something that supports you for years to come, not just for the next launch. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yes, it's about workflow as a creative support system, not a hustle cut cycle. Let tech lighten the load so you can stay connected to your artistic core and just experiment.

Delores Naskrent: If you'd like the full 2026 creative trends, PDF, with all the visuals and stats, [00:15:00] and links to the tools, check the show notes. It's such a great little reference to keep nearby all year long. 

Kaylie Edwards: Yeah, and if you want support planning your creative evolution for 2026, we'd love to have you inside our memberships.

They're built for clarity, support, and soul led growth. Delores's focuses more on the making side, whereas mine focuses more on marketing and business systems, building aspects for creatives. 

Delores Naskrent: Yeah, and keep an eye out for updates on the new five cards and five Days challenge. It's coming again soon. It's gonna be so much fun and such a creative kickstart for you.

Kaylie Edwards: Until next time, keep juggling, keep creating, and most of all, keep finding joy in the process.