Meet Modern Psychedelic: Home & Gift's new look and feel - Home & Gift Buyer’s Festival 2026

The home and gift sector’s flagship trade show has adopted a bold new visual identity, drawing on the resurgence of psychedelic art and culture for its creative direction.

A trend rooted in cultural shift

The “Modern Psychedelic” concept reflects a wider cultural moment. Growing concern about the environment, political instability and social justice has revived an interest in the psychedelic art, music and culture that first emerged in the 1970s — a countercultural ethos that embraced alternative lifestyles, environmentalism and social causes, and which feels strikingly relevant again.

Visually, the trend borrows from vintage, joyful, analogue colours, prints and patterns. It is part escapism, part activism: a style that is simultaneously old-school trippy and sharply contemporary.

Bold but restrained

Striking graphics and bold colours define the trend, but the show’s heritage branding called for something more refined. The guiding principle became “less is more”.

The design team spent considerable time testing retro typefaces and balancing colour palettes before presenting visual options. The show’s signature royal blue was kept as the hero colour and paired with an illustrated floral motif — a graphic flexible enough to work as a single daisy, a full repeat pattern, or a placement detail in the corner of a layout. A swirl pattern was added as a secondary graphic, a subtle nod to the trend that keeps the overall look cohesive and tonal.

The floral illustrations began as hand-drawn artwork, which was then scanned and traced digitally to give the design a polished yet deliberately imperfect, organic feel.

Colour and typography

Six key trend colours were selected for each of the show’s sectors, each with a complementary shade to support clear, impactful wayfinding and a distinct design identity. Bright hot pinks, oranges and zingy blues contrast with muted earthy tones — browns, dusty peach and forest green — for a contemporary finish.

Typography played a major role in the overall feel. A bold, 1970s-inspired serif typeface was chosen for its retro character, but used sparingly for headings and short passages of text to avoid legibility problems or a dated look. Body copy was set in a sans-serif face. To keep the playfulness alive, text was also set on wavy lines and combined with different colours and curved shapes.

The result is a balance between retro and modern that feels fresh — a design now ready to be seen in full at the show.