Thanks to our friends at LEONHARD KURZ for sponsoring this blog! Featuring art by Alaina Johnson

Coming up with strong ideas has never been the problem. The real challenge starts when those ideas need to be shared, discussed, and aligned, long before anything is produced. Today, designers are expected to orchestrate experiences across screens and physical products, balance creative ambition with sustainability goals, and collaborate seamlessly across disciplines that once barely spoke the same language. For many designers, especially those working in branding, packaging, and product design, the real challenge is making their ideas tangible, communicable, and actionable early in the process.

Based on conversations with designers, creative technologists, and industry experts, here are five challenges designers are navigating that will continue to shape how design evolves toward 2026.

1. Designing for more than just the eye

Design has become increasingly multi-sensory but expectations around materiality, tactility, and experience continue to rise. Glossy finishes, metallization, holographic effects, and tactile structures play a decisive role in how brands are perceived, especially in packaging and product surfaces. These elements don’t exist in isolation; they interact with light, touch, and movement.

The value of most products comes from being experienced with all senses.

“Gloss, metallization, holograms, and haptic effects merge into a single unit,” says Julia König, Head of Design Packaging and Print at LEONHARD KURZ. The challenge? Translating that complexity into something that can be discussed, evaluated, and refined early on, before production begins. In a digital-first world, designers increasingly present concepts remotely. But sensory-rich designs don’t translate well into flat visuals. Which leads to the next challenge.

2. Moving beyond flat design thinking

For years, 2D mockups were the default. They were quick, easy to share, and “good enough” – until they weren’t. “As designers, presenting sophisticated finishes digitally in 2D was a huge challenge,” König explains. “Structured surfaces and embossing effects just don’t come across realistically, yet decisions still had to be made based on them.”

This gap between what a design looks like on screen and how it behaves in the real world is becoming increasingly difficult to justify. Designers need tools and workflows that allow them to think spatially, not just visually. Three-dimensional visualization is less of a luxury and more of a baseline requirement, especially when multiple stakeholders are involved, and decisions need to be made quickly.

3. Collaborating in real time, not in loops

Design today is rarely a solo act. Brand managers, engineers, marketers, suppliers, and clients all shape the outcome. Yet collaboration often still happens sequentially: present, wait for feedback, revise, repeat. That model is too slow for the pace of modern product development. Designers increasingly need to co-create in real time, adjusting ideas and showing the impact of changes instantly. Not as polished final renders, but as dynamic design spaces where ideas can evolve collaboratively.

“The ability to discuss ideas live with customers and incorporate changes immediately has completely changed how we work,” says König. “Seeing the results right away makes discussions more productive – and more creative.” This shift isn’t just about speed. It fundamentally changes the quality of decision-making.

4. Reducing waste without limiting creativity

Sustainability is no longer a separate consideration. Today, it’s embedded in every design decision. Yet in many design workflows, physical mockups are still standard practice. They’re helpful, but they’re also expensive, time-consuming, and resource-intensive. “In the past, it was almost unavoidable to create physical prototypes,” says Constantin Prussak, Digital Innovation Manager at LEONHARD KURZ. “There was no other way to get a realistic idea of packaging or a label.”

Today, designers are expected to minimize unnecessary physical iterations without compromising on realism or creative freedom. Digital exploration and validation are key enablers here: fewer samples, smarter iterations, and better-informed decisions earlier in the process. “Sustainability, in this sense, becomes a byproduct of better design workflows, not a constraint,” Prussak explains.

If you make decisions earlier and more realistically, waste decreases almost automatically.

5. Thinking bigger than the brief

Perhaps the most crucial challenge is also the most abstract: escaping established patterns. Familiar use cases, known materials, and existing processes often constrain designers. But innovation happens when those boundaries are questioned.

“Just recently, a colleague asked whether we could visualize gift cards using the same approach we use for packaging,” Prussak recalls. “My answer was simple: Let’s give it a try.” This mindset – rethink what’s possible – defines successful designers. The tools they use must support this curiosity, allowing ideas to be tested beyond their original context. Whether it’s packaging, product surfaces, or entirely new applications, the ability to explore freely without committing to physical production opens unexpected creative paths.

Where digital tools are stepping in

These five challenges point to a broader shift: design is becoming more experiential, collaborative, and digital, even when the final result is physical. To support this shift, new types of creative platforms are emerging. Tools that don’t just visualize a result, but enable exploration, discussion, and iteration.

One example is the DREAMCOMPOSER®, a 3D visualization platform by KURZ developed to make sophisticated surface designs, including gloss, metallization, embossing, and holographic effects, explorable in a realistic digital environment. Instead of relying on static mockups, designers can work with materials and finishes, view them in three dimensions, and see how surfaces interact with light and structure. That directly addresses one of the core challenges of multi-sensory design: making effects that are meant to be felt understandable on screen. “At its core, it’s about having a shared visual language. That’s essential when design decisions affect brand, production, and sustainability at the same time,” says Julia König. “When customers can see changes immediately via a simple sharing link, discussions become clearer, faster, and more constructive.”

The ability to explore designs in real time also changes collaboration dynamics. Rather than sending files back and forth, ideas can evolve in real time. That helps teams move away from endless iteration loops and toward earlier alignment – a key advantage when multiple stakeholders are involved.

Another important aspect is sustainability. By allowing designers to validate ideas digitally before committing to physical samples, digital tools help reduce unnecessary prototypes. Fewer samples mean less material use, lower costs, and better-informed decisions without limiting creative freedom.

In that sense, digital tools aren’t about replacing physical design or craftsmanship. They’re about supporting the five challenges designers already face today, making multi-sensory design tangible, collaboration smoother, workflows more sustainable, and creative exploration more open.

Designing for 2026 Starts Now

The challenges shaping design toward 2026 aren’t hypothetical. They’re already here – visible in tighter timelines, higher expectations, and growing complexity. What’s changing is how designers respond.

Those who succeed are the ones who: • embrace multi-sensory thinking, • move beyond flat representations, • collaborate dynamically, • reduce waste intelligently, • and stay curious beyond the obvious use case.

Design has always been about imagining futures. Today, it’s also about building the right processes and tools to get there.

Interested in exploring how complex surfaces and finishes can be visualized and discussed digitally? Platforms like the DREAMCOMPOSER® show how 3D visualization can support more collaborative, efficient, and sustainable design workflows, long before production begins.