02/25/2026
By Padmini Chandrasekaran

Each year, the Explorations design class at UMass Lowell studies current graphic design trends and create work for an experimental exhibition. In 2026, the trend report was wide-ranging. Grungy textures, imperfection and tactile techniques are embraced in over-explained micrographics, layered maximalism and naive design aesthetics. The shared theme amongst each of these emerging trends was clear: a rebellious reaction to over-processed and over-polished AI generations.

As a response, these designers embraced the imperfection of human error, designing dynamic, flawed poster designs with image-making methods that left things to chance, showcased forced or accidental errors and investigated what it is to be a human designer.

The follow-up poster added another layer by choosing a peer’s poster to create a response to. What results are varied iterations, different concept execution and exciting work that lives in conversation with one another for this collaborative, experiential exhibition that only a bunch of humans from drastically different points of view could conceive together.

Human Error: Embracing Human Imperfection opens Feb. 25 and will be on view in the Mahoney Student Gallery in Mahoney Hall, 870 Broadway St. through March 26.