What is kidcore? Explore the hyper-nostalgic playground of adult creativity.

Summary/Overview

Kidcore is a playful, nostalgic design style that draws its inspiration from childhood. Think bold primary colours, cartoon characters, stickers, and patterns seeming to be lifted straight from a 90s lunchbox or early 2000s TV show. It’s loud, happy, and doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Originally rooted in fashion and internet subcultures, kidcore has become a visual trend across digital spaces—from Instagram collages and TikTok filters to branding and promo content. For creators, it’s a chance to tap into positive emotional responses and stand out with something instantly memorable.

If you’re a business owner or content creator looking to inject fun and feel-good vibes into your designs, kidcore offers a ready-made visual toolkit. Adobe Express makes it simple to start experimenting with this look with templates for videos, social posts and business content.

What colours and patterns define kidcore?

Kidcore is built around high-impact visuals with an innocent and fun feel to them. Primary colours are at its core—red, blue and yellow—often paired with greens, pinks, and pastels for balance. The style leans into contrast and cheer, avoiding anything too muted or overly polished.

Patterns are key. Think rainbows, clouds, hearts, stars, checks, and doodle-like squiggles. Smiley faces, stickers, cartoon-style typography, and patchwork layouts all give content a scrappy, scrapbooked appearance.

Textures and layering also matter—clashing stickers, hand-drawn elements, cut-out photos and playful borders create a DIY charm. For marketers and solopreneurs, this style can help drawn in audiences with bold visuals that stop people in their tracks.

Why is kidcore dominating social media feeds?

Kidcore taps into a shared sense of nostalgia, but it's also a response to a fast, complicated world. In a digital space full of polished, curated content, kidcore offers something joyful, raw, and real.

3 ways kidcore wins attention in digital-first spaces:

It offers instant emotional connection.

Kidcore visuals often remind us of carefree childhood moments—playing video games, watching Saturday morning cartoons, or swapping stickers with friends. These visuals spark recognition and emotion in milliseconds, and this is key to getting someone to pause mid-scroll. For brands, this emotional pull builds trust and relatability. Using kidcore design for a social post, email header or product campaign helps inject warmth and familiarity—qualities especially valued in digital communication.

It rejects perfection in favour of personality.

Where other trends lean into sleek, aspirational style, kidcore flips the script. It embraces clutter, colour, and controlled chaos. This makes it ideal for creators who want to show more personality, not less. For solopreneurs or small businesses, kidcore signals that you’re not trying to be a corporate giant. You’re expressive, creative, and human—exactly what today’s audiences connect with. Try out kidcore style in your posters, flyers, and business cards.

It fits with today’s remix culture.

Kidcore doesn’t follow strict rules. It’s about mashups, collage, and creativity without boundaries. This is part of its appeal. Gen Z in particular embraces aesthetic experimentation, remixing cultural references, and rejecting uniformity. Adobe Express is built to help creators play and remix easily. With drag-and-drop design, animated stickers and customisable templates, it’s easy to tap into the energy of this trend without needing design skills.

Editable templates for kidcore designs.

How to use kidcore for playful brand identities.

Kidcore is ideal for brands wanting to be approachable, fun, and memorable. You can use this aesthetic to create visual consistency across content without it feeling repetitive or dull. The key is to lean into the energy of the style while staying aligned with your audience. Here’s how to start building a brand look with kidcore.

Use bold colour palettes to define your mood.

Pick a few vibrant colours to use across all your content. Red, yellow, blue and pink are popular kidcore bases. These colours evoke energy, positivity and playfulness—great for engagement. You can soften the palette with pastels or mix in textures and overlays to suit different platforms. Adobe Express lets you save your brand colours so you can apply them easily to templates, graphics and photos.

Add sticker-style graphics and hand-drawn shapes.

Kidcore thrives on layering. Stickers, doodles and scribbles can be used as borders, callouts, or design accents. They bring life to static visuals and feel personal and authentic. Use them on mood boards that followers can pin on Pinterest, or custom-printed t-shirts as part of your giveaway merch.

Use playful fonts that reflect the tone.

Fonts are a big part of the kidcore look. Rounded, bubble, handwritten or blocky fonts all fit the theme. Use them for headings or key messages. Keep body copy more readable but don’t be afraid to play with scale and layout. Learn more about typography designs for your business and how to find text effects to suit your brand identity and style.

Experiment with layout to create movement.

Kidcore often uses collage-style layouts. Mix photography, text and icons in creative ways. Rotate images slightly, overlap layers, or use frames and borders to break symmetry. This kind of layout can make your content more dynamic and engaging. Play with free collage templates to test out different compositions before you commit.

Design your own kidcore-themed templates with Adobe Express.

How to use kidcore for your Gen Z marketing strategy.

Kidcore speaks Gen Z’s visual language. It’s authentic, expressive and visually-driven—making it ideal for campaigns that aim to connect with this audience. Here’s how to use it with intention:

1. Create visually bold stories.

Kidcore lends itself well to platforms like TikTok and Instagram where content needs to pop. Use bold colours and graphics to catch attention quickly. Include hand-drawn elements, oversized text or playful animation. These styles work particularly well in stories, Instagram Reels or swipe-through carousels. Make TikTok animations or create YouTube content filled with kidcore aesthetic.

2. Use nostalgia to drive engagement.

Kidcore is built on familiar references. Whether it’s a VHS filter, a cartoon doodle, or a school-notebook font, these touches evoke memories and curiosity. It encourages interaction because it makes people feel something. Try tying your product or service to a nostalgic moment—then design content that brings that memory to life. Get inspiration from 90s nostalgia and Y2k design.

3. Humanise your brand personality.

Gen Z audiences value authenticity over perfection. Using a design style that’s bold, messy and fun makes your brand feel more human. Add real team photos, casual language, and creative design elements that don’t feel over-produced. Adobe Express makes it easy to create and update content with a personal and on-brand feel, from webpages to email signatures.

4. Experiment with user-generated content.

Kidcore is a trend made for collaboration. Invite your community to share their own designs, sticker edits, or nostalgic moments. Highlight their content on your channels. This builds trust and adds energy to your feed.

5. Build visual consistency across platforms.

Even a chaotic style like kidcore benefits from structure. Choose consistent colour palettes, shapes or typography to tie your posts together. Adobe Express makes it easy to save and reuse assets like brand colours and logos across social, email, print and more. Explore more marketing trends that can help you reach your audience.

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Curious about kidcore?

Use Adobe Express AI Art Generator to experiment with AI and generate stunning kidcore-inspired design templates. Dive into the creative process and bring your unique vision to life with our easy-to-use tools.

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Useful things to know.

What kind of content suits kidcore best?

Kidcore is great for visual-first content. Think social media posts, stories, digital flyers, and promo videos. It also works well for email headers, landing pages or posters—anything you want to use to catch the eye and communicate joy or energy.

How do I stop kidcore from feeling chaotic?

Use a consistent colour palette and limit your visual elements to a few styles. Stick to a few fonts and repeat design accents like stars or borders. This helps tie everything together, even when the look is intentionally playful.

Can I use kidcore if I don’t have design experience?

Absolutely. With Adobe Express, you don’t need advanced design skills. Use the templates, stickers, fonts and effects to create on-brand content with a kidcore look.

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