Airbnb’s 2025 Summer Update landed with the slickness of an Apple keynote—black turtlenecks and all. On the surface, it looked like a modest UI facelift (at least that’s what all the design chatter has been about). But beneath the animated and skeuomorphic icons lies a strategic design move with massive implications for how users travel—and how Airbnb positions itself in the marketplace.
This isn't a rebrand in the traditional sense, so forgive my fumbling about. The logo, typeface, and color palette remain untouched, yet still beautiful. Even so, the significant shift in how Airbnb tells its story, supports its ecosystem, and redefines its app from a booking tool to a travel companion is what makes this drop such an interesting piece of design. Let’s break it down.
The Return of Skeuomorphism—and Why It Works
Airbnb’s new visual direction breaks from the long-dominant trend of flat minimalism. The 3D icons and rich lighting effects harken back to the tactile interfaces of early Mac OS days.
“It feels like a refreshing break,” said Tom from Visionary Grid. “These icons are beyond icons—they’re Pixar-like, full of charm and totally distinct.”
Skeuomorphism here isn’t nostalgia for its own sake—it’s functional playfulness. To the dismay of populous UI design ‘standards’, these visually hefty elements help distinguish Airbnb’s new app sections: Homes, Experiences, and Services. The icons are much heavier and carry more visual weight than the regular line icons to help distinguish larger app categories from smaller navigational cues. They also help to signify that this isn’t just an evolution of features—it’s a shift in what Airbnb offers.
Simplicity Is the Hardest Design Challenge
Despite the richness of these new icons, and the newly-invented file format, the UI still feels light and intuitive. That’s no accident. The design team didn’t just add features—they carefully integrated them to avoid disrupting the frictionless booking experience Airbnb is known for.
“You look at the interface and think, ‘of course they did it this way.’ But that sense of inevitability is exactly what makes the design so impressive,” we chatted about during the episode.
Simplicity isn’t a lack of complexity—it’s the refinement of it. The result is an app that feels familiar, even as it’s doing three times as much as before.
Reimagining the Booking Journey
What Airbnb has built is more than UI polish. It’s a repositioning of the brand’s role in the user journey.
Where Airbnb was once just for booking a place to sleep, it now aims to be a full travel operating system. From restaurants to personal chefs to yoga classes, the app wants to be open during your entire trip—not just at check-in.
They’re paying attention to the whole user journey, and are adding steps along that journey that their service now captures. In essence, they’ve tripled their potential business.”
This transition from a transactional app to a platform for experience fundamentally changes how people engage with the brand—and how the brand engages with its hosts, vendors, and users.
Why It Matters for Brand Design
This update mirrors a broader shift in brand and product design, especially from global brands trying to carve out more and more brand headspace:
- Custom typography (like Airbnb’s "Cereal" typeface) is no longer enough to define identity (though it’s a great start).
- UI and UX are now central to brand differentiation. It’s no longer enough to design a ‘beautiful’ app, but also to distinguish it from other interfaces.
- Personality and playfulness are resurging as tools for memorability and emotional resonance. We’ve seen it in typefaces, now we’re seeing it in iconography and UI transitions and feel.
Even if most users don’t know what skeuomorphism is or notice a custom typeface, they feel it. And Airbnb’s internal design team understands this well.
“Most people don’t leave or stay on an app because of the typeface,” said Tom. “But they absolutely notice delightful animations or interfaces that feel alive.”
What Other Brands Can Learn from Airbnb
Designers and business owners alike can take cues from Airbnb’s update. Here are a few key lessons:
1. Design for the Entire Journey
Move beyond just the point of purchase. Design the moments before, during, and after—especially when your brand lives inside a product interface.
2. Show, Don’t Tell—Ease the Journey
The icons may get the attention from designers, but the business strategy and vanishing feel of a 3x app is what’s most impressive. If you’ve put this much thought into your business model, your design needs to be just as good. Make the design thinking part of your brand communication.
3. Complexity Should Feel Simple
Good UI doesn’t need to be minimal—but it should never feel complicated. Airbnb expanded its services massively without bloating the user experience. That’s a masterclass in restraint.
The Quiet Brilliance of Invisible Design
In the world of interface design, you’ve succeeded when no one notices—until they do. Airbnb's update is so smooth, so considered, that most users will only see a few charming new icons. But behind those icons is a staggering amount of design labor that quietly expands the brand's entire business model.
“Designers talk about the icons. But the real story is the structure, the ecosystem, and the new business model it enables.”
So yes, the icons are cute. But they’re also a Trojan horse for one of the most thoughtful digital evolutions we’ve seen in years.