❌ Our outs for 2025:

📱 Doomscrolling

Brain rot was named Oxford’s Word of the Year 2024, and, putting aside the fact that it’s two words, that’s sad. Also, sadly relatable - we’ve all spent more hours than we’d care to admit scrolling down our feed. But, with the growing conscience that this is a huge problem, we’re also hopeful that this will change in 2025 - maybe it’s time for a digital detox? If you need inspiration, or a trip down memory lane, check out the newly released digital Nokia design archive - an online visualization of the design processes behind our favorite, super-sturdy, flip phones.

🥱 Feeling uninspired at work

Yes, the job market is terrible right now. But if you’re not happy where you are, maybe it’s time for a change. Great way to get noticed by your dream company? Come up with an original, creative CV or portfolio, that’ll turn some heads. This is one of our favorites, an interactive portfolio website fully on Google Meet - maybe it can inspire you. Oh, and gamified experiences to describe what you do is also cool on the other side: check out the Off Brand’s manifesto, a beautiful, five-stage mini-game with sound and texture.

🚗 Using a car for everything

Ok, real talk - cars are just so passé. In 2025, we can turn towards more sustainable modes of transport, right? You can walk, bike, apparate, ride a horse or take public transit - and for extra long distances, if you don’t want to be bothered, you can check out this beautiful map of Europe’s night trains. Or, if you need historical proof, a map of Roman roads turned into a modern subway system. Just don’t drive everywhere. Please.

✅ Our ins for 2025:

🦉 Responsible use of Gen-AI

We’ve been seeing AI-generated images everywhere these days, they’re hard to avoid. And yes, we are big fans - Veo 2 is quite insane. But, you know us, and it’s good to also have a critical gaze towards technologies that are easy to, ahem, misuse, perhaps. We’ve written about this (for example, how to make an ethical use of AI in art and design), but if you want a more gamified way to put this into practice, check out Odd One Out, a Google game that challenges users to spot AI-generated visuals amongst non-AI artworks.

😌 Mindfulness

2024 was quite the emotional rollercoaster, but we’re going into 2025 with a clear, zen mind. Regardless of whether we’ve been sticking to our resolution for daily meditation - David Lynch (RIP)-inspired 😔 - it’s always, always, worth it to take a second to breathe and think deeply, to be conscious of your feelings. Maybe even visually - take a look at this Atlas of Emotions, an online interactive tool, co-developed with the Dalai Lama, that helps you visualize a timeline for the different bursts of emotions you might go through.

🌱 Ecocentrism

It’s no mystery that throughout human history, we, as humans, have had the tendency to place ourselves at the center of things. We’ve even named a whole geological era after ourselves, the Anthropocene! And yes, us humans have had a massive impact on Earth - but not always for the better, and we might benefit from shifting the focus a little bit. We’re confident that 2025 will be the year where we take a step closer towards ecocentrism, and move away from anthropocentrism. Some starting points: exploring the futures of animals through a digital gamified experience, or finding the intrinsic beauty in artworks crafted by the movements of insects.

And this is it - our ins-and-outs for 2025. We might have a few more, but we might also keep them secret for now. That’s to say, there’s some exciting projects and announcements ahead in 2025, and we don’t want to ruin the surprise! 

For auld lang syne, my jo, may your code align, 

From your weaving grandmas of data design xxx