Hi First name / friend, Yep, another week has flown by, not that I'm complaining, as I really don't enjoy these long winter months. Fellow SAD suffers, I'm sure you can relate. Before we get started with the design goodies this week, I have a small request for you all. If you've been watching my Instagram stories this week, you would have seen I'm working on my new portfolio website. On there I am going to have a section for this newsletter, sort of like a little landing/promo page for it.
I would love love love to have some reviews from a handful of you guys to feature on there. Did you find this newsletter useful, motivating, inspiring? Let me know! Just simply reply to this email with your short review. (Just a few sentences is perfect). Any review I feature I can link to your socials or your own website, so hopefully you can benefit from it too :)
Thanks in advance, now let's jump on into the newsletter.
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Emerging Design Trends for 2025
Oh, it wouldn't be January without covering design trends for the year, would it? I used to do a video every year of my design predictions, and they would always get mixed responses.
Some hated the idea of trend predictions, or even designing with a trend in mind, and some people said they knew about the trend years ago (good for them?). I still think trends are there for a reason; styles get very popular, clients start referencing them and requesting their projects to follow a certain look that's hot right now, and as designers and creatives I think it is our job to know about popular design styles and when to follow them.
Of course you can craft your own trend out this year, but knowing what is rising will always give you a head start. Minimalist Maximalism anyone? |
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I Did My First Podcast
I've always said no to podcasts, maybe because I don't think I'm interesting enough, or that no one will listen. However for 2025 I made the decision to ignore my inner saboteur and start saying yes more. It's a work in progress, but this is the first step.
A few weeks ago, I was a guest on the wonderful Liz Mosley's Building Your Brand podcast. It is an open and honest discussion about all things content creation and sharing yourself online.
I go pretty deep into my headspace, the positives, the negatives and how I try and deal with it all. From hate comments, copycats, trying to re-balance my creative career, and why I didn't sign up for a popularity contest. If you love deep chats about all things design and social media, this one is for you. So grab a hot drink or your cleaning supplies (anyone else love listening to a podcast while you clean your house?), and have a listen. |
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Check Out This Branding for Kokoro Is it me or does it feel like I'm only sharing food or beverage branding projects lately? I really think branding for this category is becoming a real passion of mine.
Amsterdam based agency 27b has created a bold, loud and fun branding for Japanese pop-up restaurant Kokoro.
Everything from the wavy type, photography, and colours is right up my street. I really dislike lazy pointless merchandise - why does every restaurant need tote bags and t-shirts nowadays? - but the merch 27b has designed is very playful and unique and something you'd actually want to wear more than once, just make sure the ramen doesn't splash onto it…
Take a look below. |
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Moody Atmospheric Photoshop Overlays This week's design assets feel very seasonly appropriate for anyone living in Northern Europe or any other cold places in the world ha. (I'm aware this newsletter is international so some of you might be in warm climates, and to that I say… jealous).
I came across these Photoshop overlays that you can add to your photography or graphic work. If you have a Creative Cloud subscription it's just one click to add to your library, easy-peasy.
I've been playing around with them for the past few days, and you can really have some fun experimenting with blending modes and opacities to see what looks best in your work.
I know we are all addicted to a grainy texture or torn paper, so these overlays are a welcome change. |
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Generate Colour Codes In Illustrator You know the problem as old as time: you want to display your design's colour codes, RGB, CMYK, etc. However, having to go into your swatches, write down the long codes, type them out; It's a process that I always hated.
Well my buddy ollies_doodles on Instagram has shared a great video where you can now generate colour codes in just a few clicks thanks to a handy new Illustrator update.
To be honest, I'd love to see this feature in InDesign instead of Illustrator, but I'll take whatever I can get for now. Take a watch of the video, give it a bookmark and say thanks to Ollie for sharing this awesome tip. |
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Thanks for reading The Friday Finisher,
and don't forget to send me your review, it would mean the world x |
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NDSM
Amsterdam, 1033NA, The Netherlands |
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