For many designers and creatives, 2024 was a slog. Agencies and studios saw their budgets squeezed, while countless projects simply vanished without a trace. Freelancers had to contend with fewer commissions, as well as the constantly shifting goalposts of social media. Those working for big companies, particularly in tech, were either laid off or felt this threat forever hanging over their heads. And speaking of threats, AI loomed large in the creative consciousness, promising to replace jobs and make entire roles redundant.

Is there any reason to think that this year will be any better? Let’s be honest – we’re only seven weeks in and already 2025 seems to be smirking and saying, “Hold my beer.” The US is leading the charge, with apocalyptic wildfires in LA and a new president in the White House signing one horrific executive order after another. It’s not exactly looking good.

Yet, amongst the doom and gloom, there are reasons to be hopeful, positive even. Here, we take a look at some of the key trends and topics to keep an eye on this year, and take the temperature with four leading designers, creative directors and artists around the world.

Putting AI into perspective

Whereas last year, AI alarm bells could be heard in the background of most conversations in the creative world, 2025 will be the year that AI becomes more tangible. As Cat How, the founder, CEO and creative director of branding agency How&How, puts it: “All the bloody chatter, hype and scare-mongering about AI that was such a big deal 12 months ago has receded somewhat, and we’re seeing it more clearly for what it is: an incredibly powerful set of tools with immense applications, but also a huge amount of failings.”

Khyati Trehan, an Indian graphic designer and visual artist based in New York, has noticed a similar shift in how AI has evolved – and how the hype (and fear) have calmed down. “Instead of creatives seeking out standalone AI tools, AI is now meeting us where we are – making their way as ‘features’ into the tools we already use, like Figma and Photoshop,” she says. “Every tool’s update is primarily one more way that AI is seeping into the invisible infrastructure, quietly enhancing tasks; just another natural extension of our workflows.”

While Khyati does worry that some businesses will use AI to cut costs and jobs, like Cat, she now sees the technology’s “failings” more clearly. “I’ve seen a lot of AI-generated video content on the internet, and the only work I’ve sincerely enjoyed watching, forgetting how it was made, what model might have been used, etc., are the AI films that filmmakers made, and the AI-powered animations motion designers and animators made,” she says. For Khyati, craft and taste are still priceless skills: “It reaffirms to me the value of artistry in telling stories that don’t stop at ‘looking cool’ but go the distance to make people ‘feel’ something.”

Like many creatives today, Khyati, who alongside her personal practice works as a senior creative at Google Creative Lab in New York, often uses large language models (LLMs) in the ideation phase of a project. However, she recognises their limitations. “[My process] has evolved to using AI to churn out the most obvious solutions,” she explains. She then looks at all of these solutions as “a feedback mechanism for what not to do”. She pushes herself to think more laterally, to go beyond the LLM. Given that LLMs are by their very nature derivative, it makes sense to use their output in this way, for eliminating the most simplistic ideas and as a provocation to go further, to think more deeply.

Politics and protest

This year is undoubtedly going to be a year of protest. We’ve already seen demonstrations in Germany against the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party, in the US against some of President Trump’s early actions, and in countless other countries across the globe. This trend is only going to gather pace across the year. What does all of this sound and fury mean for the creative community?

“I think it will be a powerful year,” says London-based artist and designer Sarah Boris, “as creatives have a special way to manifest themselves in these contexts. I saw a drawing online on the day of the inauguration of the US president and immediately thought: this may be May ’68 in terms of art in the US, in an echo of May ’68 in France.”

In historic moments like this, the creative industry often finds its voice and uses its skills to connect with people en masse. “Communication design is at its best when it has a clear antithesis that it can fight against and push off from,” says Cat How. That said, it’s still not clear whether brands will help bring these voices to the mainstream or whether they’ll shrink from their responsibilities. “With Trump now sitting pretty here in the US,” says Cat (who lives in Santa Monica, in California), “it remains to be seen if companies are bullish, or whether they recede for the next few years – adding more pain to our already difficult 24 months.”

There are some positive signs. In the US, How&How works with a number of climate-tech companies and social enterprises, and Cat says those sectors have been galvanised by the recent antics in the White House. She recalls a recent meeting with a new client: “There was real fire in her belly, as a result of the drastic sweeping changes that are taking place. And fire is certainly better than complacency. So, in that respect, I’m optimistic.”

Creative community

However, on the subject of protest, Kris Andrew Small, the Sydney-based designer and artist, sounds a necessary note of caution. During times like these, he says, we also have to take care of ourselves and our own mental health. “It’s important to protest,” he says, “but it’s also important to not live in a complete negative state of thinking, ‘Everything’s fucked.’ Nobody has to be politically on it 24/7, that’s not a good thing either.”

Over the past year, he has found solace in speaking with other designers and artists, and rediscovering bonds within the creative community. “Because last year was a bit rough,” he explains, “I think people’s connections have gotten better, in terms of creatives being connected to other creatives. We’ve had to ask each other: Why is it quiet? Is it this? Is it that? There is more of a dialogue.” He recently attended Hopes and Dreams Club, a live talks event for creatives in Sydney organised by the creative agency Pretty-Soon, and it was both brilliant and hugely oversubscribed. “People are clearly gagging for that community,” says Kris. “Even if it’s not been a good year for projects, people are really getting back into having some form of community.”

Sarah Boris is also optimistic about the role that the community can play, even if she isn’t sure things will get much easier for creatives in 2025. “I hope it’s a year of solidarity and getting together,” says the artist and designer, who is aptly launching an artwork this year titled ‘Time for Peace’, a fully functioning clock where the handles form the peace symbol four times a day, for just a fleeting second. “We have to start locally to get global,” she continues. “Imagining small deeds and local actions to start with is important. In terms of actual work and commissions, I think it will be a challenge as I see a lot of funding cuts everywhere; it will require us to be resourceful and flexible.”

When Kris is searching for further reasons to be cheerful, he looks back at his recent visit to the ABBA Voyage show in London. He was a bit sceptical at first, he admits, but the experience left him inspired and uplifted. Despite the holographic singing stars, the live band and the 3,000 other wildly enthusiastic ABBA fans in the room brought home to him the simple realisation that “humans need humans”. Not only did it reinforce his belief in the power of community; it also, he says, “weirdly made me feel better about AI, too.”

Born optimists

Kris is perhaps not alone in landing more on the optimistic side of the fence. Perhaps it’s even an in-built predisposition. As Sir John Hegarty pointed out recently (thanks to Cat for pointing me towards this quote): “Creativity is about positivity. The most brilliant creatives I’ve met have always been optimists. They might appear miserable on the surface… But deep down, they believe that their efforts can produce change… Pessimism kills creativity. Optimism expands it.”

So, despite the unrelenting news cycle, the sometimes-gloomy predictions and the undeniable lure of negativity, let’s all try to remember, as 2025 unfolds, that pessimism is the enemy of creativity. And let’s all find a few reasons to be cheerful.

A few more reasons to be cheerful

We also asked our interviewees to offer up some more personal and/or whimsical reasons why they’re feeling positive about 2025. Here’s what they told us.

Kris Andrew Small

“They’re rebuilding Space Mountain at Tokyo Disneyland and I think it’s opening this year. I’m really excited about that.”

Khyati Trehan

“I’m feeling very positive about my muscle mass. Who knew a saucy audiobook to get lost in is all I needed to forget how many reps I’m through?”

Sarah Boris

“I’m celebrating 20 years of practice this year since graduating from University of the Arts. In some ways I still feel like it’s the beginning. I think that’s what’s kept me going: the endless possibilities and always learning new things, from skills to theory.”

Cat How

“The thing I’m most positive about this year is our team. Call me woo-woo, and perhaps I’ve already been living in LA too long and am going soft, but genuinely the only thing that gets me out of bed at 5am every morning is this little flame of a feeling that, with the crew we’ve assembled, we’re always just one great idea away from greatness.”

Matt Alagiah | Writer and editor

Matt Alagiah is a London-based writer and editor, who until October was editor-in-chief of creative media company It’s Nice That. During his six years at the helm there, Matt led the team’s editorial output across the website, live events, podcasts and social channels, and hosted the brand’s flagship talks event Nicer Tuesdays in London and New York. Before joining It’s Nice That, he was executive editor at Monocle, where he mainly focused on the magazine’s coverage of business and entrepreneurship.