Slow down — 31 Dec 2025

As this solar revolution gently comes to a close, it’s time to take a breath and reflect on what it was made of.

Breathe

I feel this year asked a lot of us, as individuals, a family, a community and as a society. Our attention was pulled (and pushed) in many directions, by responsibilities, relationships, workload, the need to stay informed, and to care for, support and help as much as we can.

The world remains an increasingly noisy and brutal place. An increasing number of people struggle to make ends meet, many suffering from prejudice and discrimination, while the far-right rises across Europe, and the Palestinians are massacred by Israel, our western legacy media and political parties, turn their heads the other way.

“AI” (aka LLMs) has drove investments through the roof mostly based on vibes and blind faith, as never ever seen before in human history. Despite how interesting LLMs are, this bubble will burst, and leave some by the wayside. It’s been a hard year industry-wide, for friends and colleagues. Burn-outs, layoffs, or depressions.

As Andy’s call to action pleads, “Be human and improve your own skills”:

No single technology has surpassed the need for personal development and genuine human intelligence.

The world needs more of this type of inspiration as we step into 2026.

Grateful

Despite this grim take on the past year, I feel deeply grateful and privileged for this past year, whom I spent it with, what I was exposed to and what I learned.

I enjoyed sharing everyday life with both my children who were mostly at home, working with skilled, creative and humane people I respect and love, making memories with Fabienne in our favourite hideaway in Greece and on the Lake or the mountains, at art exhibitions or at the ballet. Being able to commute to work on my bike through a human-sized city, despite its increasing density. Still healthy and standing.

I was unable to attend any conferences in-person this year, for agenda and health reasons, but followed both SmashingConf Freiburg and beyond tellerrand // Berlin online, which was the next best thing.

I had the privilege of collaborating with Harry Roberts in the spring, and it was a lot of fun to reconnect with Andy Clarke for his practical layout workshop.

I didn’t do as much photography as I wished, and shooting film was kind of a flop (for now). I have yet to finish my roll of film… ¯\(ツ)/¯

I dived into Piccalilli’s online courses instead. I still have to complete Scott Riley’s “Mindful Design” whom I met at Converge 2024 in Brighton.

I was a full year.

Reboot

We’re off to Basel tomorrow for a couple of days, to see the new year in, enjoy some time together and visit the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at the Beyeler Foundation. It’s sold out online, but if you get there early, chances are they’ll let you in. Emma discovered and enjoyed several of her creations and installations while travelling Japan this autumn.

Happy New Year! Be kind and generous.