My 2025 Creative Intentions

What I’m focusing on for my creative practice this year

Author

Alexa Phillips
January 08, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Welcome to Creatives Anonymous, a weekly newsletter that explores what it means to be a modern-day creative. It inspires, encourages, and empowers readers to take back their creative power.

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We’re BACK, baby. I hope everyone had a restful holiday break and great start to the new year. I was in Florida visiting my family (and soaking up allll the vitamin D to carry me through the rest of Seattle winter. Although, as I’m writing this, the sun is peeking out). 

As this is my first issue after the holidays, I wanted to share my creative intentions (I like this nomenclature better than “resolutions) for 2025 and share the future of this newsletter. 

Without further ado, here are a few things I’m focusing on for my creative practice in 2025:

Simplify how I capture and process information

I consume a lot of content: books, podcasts, TV shows, articles, short-form videos, and more. And from all that content comes takeaways and concepts I want to incorporate into my work. 

That said, one of my intentions for 2025 is to figure out a better system for capturing and storing information so I can focus on creating a better output. I already keep a commonplace book for things that inspire me, but I need something to house concepts and ideas I want to build upon for my writing and content. 

More tactile creating 

In December, I spent 3 days creating backdrops for my brand photoshoot by hand. This meant cutting and pasting magazine pages and lettering. It was so rewarding to create something by hand and get immersed in physically making the art.  I realized just how much I crave working with my hands more tactilely. 

I want to do more by hand in 2025 and focus more on mediums that allow me to do that. One skill I want to learn is processing and developing my film. I also have cyanotype, collage/mixed media, sketching, painting, and linotype on my list of tactile skills to explore. 

Fusing analog and digital 

Though I want to do more tactile creation this year, I also want to fuse analog and digital together. I’ve seen so many cool ways to add textures and incorporate analog elements digitally on TikTok that I want to experiment with and try for myself as I embark on a project to create a magazine that documents my year. 

I fondly appreciate both methods, especially since I’m a Zillennial. I grew up as digital technology was gaining momentum, so I’ve had the opportunity to dabble in a lot of it while still using analog methods. That said, I think there are ways to combine the two to create really cool art. So many creatives I talk to IRL and for this newsletter use both methods in creating and delivering their art. I’ve always used one or the other, so I’m curious to explore how to use both together. 

Double down on the skills and mediums I love 

Over the years, I’ve tried out so many different mediums. At this point, I know what I like and don’t like, so this year, I want to double down on the types of art I like creating. This looks like: 

  • Print and publication design

  • Sketching 

  • Painting

  • Photography

  • Collaging

I think I’ve wanted to try so many things and explore, but it hasn’t allowed me to spend time honing these skills (ironically, they all go together well). I want to use 2025 to improve my skills with these mediums and push myself to find new ways of working with them. 

In terms of trying “new” skills (I put that in quotes because it’s things I know the basics of how to do but want to brush up on the skills), I want to learn to color grade my photos to elevate the final product and dabble in audio and video (primarily for work-related things but still creative nonetheless). 

Develop my own style and taste

Taste and curation have been on my mind over the last month or so (look for an issue on it coming in the next few weeks). I’ve been thinking about how to develop my taste. If you’ve been following my journey, you know I’ve been undergoing a major realignment over the last 6 months or so, rediscovering who I am and what I love. 

One habit I want to cultivate in 2025 is to tune out the noise and stay in my lane. This means not being influenced by others and paying more attention to what captures my attention and resonates with me (easier said than done).

The people I admire the most are the ones who have amazing taste, and I want to be one of them. For me, this looks like being more intentional about the content I’m consuming and really understanding what about it I resonate with and why. I’ve already taken steps to curate my social feed and inbox to better align with my interests. 

The future of this publication 

With year one under my belt, I have a lot of big plans for year two of this publication. 

One of the biggest? Monetization. I started this publication out of my love for writing, but I want to see how far I can take it. My dream is to have my writing serve as another income stream for me. Beehiiv (my hosting platform) has many cool features. So don’t be surprised if you see some ads or sponsors here in the near future. That said, my stance on ads is that they need to align with this publication and be of interest to my readers. I don’t want to turn this publication into a walking billboard, so I will be selective about the advertisers and sponsors I accept. 

Content wise, this newsletter will still be heavily essay focused. I love writing them, and I have so many ideas in my arsenal, so I can’t wait to explore them here. And don’t worry, the interviews aren’t going anywhere. Like ideas, I have an arsenal of creatives I’m itching to talk to. 

I’m also planning on slightly rebranding to better align this project with the rest of my brand. 

What are your creative intentions for this year? Reply to this email and let me know!

CREATIVE CORNER

  • 🎞️ What I’m Consuming: I consumed a lot over the last few weeks, but a few standouts were Lee, a movie about photographer Lee Miller and Burn Book, tech journalist Kara Swisher’s latest release.

  • 💡 What I’m Loving: I got a Kaweco fountain pen for Christmas and have been using it for anything I’m writing.

  • 🎨 What I’m Working On: Getting prepped for my art class, which begins next week!

  • 💭 Weekly Musing:

Creativity is not a talent; it is a way of operating, an ability to play. To play is to experiment. What happens if I do this? What would happen if we did that? What if? The very essence of playfulness is an openness to anything that may happen, a feeling that whatever happens, it’s okay. You cannot be playful if you are frightened that moving in some direction will be wrong, something you shouldn’t have done when you’re either free to play or your not. So the best way to get the confidence to do that is to know that whule you’re being creative, nothing is wrong.

Thank you 💕

If you liked this newsletter, I’d love it if you could forward it to someone who you think would like it, too!

I’m so grateful for all of your support!

Alexa Phillips is a writer, brand strategist, and multi-passionate creative. She is the founder and Chief Brand Architect at Bright Eyes Creative, a creative studio that helps creative entrepreneurs build media-first brands to lead conversations and deeply connect with their audience.

Where to find me:

  • Check out my new offer, Media Multiverse Plotting Calls, where I can help you plan your entire media ecosystem for 2025 in 60 minutes.

  • Listen to my recent podcast episodes here.

  • Subscribe to my other newsletter, The Underground, a weekly zine where I teach bold brands how to break through the noise and leave their mark through media, marketing & brand strategy. 

  • Grab my Brand Realignment Workbook to help realign your brand to build your dream business.