“What hasn't been done yet?” As 2025 comes to a close, I find myself asking this familiar question. In this article, I share five works that sharpened my designer reflexes and triggered those admiring “I wish I'd thought of that” moments. From unique manual craft to unexpected spreadsheet wizardry, these examples reveal how simplicity and storytelling can turn an idea into an unforgettable experience.
As we approach the end of 2025, just like every year, we fall into that perfectionist questioning: “What can be done that is different from the previous year? What hasn’t been done yet?”
The interesting thing, I find, is that the works that manage to surprise us every passing year are born not from ideas never thought of before, but from the clever reconstruction of familiar concepts. Sometimes the solution to the most complex problems can be hidden in the simplest idea.
Naturally, for designers aiming to improve their vision, this situation turns into deep but envy-free ‘I wish’ moments. Internal reckonings such as “How did I not think of this? Why didn’t it cross my mind?” lay the foundation for new paths in this journey of improving our vision.
Here in this article, I want to talk about five works that sharpened my designer reflexes in 2025, gained me new perspectives, and perhaps shared a moment with me without realizing it.
We are living in the age of AI, which is now everyone’s agenda and is mentioned in every event and every article. I am sure that the question “Will artificial intelligence take the place of designers?” has been asked to every designer at least once.
Here, I want to talk about a work addressing exactly this question, perhaps one that could reverse this question.
The first thing that went through my mind when I encountered this project was how valuable and immutable craft and manual labor are.
Actually, the magic of that five-second video we look at, which perhaps doesn't mean big things to us, is hidden exactly in the manual labor within it. While it could have been easily solved in minutes with AI or 3D modeling, the fact that this work was done with manual labor makes it valuable. In other words, Apple manages to sell us the concept of status and value again with this fine craftsmanship.
When Oscar and Grammy-winning Finneas’ music is added to the visual craft, the work goes beyond a video and turns into an experience. In this piece shaped by glass and light plays, the music also comes to life on the keys of a real piano, far from the coldness of digital.
Finneas explains the situation as follows: he states that working with a real instrument instead of starting with software gives faster results. The interesting thing is that although Finneas planned to prepare 10 different versions at first, he liked the feeling in his first attempt very much and finished the work with just a few touches.
These approaches remind me of this footnote as a designer: When a designer looks at the work at hand not as ‘client work’ but as ‘their own brand,’ they start to hear, live, and own that work. At that point, even a single attempt is enough to create a masterpiece, and the work becomes livable with hand craftsmanship.
It is exactly for these reasons that AI cannot take our jobs away; it can only be a supporter to us.
Besides AI, the other topic frequently mentioned is sustainability. As important as sustainability is for life, producing something related to this subject is just as difficult. In a society where carbon credit plans are criticized for being performative or not transparent, what does it truly mean to produce works that contribute to environmental improvement in a meaningful way, not just visually?
The thing that brought me closer to this work is exactly the reality in that contribution. As someone with a photographic memory, being able to see what I hear reminds me that nature speaks for itself and is one with us in production on its own behalf, thus making the design livable.
Instead of getting stuck in discourses such as greenwashing, actually turning back to nature itself is sufficient. As Jonathan Brodie, creative director at Design Bridge, said: “With the desire to break traditions and challenge expectations, much freer and truly effective works can emerge.”
At this point, as designers, just as we know how much branding can change perception, we must always keep in a corner of our minds that it can also start to shape behavior.
Speaking of returning to the ordinary, while all this world of creativity is blended within ideas and imaginations, on the other hand, we are face to face with real life. I won't philosophize, don’t worry.
Packaging design has an approach that appeals to the consumer, speaks directly, and generally convinces people to buy the product regardless of price.
Just like the ‘one million store’ culture known in our country, this culture is quite common abroad as well. With this campaign made for such a market in Germany, a relationship of trust begins to form inside the person. Because whatever you buy, you know how much you will pay.
When the main element in terms of design is typography – my favorite subject – and only the price is written on the packaging, naturally, this approach makes the work sympathetic and honest. Realizing that you can create trust with just 3-5 characters... creativity starts in this simplicity.
Since I mentioned the subject of typography, I wouldn't want to exit quickly. Typography is like the ‘crazy child’ of creativity for me; it can get into any disguise. Because it is a very free area, be assured that those characters drawn at any time, in any way, can eventually become usable somewhere.
If typefaces had a personality and could speak, I think they would set up a sentence with exactly this madness: “Revenge is a dish best served cold.”
The next work serves that dish to our table in a creative way.
Instead of perceiving the graffiti done on agency buildings merely as a ‘scribble,‘ this idea turned it into a form that is fun, mockable, and usable for a donation purpose. This type of approach makes life easier. If you can turn negative encounters into positive and also reflect this in production, there can be no greater source of inspiration than this.
That’s why this work made me smile by pulling life to a more livable, positive point both as a human and as a designer.
So far, we have talked about artificial intelligence, manual labor, simplicity, turning negative into positive, humans, and human behaviors. Next is a work that is a very beautiful reflection of all these headings.
(You can download the font in question here.)
Generally, when we think of Spotify, there is a single sense that echoes in us: sound. But what if this approach restricts both creators and media planners? Whereas with our increasingly expanding video and visual library, we are in a more visual structure than ever.
To explain this issue to media planners, Spotify chose to reach them in the place where they spend the most time when making ad buying decisions: that is, in media plan spreadsheets.
No artificial intelligence. No shortcuts. Just old-school digital wizardry redesigned for a new purpose.
Transforming that standard Excel file that each of us opens at least once a week into a visual and auditory experience of only 10MB, accompanied by John Summit’s track Shiver captures the focus of media planners in a way never seen before. The real magic and ‘private space’ of the work is hidden in the conscious choice of the creators, which rejects the ease of artificial intelligence and embraces the small errors and ‘glitches’ inherent in human production, while reflecting that living, organic spirit of not being perfect into the design makes this work unique. You can download the file here.
When we look at all these works, we actually arrive at a single point: the tools we use, the ideas we say mean nothing without an emotional bond and story behind them. The past year, and those ‘I wish’ moments, taught me this.
