Twelve Days of Christmas: A Quiet Creative Practice

Over Christmas I created a personal project called Twelve Days of Christmas.

Rather than leaning into excess, I chose twelve simple words with each one exploring a feeling, a permission, or a state of being that often gets lost in the noise of the season. During the process I actually dropped a word and ended on eleven, Home. This just felt right to me at the time and it was part of expressing myself.

The words were deliberately understated:

Love

Pause

Space

Enough

Show Up

Care

Build

Trust

Own

Allow

Rest

Home

Some were illustrated and some were purely typographic. That choice was intentional.

Not everything needs explaining visually and I felt that sometimes the absence of imagery says more than illustration ever could.

The project became an exercise in trust for me, in trusting the idea, the pace, and my own instinct as a designer. It wasn’t about chasing engagement or proving productivity or trying to generate revenue! It was about consistency, clarity, and presence.

As a designer, this project reflects how I like to work. With intention and meaning at the centre and it reminded me that design doesn’t always need to be loud to be effective.