We are tired.

We’re tired of staring at screens. We’re tired of watching talking heads. We’re tired of courses that overpromise and underdeliver.

I don’t want to consume anymore. I want to create. I want success. I want to move quickly through the learning phase.

My team and I sat around a table, notebooks open, as we reimagined the Surface Design Immersion course.

The way that we learn has changed. The way that we want to learn has changed.

And the question that cracked everything open was this: what would make this the 2026 course?

Not an update of earlier versions, but a complete reimagining.

What if we were starting today with no history? What would we want to create?

We decided to first start by asking questions.

This is something that I think might be easy to forget, but it’s so incredibly foundational, to always start with a big idea or a big turn by asking the people who are already in your audience.

So we surveyed our 15,000 alumni.

What we heard is that they agreed they wanted less time online, more time with their hands. They wanted to feel like they were building something, not just checking boxes.

They deeply wanted to create.

They wanted analog. They wanted tactile. The joy and mess and magic of actually creating.

Underneath all of it were some fears.

Is it too late for me? Does my art still matter? Is there really room for me?

But one of the things that we learned on the trade show floor, that I shared with you in the last episode, is that I heard the same thing over and over again from buyers and art directors and agencies.

We want art with a story. We don’t want AI anything. We want the human at the center. We want to know who the artist is and where the inspiration came from.

The industry isn’t leaving you behind. It is calling you forward.

This is the moment.

People want to hold something in their hands and say, I made this. I’m doing this.

It is really special.

And they want analog creativity.

So we threw out eight years of work.

And this work was good work. This work has changed thousands of people’s lives. It’s generated millions of dollars. Work that had a waitlist. Work that people loved.

We pulled out a blank sheet of paper.

And we began reimagining the Surface Design Immersion course with the focus, tactile and tangible.

This is episode three of The Analog Renaissance.

In this series, I’m breaking down the eight ways that we’re leaning into this very analog moment as creatives and as entrepreneurs.

Each episode focuses on one shift, why it matters, how we applied it in our business, and how you can begin applying it in yours as well.

If you want more context and all of the data that led us here, you’ll want to listen to episode one, which is called The Wake Up Call.

Today is the second shift we made, and it changed how we think about products and education.

Analog advantage, way number two, is physical products.

People want something that they can hold in their hands.

The world is craving tactile, and the data proves it.

Creator revenue from merchandising has tripled between 2021 and 2024.

Eighty five percent of people remember the advertiser that gave them a promotional item.

Think about that for yourself. Is there a time where you interacted with a brand, you got an item, and instantly it became more memorable?

In a world of endless digital content, physical products have a way of cutting through the noise and being sticky.

They’re memorable.

Physical goods create an emotional connection that digital products just can’t replace.

So our first application, and we’ve applied this in many ways, but the biggest one was launching our ecommerce brand called Flowery.

Flowery exists because it is an extension of the creative lifestyle that we teach, made tangible.

It creates touch points beyond our digital offerings like Surface Design Immersion.

It turns customers into ambassadors, people who are really loving and living with our products every day.

It builds brand loyalty through daily use.

So even when you step away from your digital counterparts, you’ve got something from our brand that is still interacting in your daily life.

And hopefully, it becomes a solid revenue stream that isn’t necessarily tied to our digital launches.

The deeper reason is this.

We didn’t want our brand to live only on screens.

We wanted it to live in your life.

On your desk. In your studio. In everyday creative rituals.

So we focused on heirloom quality products that are meant to last.

Some are meant to be passed down from generation to generation.

Things that you don’t throw away, but that you want to keep.

Objects that quietly remind you of who you are and what you’re building.

I’ll link our shop, Flowery, in the show notes if you want to take a peek at how we’ve translated our brand into products.

The website is shopflowery.com, spelled F L O W E R I E.

Pattern is having a moment.

From bold wallpaper to checkered mugs to striped pajamas and floral notebooks, the world is embracing color and texture and personality again.

We are officially living in the era of pattern drenching, and honestly, I’m so here for it.

If you’ve been noticing it too and thinking, I wonder if I could make patterns, you absolutely can.

And the best way to do it is by using Adobe Illustrator.

It’s where I created my very first repeating pattern over a decade ago, and it’s still the tool that I use and teach today, because it’s designed for this kind of creative work and trusted across the entire industry on a global basis.

Illustrator makes designing seamless repeating patterns feel intuitive.

You can easily tweak colors, scale your artwork, and move things around without starting over.

Everything stays crisp because it’s all vector based.

And when you’re ready to put your pattern onto a real product, Illustrator works beautifully with printers, manufacturers, and licensing partners.

So whether you’re creating patterns for your notebooks, your living room walls, or dreaming of turning your creativity into a career, Illustrator helps your ideas go from sketch to look at what I made.

Head on over to the show notes, open Adobe Illustrator, and have some fun.

Pattern is having a moment, and Illustrator is how you join it.

So then we asked a bigger question.

What if this isn’t just true for marketing, but for learning too?

What if people could hold a pattern that they created in their hands before even joining Surface Design Immersion?

So we created something that does just that.

It’s called the Print and Pattern Revival Workshop.

If you’re listening close to the air date, you may still have time to come join us.

This is a free workshop that invites you to step away from the scroll and get messy with your creativity and use your hands.

I’m going to teach how to create a pattern and then bring it to life on wallpaper, gift wrap, or fabric, and experience the joy of designing something tangible and real.

So that you can experience surface pattern design in a really analog way.

Surface pattern design is an incredibly analog career.

Of course, we use digital tools like Adobe Illustrator to bring our work into the industry.

But the beginning process, gathering inspiration, pulls you into your life and into the things that you love the most.

Then there’s the artwork, pens and paint and paper, and it’s gorgeous.

Then we transfer it into the digital space so it can go far and reach every corner of the earth.

And then it comes back to you as a physical product with your artwork on it.

It’s one of the most analog careers I can think of in present day.

As of today, I literally cannot believe this, we have nearly 80,000 people signed up to join us.

Creatives who are craving analog interaction.

They want to create beauty that they can hold.

We’re about two weeks away from the start of this workshop, and I’m deep in the process of making it as good as it can possibly be.

So I can be in the presence of that many people creating.

I get teary eyed just thinking about it.

So many people have signed up because when you create something physical, you change.

You stop wondering if you’re creative, and you start seeing proof that you are.

If you want to create your own product, I would love for you to come join us too.

The free workshop is February 11th through the 16th.

You can sign up at bonniechristine.com/revival, and I’ll link it in the show notes as well.

It is entirely free.

When people can hold proof that they are creative, their life changes.

Their belief changes.

There are a couple of ways this shows up in business.

Physical products extend your brand into real life.

And in education, physical, tangible outcomes prove that transformation is happening.

So two questions for you.

What could your audience hold that proves to them that they’re making progress?

And what physical object could reinforce your message when the screens are turned off?

Our realization was that the 2026 Surface Design Immersion course would look nothing like the 2018 version.

Still all of the technical skills. Always.

Still the career foundation.

But with way more connection. Way more humanity. More creativity. More mess.

A course that feels less like watching and more like being there.

Sitting with me in my studio. Walking with me through my garden. Building something beautiful with your hands.

We rewrote every single lesson.

Every page of the linen bound workbook.

We reimagined what it would feel like to learn this way.

Not on a screen or in a silo, but as part of something alive.

Creativity that you can hold.

Once we committed to physical proof, it forced us to rethink something even bigger.

If students are holding their progress, where do they put it?

Where do they gather it?

Where does the story of their creative life live?

In the next episode, I’ll show you how printed workbooks and analog materials became the backbone of our entire learning experience.

Why paper might be the most powerful technology we have today.

And how you can implement this in your own business as well.

My friends, create the beauty that you want to see come alive in the world.

And remember, there’s room for you.