I started teaching online in 2013. That feels like a very long time ago. I started teaching the Surface Design Immersion course in 2018, and since then I’ve re-recorded it every two years. It’s just become a ritual.

But this time, I looked at my team and said, what if we didn’t make a course? What if we made something someone would want to put up on their big screen, something that entertained them, something that was beautiful to watch, not just to learn from, but to experience? What if it was a documentary-style masterpiece?

This is episode nine of nine, the final episode of The Analog Renaissance. Over these nine episodes, I’ve shared the eight different ways that we have gone all in on analog over the last 18 months, what that has meant for us and our business, and what we’ve learned. It’s been a strategic, deeply human response to the world that we’re living in today.

This final shift brings everything together. Analog advantage way number eight is come-with-me learning.

Let me tell you what inspired this. I have devoured some of Magnolia’s recent series. Oh my goodness, For the Love of Kitchens is one. Of course, Erin Benzakein of Floret Flowers is another. I’ve watched them more than once, and I always bring Olivia. We watch them together. They’re beautiful and inspiring and so good.

One of the reasons I love them so much is that they are slow and beautiful, but they’re also immersive. I realized these aren’t just instructional, they are invitations into their world and their way of thinking. So you don’t just learn. Even though I do learn watching them, I also feel like I’m there, like I’ve stepped into their world.

So my question became, how do I make something that someone would want to curl up and watch, something that teaches them everything they need to know, but also feels like a gift, something that feels entertaining?

That led us to what we call come-with-me learning. This means not just a talking head in front of a teleprompter, not just voiceover slides, but documentary-style cameras coming with me, looking over my shoulder and following me through the process from concept to ideation to finished pattern. Into the garden, picking flowers and sketching while I talk about why something inspires me.

It also means a little bit messy. It means real-time ideating, real-time erasing, real-time working through the creative process, which makes it more relatable. That’s the most vulnerable part. It meant showing the mess, real-time mistakes, real-time me thinking out loud. It’s the part where I’m least comfortable, but I’m trying really hard to let you see it.

We also stepped away from so much teleprompter use and voiceover slides, and instead leaned into an interview format. I brought in team members who have been here since the beginning. They know the work, they know me, we love each other, and I had them ask me questions so I could talk naturally about the concepts. We laughed together. This version of the course is about 80% less teleprompter than any other year. It’s conversational.

This is a huge project. If you’re an alum, you know this. We liken this course to an entire degree, so that you can come through the course and leave with a new career on your horizon. That means it’s big. It’s 200-plus lessons, each of them completely reimagined. It’s eight days of filming, and then an additional 12 days of Illustrator tutorials that I did on my own.

For those eight days of in-person filming, that’s all me on camera. We flew in three people from my team, hired professional videographers, and shot it like a film. The goal was to entertain. Even though I don’t feel like an entertainer, what I hear from people is that I’m calming, which I hope is true. We get that feedback a lot.

So I kept asking, how can I make this something beautiful to watch, not watered down from an education perspective, but more cinematic, more immersive? A course you might actually put up on your TV, maybe even watch with your daughter. That makes me smile.

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 our show notes, open Adobe Illustrator, and have some fun. Pattern is having a moment, and Illustrator is how you join it.

Over these nine episodes, I’ve shared the data that woke us up, the trade show gamble, the proof you can hold, the beauty of print, my garden sanctuary, the box on your doorstep, the completion obsession, meeting people in their analog lives, and now this, the come-with-me approach that changed how we think about teaching.

Every single one of these comes back to the same insight. The biggest innovation isn’t digital. It’s deeply human.

Combining print with digital can increase reach and engagement by up to 400%. Analog builds attention longer. Analog deepens learning. Analog builds trust. Analog converts.

I’ll say it again because it sums up everything. Digital is how we reach people. Analog is how we grow roots with them. It’s how we go deep and build lasting relationships in a connected community.

If you’ve listened this far, you are exactly the kind of person I made this for. Someone who feels the pull towards creating, someone who cares deeply about their audience and their students, someone who wonders if there is still room for them. I think that’s all of us. Someone who wants to fill their life with beauty and pattern and meaning.

I want you to know that there is room. There is room for you, for your art, for your story, possibly more now than ever.

If you want to step into this world, if you want to become the creative director of your own life and your own career, I would love to show you how. In February, I’m hosting a free workshop called the Print and Pattern Revival, where I’ll teach you how to make a pattern and put it on a product.

We’ll gather inspiration, sketch simple shapes, and turn them into digital artwork by building a seamless repeating pattern. You’ll see your design come to life on a product, fabric, wallpaper, gift wrap, or all three. You don’t need any design experience or drawing skills, just a pencil, a piece of paper, and a willingness to show up and have some fun.

Thousands of people have already signed up, and I would love to have you there. I’ll link it in the show notes, or you can sign up at bonniechristine.com/revival.

And if you’re already all in, you’ve been hearing me talk about everything we’ve done to reimagine Surface Design Immersion. We teach this course live once a year. Enrollment opens February 17, closes February 24, and class begins March 2. I would love to have you there if this is something you want to pursue. You can join the waitlist at bonniechristine.com/immersion.

My friends, thank you for listening to this series. This has been deeply fascinating to me, something we’ve been quietly pursuing and going all in on for more than a year. I hope you enjoyed it and gathered ideas to use in your own business.

Thank you for caring about creativity and beauty and doing things differently. You were created to create. I believe that to my core, and I can’t wait to see what you create.

My friends, create the beauty that you want to see come alive in the world, and remember there’s room for you.