Review of the Year 2022: Top 25 Features

Our Features are where we at It’s Nice That get to explore a subject in a bit more depth, to unpack an issue affecting the creative community or to take our time discussing a creative’s work. This year, we looked at the impact of PC Music’s visual output; explored the awe-inspiring work of Hayao Miyazaki; and enjoyed an incredibly interesting chat with Tim Gagnon, Nasa’s long-time patch designer. But coming off the back of the pandemic, it also felt like the right time to look long and hard at how the upheaval of Covid-19 could allow the creative industry to start doing things differently.

In line with this, we published a number of series exploring how we can tackle long-lasting issues. Ray Masaki’s three-part series Broken Japanese deconstructed Euro-American aesthetic exoticisation of Japan, while The Balancing Act explored how the industry was altered by the pandemic, including an in-depth dive into the numerous benefits of a four-day week, plus a look into the possible consequences of a largely digital art space. Then, in the summer, we welcomed guest editor Richard Turley, whose brutally honest approach to agency culture and the dilution of talent took no prisoners.

As ever, we continued to have some of the experts weigh in on big topics, notably type-strology guru Rebecca Fulleylove, who unlocked the telling secrets behind your preferred choice of font. Things also got hot under the collar with a feature exploring whether the design industry is scared of sex and, in a rip-roaring affair, Danielle Pender broke down the biggest client red flags – “Can we make the logo bigger?” makes an appearance. But, taking the top spot this year in a last-minute sprint to the finish was an interview with Rasmus Wangelin, global head of brand design at Spotify, focusing on how this year’s Wrapped campaign came together. With how many (very questionable) top songs we saw being shared all over our Instagrams, we’re really not that surprised that you loved it.