I’ve always been proudly a 'creative' at heart. These days, I might be shaping brand strategy or poring over numbers in a P&L, but I’m still hands-on with creative briefs whenever they come in, scribbling ideas, sketching thoughts, working with the team and getting stuck into the kind of work I’ve always loved.
People might be more familiar with me running a business or blogging regularly here on LinkedIn, but before all that, I studied Graphic Design at what was then the London College of Printing, now UAL’s London College of Communication.
And I’ve never lost that passion for creativity.
This week, I felt a real surge of pride reading that University of the Arts London has once again been recognised as a global leader by QS World University Rankings - ranked the world’s top undergraduate art and design university for the seventh year in a row.
Just behind the Royal College of Art (which is postgrad only), it means London now holds the top two spots worldwide for Art and Design education.
That’s quite something.
But this isn’t just about personal nostalgia. It’s a reminder of how important the Creative Industries are to UK plc.
A sixth of all London jobs are in the creative economy.
The city’s Creative Industries generate £10 million every hour and contribute 6% to the UK’s GDP.
They’re growing faster than the broader economy and making a major impact on how we live, work, and engage with the world.
And now, in the age of AI and large language models, creativity is arguably more valuable than ever.
These tools are powerful, but they still need human curiosity, intuition and imagination to really deliver.
Creative thinkers aren’t being replaced, they’re becoming more essential than ever!
I’m also a very proud dad.
Both of my daughters are heading into the creative world (though not my corner of it - “Dad, what you do is sooo boring”).
One’s studying fashion design, the other technical arts for film.
And yes, my youngest is now at UAL too.
It’s lovely to see the torch being passed on, with both of them already carving their own creative paths.
So let’s give creativity the credit it deserves, not just for what it produces, but for what it powers.
Economically. Culturally. Socially.
Because creativity really is serious business.
If you need some real creative thinking, whether it's a rebrand, a brochure or a complete marketing campaign, take a look at our work and get in touch.
Or continue reading more of our blog.