It started as a side project.
What began in 2009 became something none of us could have predicted – a genuine home for creative people all over the world. Here's how Creative Boom came about.
HOW IT BEGAN
I didn't set out to build a platform for creatives.
It was a blog, really. One that grew out of everything I'd picked up as a broadcast journalist and then co-founding a PR and digital consultancy in Manchester.
I'd spent years watching how creative work gets talked about, and I wanted somewhere that celebrated it without reducing it to trends or metrics: an inclusive space that put people, ideas and honest conversation first.
Almost immediately, I grew a loyal community. Turns out I wasn't the only one who wanted it. Since then, it’s grown beyond my expectations. It’s become a daily habit for tens of thousands of artists and designers, and a true platform for the wider industry.
Underneath it was a simple conviction, and it still hasn't changed: creative people deserve better support, better representation, and more human conversations about their work. That's the whole reason Creative Boom exists.
WHat It’s Become
Since then, it’s grown in ways I never saw coming.
Creative Boom now reaches over a million people every month, across the magazine, podcast, newsletter and community. The podcast has passed a million downloads, with guests including Paula Scher, Stefan Sagmeister and Brian Collins. The newsletter? A 32% open rate – the industry average is about half that.
Brands including Microsoft, Adobe, BBC, Disney, Meta, Samsung and Canon have trusted Creative Boom to reach their audiences – not through noise or interruption, but through the kind of credibility that can't be bought, only built slowly over nearly two decades.
And The Studio, our private community, now has nearly 10,000 members, while Creative Boom IRL brings creatives together in person at 12 events a year, from Manchester to Brighton, Belfast to New York.
What started as a blog became something none of us could have predicted: a real home for creative people, wherever they are.
What’s Inside
Today, Creative Boom is a magazine, a podcast, a community and a set of events – all rooted in that same belief.
The Podcast
The conversations the highlight reel leaves out – candid chats with the people behind the work, out every Monday.
The Magazine
Daily news, inspiration, insight, tips and resources for the creative industries – the honest, useful writing I always wanted to read.
The Community
Our private community of nearly 10,000 creatives – a place to find your people, without the algorithms or the noise. Events, too.