The Creative Boom Podcast

This week's guest is  Murugiah , the award-winning artist and designer who creates surreal and colourful artworks for Apple, Disney and Marvel. Born and raised in the UK with Sri Lankan heritage, Murugiah trained as an architect in London before choosing his current path. In this episode, we chat about the power of discovering who you truly are, and why it’s so important to ignore other people's e...

Izzy Burton  is an award-winning director, illustrator, author and lead artist at Netflix Animation. Based in Brighton, she directs short films, draws for television and film, and illustrates and writes for books. In this episode, we talk about how Izzy went from graduation to working at lead studios to freelancing, publishing books and then joining one of the largest broadcasters in the world and...

Ashwin Chacko is an illustrator, designer and hand-letterer based in Dublin who loves to bring the world together through his positive art. Born in India, Ashwin's joyful and colourful work features strong characters mixed with typography and pattern – each piece telling a story of love, kindness, and acceptance. Recent clients include Facebook, Adobe and Puma. This is a warm and relaxed chat with...

Award-winning designer and artist  Morag Myerscough 's work is instantly recognisable, positive and colourful – rooted in the idea of joy and belonging. In this episode, we chat more about this notion of belonging, especially now Morag is selling her Hoxton home. We also delve into how she's coped with recent events, and we get the inside scoop on her own lockdown projects – from sorting through d...

Amrit Singh , aka Mr A Singh, is an award-winning artist based in Birmingham and the creative director and founder of creative agency, Rebel Creatives. Here, we look at how social media has propelled him to fame and fortune, despite the odd challenge. We learn how he's adapted and grown, turning his creative passions into a thriving business. We also look at why it's so important we work on oursel...

Annie Atkins is the much-loved graphic props designer who has the dream job we all want and is most famous for her work on Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel and Isle of Dogs. Here, we talk about Annie's journey so far, about death warrants, her love of typography and the curiosity of Jeff Goldblum. We discover what it was like to work with Wes Anderson and Steven Spielberg – and why it's per...

Harrison Wheeler is a UX Design Manager at LinkedIn in Silicon Valley. For the last 15 years, his diverse career has taken him from freelancing and later scaling a startup to working at one of the largest social media platforms in the world. Here, we talk about how the Internet has changed the world. We discuss Black Lives Matter and inclusivity in design. There’s even a story about how an Apple W...

On a mission to make the world a happier place, Meg Lewis is a designer, comedian, performer and educator who will put a smile on your face. With clients including Google, Dropbox and Barbie, and her own hit podcast that combines mindfulness and comedy, Meg has enjoyed a fantastic career to date. She puts her success down to discovering her superpowers and finding a purpose. Here, we'll get to unc...

One of today's most influential designers, Debbie Millman is also the host of Design Matters with previous guests including Milton Glaser and Barbara Kruger. For 20 years, she was president of Sterling Brands and in 2009 she co-founded the world’s first graduate programme in branding at New York's  School of Visual Arts . Join us, as we talk about rocky career paths, the beauty (and sadness) of ge...

Simon Dixon is the co-founder of DixonBaxi, one of the world's most respected brand and design consultancies, boasting clients as big as Netflix, AC Milan and the Premier League. The London firm, which has achieved god-like status amongst the design community, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. In this episode, we get a fascinating, no-nonsense insight into the brains behind DixonBaxi,...

Dapo Adeola is an award-winning designer and illustrator who creates fun and upbeat characters and images that challenge expectations around gender and race. He's also the co-creator of the best-selling children's picture book, Look Up. Here, we talk about carving a career out of art and design, the importance of representation and why kindness and compassion will keep you sane. We also discover w...

Sarah Boris is an award-winning graphic designer, creative director and artist based in London who's worked with some of the world's leading publishing houses and art organisations, including Phaidon Press, The Photographers' Gallery, Tate and Barbican. Here, we chat about the events of 2020, and how the year transformed her perspective and practice. We'll also discover what makes her happy.

Manchester-based multidisciplinary artist Kofi Nelson  has just graduated in graphic design from the University of Salford and is also a music producer, collaborating with musicians around the world. Here, we talk about entering the working world under the shadow of Covid-19 and an uncertain economy. We also talk about music and its accessibility, overcoming self-doubt, and finding ways to stay cr...

By day, Gavin Strange is a director and designer for Aardman Animations in Bristol, the people behind Wallace and Grommit, and Shaun the Sheep. By night, he's a "passion project pursuer" where he indulges in everything from filmmaking and toy design to illustration and photography. In this episode, we chat about his boundless energy, his love of giving back, why he avoids the "heavy stuff" and why...

Neef Rehman is a web developer and designer, working at  ustwo  in London, the digital agency famous for its award-winning Monument Valley game. He's also behind the company's new scheme to help first-time founders through mentorship and support. Recorded pre-lockdown, we discuss how he fell in love of design after dealing with data at one of his first jobs, and why he's now proud to be giving bac...

Describing herself as a "maker of things", Danielle Rhoda is a freelance illustrator and animator based in Manchester, UK. Originally from Poland and "partly raised" in Nottingham, she calls herself a northerner at heart after graduating from the Manchester School of Art in 2018 and deciding to settle in the city. We talk about how she's finding self-employment so far, especially during lockdown....

Known for producing bold and colourful work full of optimism,  Robert Lomas  is an independent designer working across animation, illustration and branding. Based in Manchester but originally from Blackpool, Robert has just gone freelance after being the lead designer and animator at  Design By Day . Passionate about supporting others, spreading positivity and giving back wherever possible, Robert...

Dan Silverstone started out as a graphic designer at a "safe" council job before he found the courage to leave and join GRIN, a creative studio in Birmingham. It was there that he developed his creative skills, becoming senior designer and later, art director. Today, he specialises in motion and loves to indulge in lots of side projects via his venture, Pica . In this episode, we chat about growin...

Sophie Amono is a qualified journalist, marketing specialist, and founder of social media agency, Stuffs . Originally from London, she began her career working at Dazed & Confused and The Times, before moving to Glasgow in 2015. In this episode we chat about her journey, the struggles she's faced, about Covid-19 and the lockdown, feminism, and finding her voice. We talk about Black Lives Matte...

Michael C Place is a Yorkshire-born graphic designer, creative director and founder of the successful design studio, Build . Prior to setting up his own business, he famously worked for Trevor Jackson at Bite It! and with Ian Anderson at The Designers Republic in the 1990s. We chat about those early days, the design industry in general and some of his most memorable projects. He also shares lots o...

Graphic designers and friends Eve Warren and Anna Wanczyk have recently joined forces to launch the first chapter in Yorkshire of Kerning the Gap, a community founded in 2015 to get more women into leadership roles in the design industry. Eve is currently working at Robot Food in Leeds while Anna has recently set up her own studio. It was great to hear about their different career paths and see ho...

Known for his bold and innovative typographic artworks, Craig Black  is a Scottish-born designer, lettering artist and typographer whose worked tirelessly over the last five years to build his own design studio near Glasgow. Here, he shares some of the secrets to his success, including some helpful ideas to boost productivity, improve mental wellbeing and achieve your goals. This is an eye-opening...

Illustrator Ana Jaks creates work that is full of shape, colour, pattern and inclusivity. Originally from the Isle of Man, she went to Falmouth University to study Illustration and then did a Masters in Visual Communications at Bath Spa before graduating in 2015. She's always worked for herself and has so far picked up clients such as Facebook and Nike. I headed down to Bristol in March to meet An...

Award-winning British designer Craig Oldham is behind Office of Craig, the creative studio based in Manchester. He's also written a few books, notably Oh Shit, What Now to support emerging designers. More recently, he's published They Live, a book that celebrates the sci-fi cult movie by John Carpenter. There was much to discuss when I met Craig in Manchester pre-lockdown, including the state of t...

Lisa Congdon is an artist of many talents. Based in Portland, Oregon, she does everything from fine art to illustration, but is best known for her colourful graphic drawings and hand lettering. With an amazing career so far, Lisa has so much advice to share on building a successful creative business. Here, she talks about getting started, surviving the ups and downs, and reveals helpful marketing...