Creative Boom, an online magazine for creatives is now 15 years old. As part of the celebrations they have run a survey with some interesting findings:
Here are some key findings so far:
- Work status: Most of you are self-employed or freelancers (46.3%), with a significant portion working full-time (38.5%). Of these, 61.2% work in small companies with 1-10 employees.
- Education: 54.3% have a Bachelor’s degree, and 21.4% hold postgraduate degrees.
- Household income: 33% earn less than £30,000 annually, while 15.3% earn £90,000 or more.
- AI views: 33.6% view AI as enhancing creativity, while 26.6% see it as a threat to jobs.
- Economic impact: 47.3% report negative impacts from the current economic climate. Top concerns include job security (28.4%) and lower sales or client interest (22.5%).
- Software usage: Adobe Creative Cloud is the most used tool (83.7%).
- Awards: 45.7% do not find entering awards important.
Some points that stood out to me are the large number of freelancers responding to the survey, the views on AI in the creative industry and the still dominant use of Adobe Creative Cloud despite widespread concerns about AI training on customer data (despite claiming they won’t) and other shady and monopolistic business practices like the aborted Figma deal due to regulatory concerns.
The salary ranges are interesting too, with no details of whether these are full or part time or freelance or working for companies. Curious what the guys earning £90K+ are doing..
As a creative who couldn’t care less about corporate brands and hyped design agencies, it’s great to see Creative Boom broaden the usual coverage from overexposed ‘Rockstar’ names and London-centric news. The article is a great read overall, and congratulations to Creative Boom on their 15 year anniversary!
Full article at https://www.creativeboom.com/news/creative-boom-at-15-what-we-stand-for-and-why-creatives-should-care/