What are you like? 9 things our survey reveals about Creative Boom readers

Creative Boom: Insight Creative Industry What are you like? 9 things our survey reveals about Creative Boom readers Experienced, independent, burned out and cautious about AI: here's what more than 600 of you have told us so far about working in the creative industries in 2026. Written By: Tom May 31 March 2026 The state of creativity in 2026. Image licensed via Adobe Stock March has a particular quality for those of us who work in the creative industries. The January anxiety has settled, the initial shape of the year is becoming clearer, and you're no longer able to blame a slow start for whatever isn't quite working yet.

It's the moment when the reality of 2026 comes properly into focus, and thanks to the Creative Boom 2026 survey, we're getting a clearer picture than ever of how our readers are actually experiencing it. More than 600 of you have already taken part, and what you're telling us is nuanced, honest, and in places, quietly uncomfortable. This isn't a story of a profession in freefall. It's something more layered: a community of experienced, skilled people navigating sustained pressure, adapting to tools they didn't ask for, and slowly reassessing what success even looks like any more.

We're keeping the survey open until the end of April and will publish the full findings then. But the early data is already telling us something worth sharing now. 1. You're a seasoned, self-directed community The responses we've had to this survey so far have generally not been from newcomers. The largest age group is 35–44 (194 respondents), followed by 25–34 (167 respondents) and 45–54 (136 respondents). Perhaps more significantly, over 60% of you describe yourselves as senior (10-plus years' experience) or at a leadership or founder level. You're people who've seen the industry shift multiple times. Your perspective carries weight.

Nearly half of you are freelance or self-employed, and the most common working setup is simply "just me" (280 respondents). That independence is something to celebrate, but it also means navigating all the pressures of running a creative career without a team around you: finding clients, managing money, staying visible and keeping skills sharp. 2. Most of you are using AI The top disciplines represented in responses so far have been graphic design, branding, advertising and illustration. Adobe Creative Cloud remains the dominant tool, used by the vast majority.

But the second most-used category, ahead of Figma, Canva and Procreate, is "AI tools", cited by 330 of you. Only 81 say you've never used AI at all in your creative work. That number says a lot about how quickly the landscape has shifted. 3. Most of you don't fully trust AI When asked how you'd describe AI's impact on the creative industry, the dominant response is "mixed". "Mostly negative" comes in second. Only 57 of you describe it as "Mostly positive". Many of you see AI as useful for some tasks (writing, research, certain production work), but threatening for others (image-making, illustration, visual creativity more broadly).

Big picture: you're not a community that's afraid of tools. You're professionals who have adapted to every big technological shift of the past two decades. On the whole, what you're resisting isn't AI itself, but the way it's being deployed: especially when it's used to reduce budgets, cut freelance rates and lower the perceived value of skilled creative work. 4. Financial pressure is sustained, not improving When it comes to income, the largest bracket is £20,000–£29,999 (112 respondents), followed by £30,000–£39,999 (98 respondents).

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The article provides valuable insights into the challenges faced by the creative industry, which are highly relevant to brand strategy professionals, though the themes of financial pressure and burnout are not entirely new.