Posted by: Adam Weston
25 November 2025
Ash Fielder, Senior UX Brand and Marketing Consultant at Growcreate
Some people fall into design. Ash Fielder was building worlds long before he knew what a career in creativity even looked like.
"I can't remember a moment when I wasn't making things," he says. "Drawing, animating, building... creativity was always a vocation, never a hobby."
That instinct to make and to communicate shaped a career that moved through animation, comic books, graphic design and ultimately into user experience and brand strategy. For Ash, every step was connected by one idea. Understanding people.
"Creativity has always been a form of communication for me," he explains. "As I grew, the question became how does communication actually work. Why do people behave the way they do? And how do we design better experiences around that?"
From animation to UX with a few plot twists
Ash's early path was anything but linear. After studying animation, he began freelancing, taking on illustration and comic work, including subcontracted colouring and inking for globally recognised publishers such as IDW and Dark Horse.
"It was validating to work with big names," he says, "but I realised I wasn't carving out the space I wanted. So I shifted into more commercial design."
Freelancing taught him resilience.
"The creative industry is cruel but fair," he says. "I learned that if you don't hold yourself to account, you don't progress. I worked hard, but not smart. Over time, I taught myself discipline rather than waiting for inspiration."
That mindset and his ability to move between creative modes eventually led him deeper into digital work.
The Ridgeway crucible
Ridgeway became Ash's entry point into UX practice at scale.
"It was a crucible," he says. "Fast-moving, high-pressure, lots of big clients. I learned to understand what clients truly need and how to communicate clearly with very different stakeholders."
For the first time, UX was not something he was inventing alone. It was part of a larger ecosystem. That shifted everything.
"It helped me understand user experience as a discipline, not just a feeling. That was transformative."
Leading creative strategy at Janes
When Ash moved in-house to Janes, he progressed rapidly from Senior Designer to Head of Creative and Brand in just five months.
"It was about capability being matched to opportunity," he says. "I had been working at agency pace for years. When I joined an internal team, I continued operate at full capacity."
The impact was measurable.
- 5% uplift in brand campaign engagement
- 20% increase in new business pipeline
- 32% attribution of revenue to brand and creative activity
His approach was simple. Find the gaps and design into them.
"I looked at where the brand wasn't showing up, where competitors were weak and where our voice was missing. Strong creativity delivered consistently and quickly is a competitive advantage."
Leading a creative team reshaped his thinking, too.
"It taught me to let go. To trust others. To stop fixing everything myself. And to accept that good enough is sometimes exactly what is needed."
Why Growcreate?
The opportunity at Growcreate came through a former colleague, but the decision was Ash's.
"I heard such positive things about the culture here," he says. "Warm, welcoming, challenging but not stressful. A place committed to not being toxic. That is incredibly rare."
What excited him most was the variety.
"I get to wear many hats. One day, I am designing brand assets. Another day, I am running UX research. I am also analysing user behaviour for global enterprises. That variety makes me excited to come to work."
He has also made an impact on projects that matter. Work for organisations like the NHS, Turner and Townsend and major consultancies has given Ash a platform to do what he loves most. Improve experiences that genuinely help people.
"Helping the NHS create a more accessible platform is meaningful. Work that makes life easier and clearer for people is something I am really proud of."
The philosophy - design as strategy, empathy as method
Empathy sits at the centre of Ash's design philosophy. He sees it as essential not only for the end user but for every stakeholder involved in the journey.
"You need empathy for the client and the audience," he says. "You cannot design only for users or only for stakeholders. It has to work for the whole system. Every experience has emotion attached to it."
He balances this with a strong belief that design must serve a purpose.
"Design is not art. But art exists in design," he says. "If design is not serving a purpose, it is decoration."
For Ash, success always lives in the detail.
"You can have the smartest strategy in the world. But if you execute it in four-point type with no line breaks, no one will read it."
Leadership, collaboration and the creative mind
Ash describes his leadership style as supportive with moments of firmness.
"I aim to be kind, not nice," he says. "Kindness is about helping people grow, not doing the work for them."
He is also honest about the realities of creative thinking.
"You cannot timebox inspiration. Most of the work happens in your head. It is exhausting, but it is how creative minds work."
What's next for elevating Growcreate's brand and UX practice?
Ash's ambition for Growcreate is big.
"I want us to be the best digital solutions and web design agency in the world," he says. "Not just a player. The player."
To get there, he believes Growcreate must push its own brand expression further and permit itself to innovate visually and experientially.
"We do incredible work for clients. Now we need to apply that level of creativity to ourselves."
Beyond work, curiosity, film, and an impressive pub quiz record
Outside work, Ash is endlessly curious. One week, he is studying the Swedish Empire; the next, the biochemistry of dopamine.
"I think learning is part of being human," he says. "The world has so much to teach."
He is also a film obsessive, an animation lover, especially anything by Genndy Tartakovsky and a formidable pub quiz competitor with an 82% win rate.
His coffee order. Black. Always.
Looking ahead
Ash's journey unites creativity, communication, curiosity and strategy. Over the past year, he has become a key voice in shaping our design practice, UX thinking, and agency ambition. His influence is already woven into Growcreate's future.
We are proud to have him on the team.
