Who am I to judge?

For the best part of twenty years I have been in a privileged position where incredibly talented creatives have shared their work with me, and said, “Hey Jessie, what do you think?”. Then it’s over to me to review the content and determine whether it’s good enough to share with a client. To umm and ahhh and eventually give it the “Jessie's nod of approval”.

So, how do I judge creativity and what makes my opinion the right one? The honest truth is there is absolutely no real right or wrong! We all know creativity is subjective. If I were to analyse my process and mind I would say my methodology comes down to a recipe of looking at current creative trends, reviewing what works for other large and successful brands, pure gut feeling, some do’s and don’ts, and the biggest one… data to back me up and validate my thoughts. I also pay attention to what audiences are engaging with and what they say they do and don’t like.

I have never professed to be an expert in judging content, yet I have found myself leading an incredibly talented team and advising clients daily on what they should and shouldn’t be doing when it comes to their creative work.

This got me thinking about imposter syndrome and whether, subconsciously, that has been holding me back. It’s held me back from writing opinion pieces, putting myself forwards to judge creative content outside of my day to day work and public speaking. Despite my seemingly confident demeanour, I have always doubted my ability and whether I am good enough. It’s held me back from really doing the things that I know in my heart that I can do. This is a big flaw in my personality and one I desperately wouldn’t want anyone in our team to feel.

This was heightened last year when I lost my mentor and cheerleader, my Dad, to cancer. Those who have lost a close parent will know that it’s the biggest loss you will ever feel. It changes you from the inside, the emotional compass you had your whole life has seemingly just vanished. I doubted myself daily and at times lost trust and belief in myself and my abilities. But in all honesty, creativity has saved me from sinking into a deep abyss of grief and sadness. It allowed me to spot glimmers daily. In fact, coming to work to talk about ideas, and review amazing creative work was not only the positive distraction that I needed, but reminded me that despite feeling lost, creativity is at the very core of who I am and helped guide me back to gaining back some of the confidence that I needed.

But what are these glimmers? This is not an official creative term by the way. But for me they come in the form of new ideas, talent, potential, new project wins and satisfied, happy clients. Being in a position where I can review and also come up with creative content has been my saviour in so many ways. Creativity is genuinely a massive part of me. Maybe it is this that makes me a good judge…? I tend not to have to overthink or overanalyse, I can just sense it. I also understand the courage it takes to put your heart into a piece of work and create something that you have in your head in the hope that it’s appreciated, signed off and given the seal of approval.

So, what’s the trick and what’s my approach to judging work and getting the best out of a team with courageous, creative but at times sensitive minds? I look at every piece of work knowing that someone has put a little bit of their soul into what I am “judging” and they have asked me for my opinion. It’s a privilege to be in that position. My character type also means that I always look for the good bits before looking at what doesn’t work. I ask myself, How does it make me feel? Does it reflect the brand in the best possible way? Does it cut through and stand up today amongst similar brands out there in the wild? I want anyone who shows me their work, to know that I am on their side and that we are on that journey together. Their success is our success and you can only achieve that by working and pulling together in the same direction. I am definitely not saying that it’s perfect every time and sometimes, we have those “table-tennis” days BUT we get there…almost every single time.

From judging so many different forms of content for so many different audience types, I can oversee up to 20 pieces a day, all responsible for working towards a goal or achieving certain and unique KPI’S. Because of this I have also learnt that it’s really important to step back at times and just let it breathe. Each piece of content matters to someone and their impact could be huge to a business so they all need to be treated with importance. It’s also really key to recognise that perfection can also be the ruination of creative content and what those pieces are set to achieve. For example, lo-fi content is all about being absolutely true in the moment, camera shakes, out of focus shots, ums and ers, and absolutely no camera or presenter etiquette. So… you’ve also got to learn to let go and be ok with imperfection. Why? A gut feeling, it works!

Whilst writing this opinion piece this month I have got an email saying that I have been accepted as a judge for the Creative Circle 2025 Awards, which I am excited to be doing. It’s another step to validating my abilities and holding my head up. This will hopefully be the starting point of me being more present online and being able to offer some of my thoughts and opinions as we move through 2025 and beyond. Thank you to any of you who made it to the end of my first opinion piece! I welcome your judgement. After all there is no real right or wrong when it comes to being creative. It’s a deeply personal response—one that’s uniquely yours, but with the hope that others will see and feel it too.