Creative Director · Co-Founder · Executive Creative Director
Looking back, the most important thing wasn't talent. It was time spent caring.
Studios can tell when someone is practising on their own time. You don't need loads of work. You need a few things that show you tried, thought, and cared.
People ask me about AI a lot. I use it. I find it useful. It helps with speed, structure, and clarity. It doesn't replace judgement.
We didn't want just to refresh eggnog. We wanted to flip it. Modernise it. Disrupt the category enough to make it worth caring about again.
Double Gold captures a feeling – not just a flavour.
The unlock came early when we agreed the design had to behave like the process: four distinct passes through the stills, layered into one clear read.
Risk is behind X4+18's creation, and it's not just the way it's created that's different – it tastes different, looks different, and is different.
Creative Boom’s interview with Matt Burns, executive creative director at Thirst, explores his unconventional path into design. Burns reflects on dropping out of university, working factory jobs, and eventually finding his passion for design and the drinks industry. He shares insights on persistence, curiosity, and the evolving role of AI in creative work.
Creative Boom features Thirst’s new concept drink, RIOT — a caffeinated, midnight-black reimagining of eggnog inspired by the 1826 Eggnog Riot. The Glasgow studio’s design embraces chaos and modern energy, rejecting traditional festive clichés through bold packaging and a rebellious tone. The project showcases how design can reinvigorate a tired category with attitude and wit.
Creative Boom’s November 2025 roundup highlights five standout design projects that balance clarity, emotion, and nostalgia. Featured studios include Canvass, Studio Arndt Benedikt, dentsu, Thirst, and Cole AD, each delivering thoughtful brand identities across sectors from workplace art to whiskey and community charities. The article celebrates craft, warmth, and human connection in contemporary branding.
Creative Boom reports on Thirst's bold new packaging identity for Bruichladdich's X4+18 Edition 01, the world's first quadruple-distilled 18-year-old whisky. The design uses abstract geometry, vivid colour, and sustainable materials to reflect the distillery's experimental spirit and challenge Scotch conventions.