Stacey Bates-McCue is creative director of Fluid. The Birmingham-based agency works on strategy and design for entertainment brands like Pac-Man, Xbox and Tetris.
Design
What would your monograph be called?
Never Say Die. This is a direct reference to my favourite Stephen Spielberg film, The Goonies. I live by this mantra, as it shows resilience through everything in life, which feeds my creative drive on a daily basis!
What recent design work made you a bit jealous?
Pentagram worked on the re-brand for Moto GP – the way they thought about the dynamics of the logo integrating the curvature of the track, the rider, the riding angle, it just floored me! Beautiful design and beautiful presentation.
Pentagram partner Angus Hyland’s new identity for MotoGP
What’s an unusual place you get inspiration from?
My co-directors of course, my two boys. Having a nine- and five -year-old with neurodiversity allows me to see the world in a completely different way. I see creativity in the smallest things with their amazing and inclusive lenses.
They have a simple and clear direction for everything in life, which brings simple clarity when it comes to design. Keep it simple. It needs to make sense, tell a story and connect with you.
Name something that is brilliantly designed but overlooked.
Restaurants for sure! I love food just as much as my job, and enjoy every detail, not just the menus and logos, but the table wear, the dress code, and the plate details. It has a real creative journey for me as has so much inspiration!
I also love looking back through history. The world rotates around fashion and trends, and it really all does come back around. Sometimes we don’t need to re-invent, just celebrate what once was and allow a natural evolution.
What object in your studio best sums up your taste?
My limited edition Streets Of Rage SEGA print. I have blue blood from my years of looking after Sonic the Hedgehog, I am a retro gamer, and the game well, it connects with me as a creative Director…
Being a creative director is like stepping into Streets of Rage.
The city? That’s the project landscape – chaotic, unpredictable, full of rival agendas and creative “boss fights.”
The ex-cops? That’s your team – talented but needing direction, each with a different fighting style and creative strength.
The weapons scattered on the ground? Those are your resources – limited, sometimes improvised, but powerful when used at the right moment.
The music? Well, that ultimately keeps us alive!
Stacey Bates-McCue’s Streets of Rage print
Leadership
What feedback felt brutal at the time, but turned out to be useful?
I won’t name the job, that wouldn’t feel right, but will name the 100 creative parameters we had to live within. No character art treatments, no editorial, no fun?
Wrong, after the team and I banging our heads against the wall, we realised that this is a little like Countdown. At first your mind boggles, but the more time you sit and look the more you see more than one answer.
We started to build layers up behind the elements we couldn’t touch and it really started to elevate the project in ways we might not have thought of if someone hadn’t tied our hands behind our backs! Creative conundrums are welcome at Fluid, we love the challenge.
What’s an underappreciated skill that design leaders need?
When we stop and listen, the room changes. Not just speaking at one another, but when we really stop to listen as a creative director, the role shifts from orchestrator of outputs to conductor of collective energy.
The work usually gets richer, the team more resilient, and the culture more inventive. Ideas no longer flow in one direction – they branch, collide, and evolve. Voices that were quiet become sparks that ignite new ways of seeing.
What keeps you up at night?
Not always the big stuff ya know! It can be something so small, I would forget about it a week later, but in that moment, it consumes me!
My ADHD brain is a storm of ideas, textures, and references – but my output is razor-focused. I live in the chaos so my work can bring clarity. I thrive in clutter, but deliver clean. That’s the creative director’s paradox. My mind is scattered; my work is straight.
I make sense of the mess so the brand doesn’t have to.
What trait is non-negotiable in new hires?
In this team, creativity fuels us – but reliability delivers us. I need people who follow through, every time.
My team are some of the most reliable people in my life. They deliver amazing work in isolation, yet can switch to be a team player in times of need beyond anything I could ever dream of.
That level of dedication is truly magical to me, and I would see that in meeting someone in the first five minutes.
Complete this sentence, “I wish more clients…”
…trusted the process. My ADHD helps me generate bold, unexpected ideas, but I need space to let them form before we edit them down.
The creative freedom I so strongly suggest in round one, should floor you for all the wrong reasons! But deep in there, is the diamond. Just got to keep digging!