Dr Nik Mahon BA (Hons), MA, PGCTLHE, PhD
Principal Teaching Fellow in Advertising
Nik is a Principal Teaching Fellow at University of Winchester School of Art (WSA), where he leads the MA Global Advertising & Branding Pathway. He joined the university in 2015 after 21 years at Southampton Solent University where he began teaching in 1993. His subject areas include: advertising, art direction, corporate identity and design, creativity and idea generation.
Nik’s formative career years were spent working as an art director, and later, creative director in advertising agencies both here in the UK, and overseas, where clients included Burger King, Hyatt Hotels, Holiday Inn, Red Funnel Ferries, Swinton Insurance, and TSB Bank.
He has served as an external examiner on numerous advertising and design courses across the UK and has acted as an external curriculum consultant and validator on a variety of HE programmes at an international level. As a brand consultant, he led the research team responsible for the rebranding of Southampton Institute as Southampton Solent University.
Nik has written several books on advertising creativity and idea generation which have been published internationally and are core texts on many advertising courses. He holds an honours degree in Graphic Design from St Martin’s School of Art, an MA in Research, a Post Graduate Certificate of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, and a PhD, awarded for his research into 'Fostering Creativity'. In recent years he has received three ‘Tutor’ awards from the Design & Art Directors Association (D&AD).
Linked to his research area, he runs training workshops in creative thinking and problem solving for external organisations which include a range of blue-chip organisations such as British Gas, Ordnance Survey, The Inland Revenue and United Biscuits, together with a variety of advertising agencies and PR consultancies.