Yuccies stands for “Young Urban Creatives”. They are thought to be as comfortable with money as with information and communication technology, with many of today’s Yuccies also being digital natives. The urban setting allows them to network with other like-minded, in addition to their numerous internet “friends” on the social media services of the day. Many of the Yuccies have a background in a professional job that required a university degree. Feeling liberated to do something more intrinsically fulfilling, they moved to creative industries such as graphic design or photography. The term Yuccies is attributed to David Infante of Mashable1.
Where are all the Yuccies?
Like the name suggests, Yuccies are found in urban settings. Most likely in cities that have a creative profile. Empowered by technology, they are mobile and may not only be found designing a new baseball cap in their neighborhood coffee shop. They could be digital nomads doing big city hopping. Where one month in Stockholm is followed by one in London, with an occasional refreshing beach in Thailand. The most likely places to find Yuccies are in the world’s most creative countries2, see top 10 list.
Top 10 Yuccie Countries 2015:
- Australia
- United States
- New Zealand
- Canada
- Denmark
- Finland
- Sweden
- Iceland
- Singapore
- The Netherlands
Narrowing it down to cities, some suggested places with high Yuccies density are: Copenhagen (Vesterbro), Stockholm (Hornstull), Rotterdam (Witte De Withstraat), San Fransisco (SoMa), New York (Greenpoint), and Sydney (Alexandria)3.
Yuccies are also a golden asset for start-up communities, which they work symbiotically with. Key start-up cities with many Unicorns (businesses with billion dollar valuation) are San Fransisco and Stockholm4. With other frequent mentioning of Stockholm’s creativity in music etc., this capital seems like a safe bet for meeting Yuccies.
Yuccies or Hipsters?
Yuccies are described as a fusion of yuppies and hipsters. They are accepting that earning money is a requirement in life, even if you work within creative fields like music, design or writing. They put less emphasis on the veneer some say signify the hipster, such as the beard or tattoo. Delivering the creatives is what matters as expression.
The future of the Yuccie
As the proponent of the term Yuccie mentions, the word has homonym that is not as appealing: “yucky”. Time will tell if this socio-economic group label will remain in vocabulary, like baby boomer, generation X and millennials. Without a doubt, the actual people claimed to be in the Yuccies group will be around. We are thinking of the highly talented people often starting at an early age and who are making a living out of their creative works. Supervizion has had them as clients for several decades (we founded our business in 1980s). We manage the business of artists and other creative people within Supervizion Management.
Long after the search light has moved on to a different neologism, young people doing creative things in our urban cities will still thrive.
Sources:
1) Infante, David (2015). The hipster is dead, and you might not like who comes next. 9 June. Mashable. Retrieved from:
http://mashable.com/2015/06/09/post-hipster-yuccie/
2) Florida, Richard; Mellander, Charlotta; and King, Karen (2015). Global Creativity Index 2015. Martin Prosperity Institute. University of Toronto. ISBN 978-1-928162-02-5.
3) 24h Periscope Live World Tour by Skyscanner.
4) Zennström, Nicklas (2015). Watch out Silicon Valley, here comes Europe. 19 June. Financial Times
