Improper is a majority queer, women founded creative agency. We work with bold clients who are prepared to take an honest look in the mirror, and who are open to asking, 'Could we do this better?'

Nicky Thompson

Founder & Creative Director

Nicky Thompson

Matt Moore

Account Strategist

Matt Moore

Laura Good

Production Manager

Leonora Saunders

Founder & Director of Strategy & Operations

Leonora Saunders

Kate Ford

Founder & Director of People & Strategy

Kate Ford

Why Improper?

A word that has been used historically to shame and denigrate people who do not fit neatly into the systems, structures and standards upheld by the powerful. A label intended to marginalise and to exclude people who look, act and sound different to the majority. Women, people of colour and LGBTQ people have all been deemed “improper” at moments in history and still are today, whether explicitly or implicitly.

To be improper means not acting in accordance with accepted standards. But who decides the standards? Often people are asked to conform to societal norms that were not created by them, for them or with them in mind.

The greatest challenges of our time, whether it’s the refugee crisis or the climate crisis, all fundamentally stem from structural inequality. Society’s answer to inequality is to try to fix the people it marginalises, to make them fit within existing structures. To silence the activist calling for change. But it’s not the people who need fixing, it’s the system that is broken.

Perhaps, then, we need to interrogate standards. Push them a little. Take them apart and rebuild them. If improper means changing the standard, then we think improper is a good thing.

People should be more improper.

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Leng Montgomery

Leng Montgomery

Suzy Levy

Suzy Levy

Aisha Shaibu-Lenoir

Aisha Shaibu-Lenoir

Amir Ashour

Amir Ashour
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