Navigating the creative world of greeting cards just got a whole lot easier for artists and designers – not to mention fun too -Â thanks to a new service launched this month.Â
The Creative Card Collective, is a subscription membership service that offers support to creatives who work, or would like to work, in the card industry. It aims to provide invaluable information, advice, inspiration and insights about the greetings industry as well as offering a community of supportive like-minded creatives.
The membership, which welcomes illustrators, artists, designers and photographers, as well as writers (whether they are employed within a studio or work freelance) is the brainchild of card industry experts Bev Cunningham and Hannah Curtis.
Bev, of Ginger Bee Studios, has many years’ experience in the card industry, both as a creative director for a card publisher and more recently as a freelance design consultant and photographer, specialising in the card and gift industries. Hannah has worked in the industry for over 15 years as an artist agent and creative director, and now owns and runs her own art licensing agency Creative Sparrow.
The idea for the membership arose from a Facebook Group, of the same name, which Bev founded two years ago. She explains: “When I made the leap from being employed to self-employed, I began to appreciate how difficult it can be for creatives working alone, so struck upon the idea of creating a Facebook group specifically for creatives in the card industry. It seemed to me that there was a good network between salespeople, probably because they see each other at trade shows, but the creatives were more often cut off from each other.â€
“the membership will be a great way for creatives to increase their industry knowledge, network with new contacts, develop their skills, and keep up to date with trends and colour forecasting.â€
The Facebook group, which now has approximately 300 members, proved there is a need for further support and so Bev turned to long-term industry friend Hannah and together they devised the subscription membership idea.
The membership offers an online members’ log-in area, in which there is an archive of ‘how to guides’ to download, a private members’ chat forum facility and a jobs and briefs noticeboard. Hannah and Bev have also teamed up with a number of industry suppliers – dubbed Collaborators – to offer members exclusive discounts on a range of supporting products and services.
In addition to the online support, there is a monthly email that delivers, among other information, up-to-date colour boards and trend reports to inform and inspire members. Hannah and Bev have plans to host portfolio surgeries, seminars and workshops throughout the year, for which members will also enjoy discounts on ticket prices.
Hannah says that she and Bev are really excited about this new venture, they already have a long list of members waiting to join and believes as well as inspiring members “the membership will be a great way for creatives to increase their industry knowledge, network with new contacts, develop their skills, and keep up to date with trends and colour forecasting.†Anyone interested in joining should head over to www.creativecardcollective.com and sign up now, as a 50% early bird discount on annual membership is being offered until the end of November.
