For our Meet The Member series, we asked The Creative Card Collective to tell us more about their services.
What or who is the Creative Card Collective?
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 provides 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.
Whilst Hannah, who has worked in the industry for over 15 years as an artist agent and creative director, now owns and runs her own art licensing agency Creative Sparrow.
How did the Creative Card Collective come about?
The idea for the membership arose from a Facebook Group, of the same name, that Bev founded two years ago. When Bev made the leap from being employed to self-employed, she began to appreciate how difficult it can be for creatives working alone and so struck upon the idea of creating a Facebook group specifically for creatives in the card industry. Bev felt 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. The Facebook group, which now has over 300 members, proved a need for further support and so Bev turned to, long term industry friend, Hannah, and together they devised the subscription membership idea.
What does the membership offer?
The membership offers an online members’ login area, in which there is an archive of “how to guides” to download, a private member’s chat forum facility and a jobs and briefs noticeboard. Hannah and Bev have also teamed up with a number of industry suppliers, “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, amongst other information, up to date colour boards and trend reports to inform and inspire members. Hannah and Bev have future plans to host portfolio surgeries, seminars and workshops throughout the year, for which members will also enjoy discounts on ticket prices.
Who is the membership for?
The membership consists of:
- illustrators
- artists
- designers
- photographers
- writers
- employed or self-employed
The membership, which was launched in November 2021, already has over 50 members, from across seven countries. Members are either studio artists / designers or are involved in licensing artwork or publish their own cards; or even do a combination of all three. Those who have already signed up are finding the group beneficial. Like member Kat Lynas, who recently messaged Bev & Hannah to say:
I feel like I’m already learning lots from the group and I’m sure that will continue. The trend report was really interesting, and I loved seeing how it could be used in different projects. I feel like signing up for the group was a really good move!
Kat Lynas, Creative Card Collective member
The membership is a really 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.
How to join?
Anyone interested investing in their creative greeting card journey should head over to creativecardcollective.com and sign up today. There are a variety of payment options including discounts for students and recent graduates.
