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Industry Issue Inset: The UK greeting card creatives are the envy of the world. (Photo: Abbi Goode/Lemon & Sugar)
Art Of The Matter The UK greeting card industry has long been applauded for its creativity, the wealth of the artistic talent we have here being the envy of the world, as card publishers’ strong exports testify. But do artists and designers, particularly those working freelance, feel they are given the welcome, respect and rewards they deserve? PG tapped into the Creative Card Collective, the new membership hub for creatives (which has signed up 55 members in the first few weeks of launching) to take a reading.
Ginger Bee Studios’ Bev Cunningham, who co-founded of the Creative Card Collective with Hannah Curtis (founder of Creative Sparrow), sets the scene… “Having worked as a creative director for a publisher, I am aware how tight margins can be. The insatiable desire from retail for new, means the turnover of designs is so high that print runs have significantly decreased. The cost of licensing artwork therefore needs to be amortised across fewer printed cards, with the likelihood of designs being re-printed time and time again, much less than it was several years ago. So, I do appreciate the dilemma publishers find themselves in, however the cost of artwork hasn’t increased since I started out in the industry 30 years ago, what other industries would you be able to say that of? Yes, I know so much is now digital, so there are fewer artists slaving over an easel painting for days on end; but the design process is still time consuming, requiring not only creative skill, but technical knowledge. Publishers often request
frequent changes to artwork, in the belief that this is quick and easy when working in a digital file; but by the time you calculate the hours put in by the artist/designer they are often working for a minimum wage. Many artists have a ‘day job’ alongside their freelance design work, to pay their bills, only a fortunate few can make a living designing purely for greeting cards alone. Many have to also look at various revenue streams for their greeting card work; so some alongside
Above left: The Creative Card Collective launched recently as a ‘home’ for creatives. Above: The co-founders of Creative Card Collective, Bev Cunningham (right) and Hannah Curtis at PG Live 2021. Below: One of Bev’s photographs from her Ginger Bee Studios brand.
licensing their artwork, may also self-publish too, as well as uploading their artwork onto print on demand sites, such as Thortful. So why does this matter? The health of our industry depends on the creativity of artists, designers and illustrators working in cards, but if they find it’s not a viable way to make money, they will go elsewhere, and the industry will struggle to attract new talent. We all took HGV drivers for granted until suddenly we couldn’t find the goods we wanted on the shelves or the petrol at the pumps. It turns out the truck driver issue wasn’t just about pay, it was also about conditions. So simple improvements like paying artists promptly and crediting them on the reverse of cards would help, as well as paying a fair price. The publishers that are, and do, adopt this position will surely attract the best talent and have a commercial advantage over those who do not.” PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
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