Whatever your goal is as a health and fitness brand, one vital component of successful photography is forming the right emotional connection.

When you see great health and fitness visuals, it’s usually a feeling of “I want to do that, and I can” that comes across. The key is finding the right person who can translate that feeling via visual marketing while also encompassing your brand identity, your values, and everything your brand is about.

One great example is Nike. In 1984, Nike signed a risky deal with young athlete Michael Jordan to produce his own line of shoes – unfortunately, or so it seemed, the shoes were banned by the NBA as they were not the compulsory white colour. Nike retaliated by rebelling; they decided to pay each served fine and turned the banning into a marketing opportunity, filming a last minute commercial which said:

“On September 15, Nike created a revolutionary new basketball shoe. On October 18, the NBA threw them out of the game. Fortunately, the NBA can’t stop you from wearing them. Air Jordans. From Nike.”

The first 50,000 Air Jordans sold out immediately.

“Michael Jordan was perhaps the first player in the NBA to be linked to a product from the moment he joined. His stellar on court performances, and ability to ‘fly’ increased the public’s desire to own a piece of action.” Nike Air Jordan – Behind The Brand; Brandastic

The deal between Nike and Michael Jordan and the subsequent successes is a legacy which continues on to this day, spanning almost 40 years, all thanks to Nike’s ability to “read the room”, tap into their fans’ emotions and produce content that speaks authentically to them.

This is where hiring a commercial health and fitness photographer comes in.

Before you begin to share your brand story with the world, whether it’s for the launch of a new site, product, service, or simply for promotion online, on social media or blogs, it’s crucial to get it right from the moment you share the first image.

A great image will be noticed, but a mediocre or bad one will also be noticed – especially on social media, and not in the way you want.

Do I really need to hire a commercial health & fitness photographer?

Not just any photographer will do. 

It’s not only about knowing the little tricks that come with photographing health and fitness campaigns, it’s also about having a deeper understanding of how our bodies work, understanding the ethics that surround the health and fitness industry, and having the right knowledge and experience to navigate it.

Ultimately, you want to choose the right photographer for your brand, a photographer who matches the style you want and who connects with your values.

Here’s 5 things to look out for when hiring a commercial health and fitness photographer

1. Do they have a deep understanding of health and fitness? Perhaps it’s a regular hobby or sport they enjoy themselves or they have an educational or professional background in a related field. When it comes to health and fitness, it can be hugely beneficial if the photographer has inside knowledge on the topic.

2. How good are they at creative direction and problem-solving? Health and fitness photography especially can be a challenge due to the nature of the work, whether it’s a fitness model being photographed in a studio, or a real-life adventurer being documented half-way up a mountain in a storm. There are many moving parts and the photographer needs to be able to come up with ideas there and then if something doesn’t work out, or know the appropriate equipment to solve the problem.

3. Do they have connections? Health and fitness photographers will have a contacts list full of brilliant people in the industry, often people they’ve worked with before, which can be very useful for you as a brand. That extends to things like knowing of interesting locations – gyms, studios, outdoor locations that may be perfect for what you have in mind. In short, consider a commercial photographer as a collaborator and fountain of knowledge (and contacts), not just someone to press a button.

4. What is their personal photography work like? You can tell a lot about a photographer through the work they do just because they’re passionate about it, and it’s a great sign if a photographer has self-funded stories or projects within their portfolio.
   
   
5. Do they have the technical skill and experience? In the health and fitness space especially, this can be vital. Not only does that include the actual making of the photograph, but that also covers: the specific equipment needed, health and safety training, niche fitness knowledge, first aid training, then knowledge of composition, lighting, post-processing, colour theory, and so much more.

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Need to hire a commercial health and fitness photographer? We can help. Take a look at our new platform creatives.new where you can find photographers to work with, instantly.

Upload a reference image and we’ll find you style-matched health and fitness photographers in seconds, or search through our roster of global commercial health and fitness photographers. Find a commercial health and fitness photographer now!

While there are several things that contribute to the kind of success that these brands have seen, striking and authentic imagery is a key part of their brand identity and part of the reason their products are so desired.

For them as well as several other indie beauty brands,  much of the support and enthusiasm is due to them leading the way as inclusive beauty brands. The concept and definition of “beauty” is changing and has been for some time, with consumers expecting a high standard for how genuinely representational a brand is – how diverse is their marketing? Are they showing different body-types, hair-types, faces, skin-types? 

It’s photography that gets this message across. Whatever your goal is as a brand, the key to successful and engaging marketing is beautiful visuals that create the right emotional connection; in a nutshell, a consumer needs to be able to relate to the visuals in your brand marketing.

That’s what brands like the above-mentioned have nailed, among other things. When you look at the imagery that Glossier uses, for example, they have built their brand around the idea of natural, clean beauty, and the people you see on their website match this narrative. They are the people you see everyday around you – and when you look in the mirror.

They retain the element of desire but make it achievable and representational.

How can a beauty photographer help your brand?

This is where hiring a commercial beauty photographer comes in. Your brand needs to translate that emotional connection through imagery – while also encompassing your brand identity, your values, and everything your brand is about.

So before you begin to share your brand story with the world, whether it’s for the launch of a new product, service, or simply for promotion online on blogs and social media, it’s crucial to get it right from the moment you share the first image.

Great photography will be noticed, but bad (and even mediocre) visuals will be too – especially on social media. If your consumers don’t feel that effort has been put in, they will be put off.

Why hire a commercial beauty photographer?

Not just any photographer will do. Beauty photography may seem easy from an outside perspective but there are many moving parts that need to be considered and monitored. 

Ultimately, you want to choose the right photographer for your brand, a photographer who matches the style you want and also connects with your brand values, while also having a unique and striking aesthetic.

Still not sure? Here’s 5 reasons to hire a commercial beauty photographer:

1. They’re good under pressure

In beauty photography, pressure is par for the course and a photographer needs to be able to multitask. They must focus on the product and the model – then, there’s also the rest of the team – make-up, hair, clothing, set, props, lighting, digital ops (for on-set retouching and post-production). 

The photographer keeps track of each member of the team, at the same time paying detailed attention to exactly what they’re photographing, while also knowing what’s coming next. And if there are any problems, they need to be able to come up with solutions on the fly.

2. They have a strong team of creatives

A commercial beauty photographer will often have a strong support network, a “dream team” of fellow creatives if you will: make-up artists, hair stylists, clothing/prop stylists, set builders, digital operators,etc. Depending on your brief, having a commercial beauty photographer with tried and trusted connections can do you, the client, a world of good. 

3. They don’t say “I’ll fix it later”

Commercial beauty photographers will make the effort to fix any problems in-camera, live on set, and not after it goes to post-production. Leaving issues to be fixed in post-production is not really a fix at all, and doing this only compromises the results, can make the work more challenging and time-intensive for everyone involved, and ultimately more expensive for you as the client.

4. They have the most relevant skill, knowledge and experience

The thing about photographing beauty is that you have two different (but equally important) focuses: the product and the model. It takes years of learning, a combination of developing technical and creative skill, organisation and management skills, and experience with people, and still-life/product photography to be a great beauty photographer.

5. They have a strong style

An experienced beauty photographer often has their own style, developed over years of practice and honing, something unique that sets them apart and makes their work stand out. When the style of a brand matches the style of a great beauty photographer, the results can be magical.

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Are you a brand looking to hire a commercial beauty photographer? Start looking through portfolios today on our recently-launched platform creatives.new where you can find photographers to work with, instantly.

Upload a reference image and we’ll find you style-matched beauty photographers in seconds, or search through our roster of global commercial beauty photographers. Find a commercial beauty photographer now!

An image will likely be the first time a potential customer sees your offering and that first impression is critical no matter where the image is placed, or what your brand/business is. Rental or for-sale listing? E-commerce website selling home goods? Hotel, guest house or holiday let? Interior designer? It’s the same across all these businesses.

That’s where hiring a commercial interior photographer comes in. Interior photography is all about solving problems and though it may seem easy to work with – it’s not like photographing people after all, interiors don’t move, have opinions or get tired – brands and businesses of all sizes will pay through the nose to hire a great commercial interior photographer who they can work with time and time again.

Why? Because anyone can press a shutter button and take a photo, but not just anyone has the expertise, experience and equipment to create professional interior photography that genuinely sells.

Not convinced? Here’s 5 ways a professional interior photographer can work magic for you:

1. Post-production is a big job in interior photography

Post-production makes up an enormous part of a commercial interior photographer’s workflow, which many may not realise. The trick is to make everything look almost perfect – “almost”, because potential buyers are savvy and can spot contrived imagery a mile away – and this isn’t easy.

It can be intense and take a lot of time due to the necessity for minute attention-to-detail, for example cleaning up dirt, straightening lines, reworking shapes of walls/doors/floors to create balance, recolouring objects, creating shadows, adjusting lighting – practised experts can even create or remove daylight with the right knowledge and tools.

The process can be so deep that some commercial interior photographers will also have additional training in computer-generated (CG) stills and animation.

2. Niche industry training and contacts

Commercial interior photographers often have experience and training in interior styling or home staging to supplement their photography. Having niche knowledge in the product and still-life industry also extends to having a contact list full of trusted creatives in the industry – interior stylists, designers, prop houses – which can be incredibly useful for you.

3. Understanding light for interiors

When it comes to interiors, lighting is vital. Knowing how to create certain types of light with confidence takes years of studying, training and scientific know-how. It’s things like knowing which light appears more blue, more yellow, how to correct that on-location (and not in post-production), how to balance both natural light and artificial studio lighting, how to create certain trending looks, and so much more.

4. Understanding colour for interiors

A commercial interior photographer knows all about colour; colour theory, colour trends, colour grading and more. When you hire a commercial interior photographer, you want their style to match yours, and colour is an enormous part of that. 

You can take full advantage of the commercial photographer’s knowledge and consult them on ideal colour schemes and how to implement that within a job. For example, muted, neutral tones are extremely popular on Instagram home interiors accounts, whereas warm, homely and inviting colouring is preferred for many rental or for-sale listings. Commercial interior photographers will be up-to-date on the latest interior trends, and will be able to advise you on this.

5. The ultimate goal: Making a sale

Commercial photographers understand that while some artistic flair and unique style is good, the key aim is to help you sell, whether that’s home interiors, interiors for businesses, individual products, still-life or anything else. They understand that it’s imperative to create a lasting first impression, and how to create visuals that genuinely sell.

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Need to hire a commercial interiors photographer? We can help. Take a look at our new platform creatives.new where you can find professional photographers near you to work with, instantly.

Upload a reference image and we’ll find you style-matched interior photographers in seconds, or search through our roster of global commercial interiors photographers.

Portrait photography is not really about taking a photograph of a person and making them look good. It’s about drawing out a person’s character, their emotions, the story they want to get across, and the story that actually comes across. Not everyone has the tools or ability, natural or learned, to do that.

So what makes a great commercial portrait photographer? Here are a few reasons:

They connect with the people they photograph

They work with their sitter, bringing out their personality and characteristics through engaging and conversing with them, forging a connection with them that is translated visually to us, the viewers.

That includes the ability to connect with people who they may strongly disagree with and still achieve a portrait that tells you something about that person.

They have the skill, knowledge and experience

The thing about photographing people is that we’re unpredictable. It takes years of learning, a combination of developing technical and creative skills, knowledge, and experience with people to be a great portrait photographer.

They have a strong style

A great commercial portrait photographer often has their own style, developed over years of practice and honing, something unique that sets them apart and makes their work stand out. When the style of a job matches the style of a great portrait photographer, the results can be magic.

They’re fully committed

A great portrait photographer commits their full attention and energy to each job, doing more than just the bare minimum – detailed research into the person they’re photographing, development of ideas and concepts, location-scouting, weather-watching, emergency-backup-planning, and so much more.

They’re good under pressure

When it comes to commercial portraits, pressure is par for the course. It could be having only three minutes to photograph a grumpy politician or a famous actor, or the weather suddenly turning into a storm on an outdoor job… a great commercial portrait photographer will be ready, able to creatively direct and come up with solutions on the fly.

They have an understanding of ethics

Portrait photography has historically been used to exploit. A great portrait photographer knows this history and understands the relationship between photographer and sitter, the power dynamics at play, and how this can be influenced by their own biases, decisions, and choices.

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Need to hire a commercial portrait photographer? We can help. Take a look at our new platform creatives.new where you can find photographers to work with, instantly.

Upload a reference image and we’ll find you style-matched portrait photographers in seconds, or search through our roster of global commercial portrait photographers. Find commercial portrait photographers now!

Creatives.new is our recently-launched platform where brands who want to tell their stories can find and hire commercial product photographers around the world, instantly. 

Whether it’s e-commerce product photography for Amazon, Etsy, eBay and other online shop platforms or luxury commercial product photography, you can upload a reference image to find style-matched photographers in seconds or search through our roster of global commercial product photographers.

This week, we’ve put together this list showing some of our favourite commercial product photographers who are now available for hire on creatives.new. Take a look below!

Elio Ruscetta

London, United Kingdom

See Elio’s portfolio on creatives.new

Wilfried Haubenberger

London, United Kingdom

See Wilfried’s portfolio on creatives.new

Mika Michopoulou

Greece

See Mika’s portfolio on creatives.new

Jens Kristian Balle

Vancouver, Canada

See Jens’ portfolio on creatives.new

Cormac Banks

London, United Kingdom

See Cormac’s portfolio on creatives.new

Stuey B

Yorkshire, United Kingdom

See Stuey’s portfolio on creatives.new

Max Catterall

London, United Kingdom

See Max’s portfolio on creatives.new

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Are you a brand or business looking to hire commercial product photographers? We can help. Take a look at our new platform creatives.new where you can find professional photographers near you to work with, instantly.

Upload a reference image and we’ll find you style-matched photographers in seconds, or search through our roster of global commercial product photographers.

Let’s take social media as an example. You might think that Facebook isn’t as image-focused as other social platforms, but actually the opposite is true. Facebook’s algorithm prioritises visual-led ads – and the better the visual, the better the performance.

To put that in data terms, Consumer Acquisition reported that images are responsible for 75% – 90% of a Facebook ad’s performance. That’s huge.

Now think about how that translates to other platforms like Instagram and Pinterest who place much more importance on visuals, and even Twitter who recently removed the contentious “twitter crop”, allowing portrait-orientation images to be viewed in full in the feed.

And that’s just social media.

An image is often the first time a potential customer sees your product, so that first impression is critical no matter where the image is placed whether it’s an e-commerce website, a billboard, or a blog.

Products may seem easy to work with. They’re not people after all – they don’t move, get tired or have opinions. Yet brands of all sizes will pay through the nose to find a great commercial product photographer who they can work with time and time again.

Why? Because they know anyone can press a shutter button and take a photo of a product, but not just anyone has the expertise, experience and equipment to create professional product photography that genuinely sells.

So how can a commercial product photographer help my brand?

The problem we sometimes don’t realise is that having bad or mediocre photography, or photography not aligned to the brand, can do more damage than having no visuals at all. That’s where hiring a commercial product photographer comes in.

Establish a professional and unique brand identity

Photography tells the story of your brand identity. As well as answering a potential customer’s most obvious question – what does your product look like? – it also answers questions about you: What are your values? What is the level of quality you offer? What is your brand about?

Set the expectations of your customers by demonstrating that they can expect professional and high-quality products. Stand out from the crowd and convey the message you want by experimenting with your style.

Online shopping is the future

And the future arrived a while ago. Online shopping was always on a fast, rising trajectory but in the past year that has sky-rocketed, becoming a necessity for many people.

Images play a crucial role here. Since people can’t see or feel the product, they rely on professional imagery to demonstrate every single aspect of a product.

Shorter and shorter attention spans

The downside is that the internet also comes with incredibly short attention spans, which also bleeds out to other areas of marketing. The exact number is regularly debated, ranging from 3 seconds to 8 seconds – but what’s certain is that it’s seconds you have to catch the wandering attention of a potential customer.

So while it’s important to have professional, high-quality imagery, it’s also important to create unique and eye-catching product photography.

Showcase your products in the best light (pun intended)

A commercial product photographer will have spent their own time and money training for this. You want their expertise. That doesn’t just include the actual making of the photograph but also covers: having the right technical equipment, knowledge of composition, lighting, post-processing for products, creative direction, colour theory, styling experience and training, set-building, prop-styling and so much more.

Post-processing

For commercial product photography, post-processing is essential to get right, more so than other areas of photography.

If the reality of the product doesn’t meet the expectation set in the imagery and marketing, customers will send that product back. It’s important to get the right balance between beauty and honesty, and commercial product photographers will understand that from the get-go.

Product photography is a long-term investment

Finding and hiring the right commercial photographer for your brand may take some time, but it’s worth it. By finding the perfect creative collaborator, you can ensure consistency and regularity across your products over time, helping to cement your brand identity and brand story in the ever-changing world of product marketing.

Need to find a commercial product photographer? We can help. Take a look at our new platform creatives.new where you can find photographers to work with, instantly. 

Upload a reference image and we’ll find you style-matched product photographers in seconds, or search through our roster of global commercial product photographers.

Look no further. Creatives.new is our recently-launched platform where brands who want to tell their stories can find and hire commercial fashion photographers around the world, instantly. 

Whether it’s street fashion, high fashion or editorial fashion photography, you can upload a reference image to find style-matched photographers in seconds or search through our roster of global commercial fashion photographers.

This week, we’ve collated some of our favourite commercial fashion photographers who are available for hire on creatives.new. Take a look below and prepare to be inspired!

1. Ines Vansteenkiste-Muylle

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Ines Vansteenkiste-Muylle is a Belgian freelance photographer based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and is represented by Landvogel.

2. Francisco Gomez de Villaboa

London, UK

Francisco Gomez de Villaboa is an Andalusian fashion photographer based in London, UK working with clients like Burberry, Givenchy and more.

3. Megan Dalton

Leeds, UK

Megan Dalton is a fashion photographer based in Leeds, UK with features in Vogue Italia, Courier Magazine, FT Weekend, Boys by Girls and others.

4. Alicia Stepp

Texas, USA

Alicia Stepp is a Texas-based fashion and beauty photographer, working with names like Nike, Tiffany & Co., Mary Kay and more.

5. Heather Glazzard

London, UK

Heather is a photographer working in fashion and editorial based in London, UK. They’ve been published in places like Vogue.com, Metal Magazine, The Face, Gay Times and more.

6. Francesca Battaglia

Milan, Italy

Based in Milan, Italy, Francesca Battaglia is a photographer and videomaker working across fashion, portraiture and lifestyle.

Are you looking to hire a commercial fashion photographer? We can help. Take a look at our new platform creatives.new where you can find photographers to work with, instantly.

Upload a reference image and we’ll find you style-matched photographers in seconds, or search through our roster of global commercial fashion photographers.

Find commercial fashion photographers now!

If you’re a drinks brand with some years of experience behind you, you likely already know that, and you likely already know that photographing sometimes-colourless liquids in a beautiful way that genuinely sells isn’t the easiest thing in the world.

Not to mention the care that needs to be taken when producing commercial imagery of drinks containing alcohol. This is where hiring a commercial drinks photographer comes in.

A professional photographer working commercially in the drinks and beverages niche is always the best kind of photographer to hire. Why?

• They know how to work with and manipulate products that are notoriously difficult to work with – transparent liquids, glass bottles – to get that perfect final result for your brand

• They likely have access to their own studio space or knowledge of the most appropriate places

• They likely have a strong and trusted team of supporting creatives like prop stylists, set builders, lighting designers and others.

• They’ve spent years honing their technical skills, experience and unique style in this particular niche

So what are the steps to hire a commercial drinks photographer?

1. Research

Find references, inspiring work and styles that you want to achieve in your own drinks photography. Look into competitors or identify brand imagery you admire, and take inspiration from your favourite parts.

2. Create a moodboard

This should show both the products that you need photographed as well as the references, inspiration and styles you already researched. This will be helpful both to you as a reference, and to your chosen photographer later on.

3. Find photographers

Use a platform like our very own creatives.new – which helps you find photographers who match your style – to explore the work of several photographers. Make a shortlist of your favourites.

4. Set your budget

When it comes to commercial photography there are many moving parts. Take into account the scale of what you need and allow flexibility for things like: studio, stylists, assistants, lighting, post-production, props, art direction.

5. Create a brief

Pin down each important factor of the job: products to photograph, location, timelines, deadlines, where the photographs will be used (print or screen?), how many photographs, key brand styling points and budget available.

6. Get in touch

Contact the photographer you’d most like to work with, and make a note of the next 2 you prefer the most as backups.

7. Set a date

Be clear with your brief, timeline and budget in your discussion. Finalise any contracts, and book in a date!

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Need to find a commercial drinks photographer? We can help. Take a look at our new platform creatives.new where you can find, message and book commercial photographers all within the creatives.new platform.

Upload a reference image and we’ll find you style-matched product photographers in seconds, or search through our roster of global commercial drinks photographers. Find commercial drinks photographers now!

This is where hiring a commercial food photographer comes in. Visual marketing, such as commercial photography, makes up an essential part of how you present your brand and business to the world; it enables you to tell a story to your clients or customers, but there are so many aspects which can affect the way they understand and react to that story.

When is the right time to hire a commercial food photographer?

We don’t have to tell you that food is an all-round sensory experience, and how it looks is so incredibly important. The right time to hire a professional food photographer for your business is the moment you need beautiful visuals that will tell your brand story, before you begin to share your brand identity with the world.

Whether it’s for the launch of a new menu, site, book, website or simply for promotion on social media or blog, you want to get it right from the moment you share the first photograph.

A great image will be noticed, especially on social media. Sometimes a mediocre or bad one will be noticed too, and not in the best way.

Think about it like having a uniform; a business would likely never consider allowing badly-made uniforms – seams falling apart, no dodgy shirt buttons, missing left arm… Would you truly consider the same thing for your visual identity?

Do I really need to hire a commercial food photographer?

Not just any photographer will do. Food and drink photography is a whole different ball game and there are so many pitfalls to look out for. You’ll want to choose the right food photographer for you and for your brand, a photographer who matches the style you want, who connects with your values and, ultimately, your brand.

The benefits of hiring the right food photographer is that they understand how to achieve the results that you need.

Still unsure? Here’s 5 reasons why you should hire a professional food photographer:

1. A food photographer knows specifically how to work with food and how to manipulate it. Not just in terms of the little “tricks” you’ve seen on those listicles, but understanding how food works with respect to producing stunning visuals for the screen, or for print. They understand that food that looks beautiful in real life doesn’t always translate to the screen, and they know exactly how to mitigate that.

2. A professional food photographer knows how to tell a story using food – and not just any story, your story. They know how to take the history of your business, your mission, your values as a brand, and produce visual content that reflects all of these which serves to further your brand identity.

3. A professional food photographer will likely have access to a studio or an in-house kitchen prepared specifically for this purpose. 

4. Many professional food photographers have preferred food stylists they work with, or specialise in food styling themselves, another essential ingredient to producing great food photography.

5. Finally, a professional food photographer will have technique down pat. You want their expertise. Not only does that include the actual making of the photograph, but that also covers: the specific equipment needed, knowledge of composition, lighting, post-processing, colour theory, technical food and drink knowledge, historical food knowledge, styling experience and training, set-building, prop-styling and so much more.

Need to find a commercial food photographer? You’re in luck! Take a look at our new platform creatives.new where you can find commercial photographers to work with, instantly. 

Upload a reference image and we’ll find you style-matched commercial food photographers in seconds, or search through our roster of global commercial food photographers. Find commercial food photographers now!

We realised throughout writing these articles that we also needed to improve and update the way we tell our brand story at creativehub. We had slipped into the trap of relying on telling people about the product features. Surely people will try it, love it and the business will grow right? Wrong! You have to tell your brand story to make people take notice, remember and engage with it. 

So here is our worked example on the set of exercises we set out previously to create your brand story.

Why did you start the brand creativehub? What problem did you want to solve and why did you want to solve it?

We started the UK’s first online fine art and professional photo printing company. We maintained our #1 position as the UK’s best and most well established company in that field, as it grew. At some point we decided to build our own software to improve the print ordering process, and we found we grew to thousands of print-ordering users who loved the experience. And we loved making that software because it solved a lot of our own problems in providing the best service we could. 

Whilst this was going on, in the course of getting to know and often becoming friends with our artist clients better we realised that their work and skills were undervalued constantly by the market. People can think creativity is easy, because they just see the end product and not all the years of dedication and financial struggle to develop a style and a process.

We felt undervaluing creativity was the sign of a broken market. So much pleasure can be attributed to, and so many ideas start off with artists. We decided that this was our goal and mission, to set this right.

We then did something that in hindsight could be considered to be a little bit reckless. We decided to become a software company within a fine art print lab. At the time we decided to do this we really knew nothing about how difficult it is to make software. 60% of software projects never get finished, and a large proportion of the ones that do don’t get used because they don’t solve the problem they are designed to solve well enough.

But we did know one thing, that we wanted creative artists to have the tools to promote themselves, and make an income from their work that was proportionate with the high level of skills they had developed. Their work was too hard to find, the art sales and creative production market was dominated by larger art galleries and ad agencies respectively, who took most of the value whilst sitting in the middle of the clients and the artists. 

We felt the best way to solve this problem was to make it easier for our creative clients to sell artworks and creative services directly to the end clients, respectively collectors and brands. That would be better for the clients and collectors, as they would have more choice and no one in the middle to prevent them accessing the full diverse range of what was out there.

Describe the events that led to your starting the brand, and the challenges you overcame to get to this point?

We didn’t know how to write software, we had very little spare money to invest, and we were also trying to run an online print service. We made a few mistakes in our software development journey, for example we built some things that didn’t solve the problems we were trying to fix we;; enough to be adopted widely. We also made technology choices that initially held us back. However, we learnt from all our mistakes and we kept going. From making the first wireframes of creativehub in 2009 we finally launched something more in tune with the original vision in November 2020. 

It was a long journey, because software development is very different to fine art printing. Lack of resources held us back at the start and we needed to weather the credit crunch and the global pandemic along the way.

What sustained us was the belief of the people in our company that we could create a better creative industry that empowers creative individuals, and this never wavered. It was a happy moment in November 2020 when we launched.

What do you stand for? How did you change things?

We stand for making things better in our industry for creative individuals, and now for creative functions within brands and marketing agencies. We aim to enable them to make better things, and get the proper return from the dedication they put it.

We have empowered creative individuals and given them more of what what they need to make a living from their creative work. Creativity gives meaning and context to our lives, it is not valued enough. Creative artists shouldn’t struggle when they have made great work, they should find it easy to carry on doing what they do. 

We also believe that whilst doing the above, we shouldn’t harm the planet, which is why we are carbon neutral and we support saving natural habitat through the World Land Trust.

What do you stand against? What did you see in the marketplace that you didn’t like, something you felt had to change?

We stand against the gatekeepers between creative people and the people who want to buy their art or employ them to make content. We also stand against poor communication between creatives and clients, the better the descriptiveness and process in this communication, the more efficient the creative industry will become. A more efficient industry means more commissions for creative people.

Lastly we stand against platforms that seek to turn the creative industry into a pile it high, sell it cheap kind of thing. We think that fundamentally goes against the nature of creativity. For example to tell a brand’s story effectively takes time, and creatives can do that and have a much greater positive impact for that brand when they are given the time required to do it properly. Cheap marketing content that isn’t effective isn’t cheap.

Wherever you live in the world we want talented creatives to be able to support themselves and carry on doing what you are doing. We want all the diverse creative voices in the world to be heard and seen.

The next exercise is the hard part, to try to distill the story into something that can be quickly explained in three different ways.

1. At a party.

This would be fun, informal and have a great payoff.

We were an online fine art print company, a really good one, but one that knew it had more to offer. We saw our talented clients struggling, despite the amazing work they make, and realised the creative industry was broken and inefficient. We saw too many barriers between creatives and clients, too many gatekeepers and not enough choice and diversity for the end clients.

So we decided to do something inadvisable and become a software company within a fine art print lab to sort out the industry and give power to the creative voices around the world being undervalued for their work. We also wanted to improve communication between creative people and their clients.

The bad news for us was that we had no clue how to design or make software! Obviously we hired a great team but we needed to learn what to make and how it should work, and that had to come from us because it was our mission. 

We got it wrong a few times and almost ran out of money. It was stressful, however we kept going thanks to the belief and tenacity of our amazing people and the help we got from our clients.

It’s crazy to think it was 11 years from making the wireframes of the first version of the software to finally launching the main part of the vision in November 2020. If we knew that at the start we might not have done it! In fact many times along the way we wondered ‘why have we done this?!”

We have created a system that is just the first step to realising our original goal; to make tools to improve the way the creative industry works. We hope that as a result of what we have built, more creatives can find the industry viable for them as this will mean a greater diversity of creativity and ideas in the world.

2. In a lift to a potential client.

You have 60 seconds so make it short, more formal than telling the story at a party, but engaging none-the-less.

In 2009 as an online fine art print company we had a unique view point on the creative industry. We saw the amazing work our clients made but realised that very few were being recognised for doing it, so we decided to change that.

We decided to build our own software, slowly at first. But we kept going, we knew we wanted to build tools to empower creative individuals. It took a fair amount of trial and error to get to something we felt was a good first step towards the objective we started out with.

What we have launched is a way for creatives to get found by brands who want to hire them to create content. They can then work on those jobs in our project workspaces, allowing easy communication and visual feedback on all sides, and ultimately this will mean a better job. . 

We have managed, it would be fair to say against the odds, to be able to express what the creative industry needs from within the creative industry, rather than being a tech company seeking to disrupt the industry from the outside-in. This is vital because it’s important that people who make platforms understand how to make the industry more efficient without destroying its diversity or ideas.

3. A customer telling a friend about you.

This will give you context on the repeatability of your story.

They started as theprintspace, an online fine print lab. They were the first to do that, and prints were really good and the service was excellent. 

They have been making their creativehub software in the last few years. This has helped me sell art online and now find commercial jobs. It’s free to use, and the tools are helpful, they save me a lot of time and make it easier to get work. 

I like the way they innovate a lot and try to give me the power to develop my own career, without necessarily needing a commercial agent or fine art gallery. I can speak easily and directly to my clients and focus on my work. Yes I still need to market myself and sell my skills. creativehub makes it far easier to do that. The software guides me along the right path. During jobs I can communicate with clients more easily and get feedback on jobs, so they run smoother.

As a result of creativehub, my earnings and career growth have improved. They are not there to drive down my rates or take control of my clients. They aid connection and communication with clients and art buyers. This enables me to focus on what I like doing, the creative part.

We realised that by writing down these stories, that it was the people in our story who are interesting. All the people within our company who have helped us with this huge struggle to get our software out there, and the clients who inspired us to do it. This is a community in the digital age. We realised we want to highlight that more, and that our marketing should make more effort to tell our story through their stories.