This semester, Creative Ink has nine clients and have gotten to see their work displayed anywhere from t-shirts all over campus to on “Good Morning America.”
Every semester, the Creative Ink team gets to take on new and diverse clients. This semester, they have nine clients and have gotten to see their work displayed anywhere from t-shirts all over campus to on “Good Morning America.”
“We’ve got a really great team this semester, so we’ve been able to take things on and do a great job,” said Kate Stevens, who serves as the team’s Creative Director.
Creative Ink is a class at Stephens College designed to provide a structured learning space for students interested in the world of marketing and design. They are a student-run marketing firm, led by a four-person executive team. Along with Stevens as Creative Director, Alana Wideman serves as Account Manager, Amanda Coppeti as Design Lead and Mollie Davidson as Social Media Director. At the beginning of the semester, the staff opened client applications and voted on which clients to accept. They picked clients that interested the team and played to their strengths.
On campus, Creative Ink is working on designs and promotional materials for Susie’s, Stephens Promise Kept and the Creative Hub. They’ve also been working with the Ten Ideals on some new ideas, and they encourage students to stay tuned to see more of that work later this semester.
“We’re doing some on-campus things, too, besides just Susie’s,” Stevens said. “For the Creative Hub, we’re going to be redesigning all the pamphlets that Bethanie [Irons] made and put in the hallway, and she wants us to do postcards almost. Her inspiration is really experimental. That’s cool because when we work with clients, they normally need a really corporate-feeling product, but with that we get to play with more of our artistic side. Stephens Promise Kept Scholarship also reached out to us and is having us work with their marketing for social media. It’s just a way for us to leave our impact on our community.”
Off campus, Creative Ink is working with Big Hug Blanket, Vintage Homestead + Co., Oh She’s Cool, Hang a Jigsaw, and the Boone County Clerk’s Office. Many of the clients have ties to Stephens College or the greater Columbia community. For the Big Hug Blanket, they worked with the established product and brand (created by a Stephens alum!) and got to see their work showcased on “Good Morning America.” The team is also especially excited to work on branding and materials for the Boone County Clerk’s Office.
“We get to help a lot of people on campus and get to see our work, but it’s also really exciting to have these bigger clients come from different states,” Wideman said. “I think the more big clients we do, the more attention we get, and we’ll eventually be able to expand around the country.”
Applications for students to join the Creative Ink team in Spring 2025 will open during the first week of fall courses. For more information and to follow along with their client work, follow @creativeinksc on Instagram or visit their website at creativeink.stephens.edu/.
“As we go into the block schedule, Creative Ink will be semester-long, so it will not interfere with any of your core classes that you take within a block,” explained Assistant Professor Miranda Richardson, who serves as the class’s adviser. “You will be able to participate in Stephens Life, Creative Ink, and your block courses. We’re pretty proud about that; we’ve really advocated for that to be the case, and we think it’s an overall really positive thing for the department to be a part of.”