Holidays and birthdays may be joyous events, but they can also evoke sheer panic for those who can't, or don't, get their act together promptly for their greeting cards to make an on-time arrival.
Finding the perfect representative card, remembering postage and getting to the post office, all on a timely basis, can be downright impossible for those with jam-packed schedules. Culture Greetings seeks to curb that panic and bring inclusive well wishes to everyone with a mailbox.
Atlanta-based online greeting card company Culture Greetings was recently launched by Dr. Dionne Mahaffey to focus on consumers of color. The company aims to have inclusionary designs and messaging that aren't always captured in mainstream cards, for people from all cultures.
"You can't always find the cards from diversity lines in the stores, so I developed Culture Greetings as another option," Mahaffey said. "Our store is always available online; in the time it takes to post on Facebook or Instagram, a customer can sit at their computer and pick a real card to send to their friends. We are a marriage between fast-paced technology and the classic way of expressing oneself by sending a card with a handwritten note."
Customers visit the Culture Greetings website, select a card from the catalog (currently, there are 600 options), personalize it by adding a note with the option of using handwriting fonts, specify the recipient and provide their address for envelope labeling. Customers also have the option of including a gift card from various retailers.
The website features helpful video tutorials on how to personalize cards, mail a card to multiple recipients, upload contacts and create a card using your own images/designs.
Once the order is completed, Culture Greetings prints the card on their fleet of commercial printing Xerox ColorPress equipment, along with any other finishing and cutting modifications. The envelope then gets stuffed and stamped and brought to the U.S. Post Office for delivery.
Besides modernizing the card-selecting and -mailing process, Culture Greetings designs most of the cards in house. The cards feature work of respected artists, photographers, graphic designers, printmakers and more, with messages directed at people of color. Featured artists include Steve Allen, Abu Mwenye, Nadiyah Rodgers and Quinn McGowan.
Culture Greetings uses a technology platform consisting of custom modules that enhance the personalization experience, as well as a standalone web-to-print software application designed by Mahaffey herself. The company plans to release apps for both iOS and Android next year. Mahaffey hopes this streamlined process will allow the company to reach its immediate goal of selling 1,000 cards per month.
"Our brand is dedicated to featuring black people and other people of color," Mahaffey said. "Beyond a greeting card, we're also a technology company. The entire process of picking a card to it being printed and mailed is automated. In less than 60 seconds, a customer can select a card, write a heartfelt, inspirational or funny message using handwriting fonts that mirror real penmanship and click 'send.' We print, stuff, stamp and mail the greeting cards directly to their recipients for less than the average price of a greeting card at the store."
