Creative Coding Collective

We’re a community of developers, designers, and creative problem-solvers building and using automation and solutions for Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe Express, Canva,… and other creative tools.

Our approach: Stop complaining, start moving. We focus on collective action over individual frustration.

Our Story

The Creative Coding Collective is not new: we’ve been operating since the early 2000’s. We currently have 700+ members on an invite-only Slack.

What is new is that we’re now ready to take a more active role.

We want to pool our resources, time and expertise to achieve goals that were previously out of reach for individuals.

Becoming A Member

How can you become a member? Currently, our approach is ‘invite only’: you cannot enrol, you need to be invited. In order to keep out AI and bots, we need a few members to vouch for you.

Then the next step is to introduce yourself, and show us some samples of your work.

To get started: ask some existing members whom you’ve met face-to-face to vouch for you.

Then introduce yourself and show us your work. We want to see what you’re building and hear about the challenges you’re facing. Whether you’re:

• A designer interested in scripting and automation
• A developer working on creative software (page layout, images, video, etc.)

Share your GitHub repos, websites, blogs, or other examples of your work.

We’re looking for active contributors who can help move collective projects forward.

We don’t want bots, newcomers seeking free tutorials, or passive observers.

Contact: [email protected]

Projects

We’ve got the following ideas for near-term collective projects:

• A shared YouTube channel: If you have developed an enhancement, a script, a plugin, a panel,… for a creative application, we are looking into running a shared YouTube channel. This project is in the planning phase.
• Recurring Online Meetups: Many of us operate in isolation, with little contact with peers. By organizing regular online events we can get out of isolation and network with our peers.
• Special Interest Groups: Our membership is diverse, and there’s merit in creating SIGs within the Creative Coding Collective. Whether it is about fonts, broken APIs, specific applications… we can create a SIG for that.
• Marketing: This project will be aimed to create joint marketing efforts to increase our visibility.
  One of the hurdles we face is that the end-users are often unaware of the savings in time and effort they could achieve with a custom enhancement.
  Thanks to ‘vibe-coding’, many of our end-users are now waking up to what custom enhancements of their trusted apps could do for them.
  We need to pick up the challenge at the point where vibe coding starts falling over, and experienced developers can take the solution further.
• Trade shows and conferences: This project will look at getting shared booth spaces at various events.
  Many of us are one-man bands or small indy development companies, and cannot afford booths at expensive shows. By pooling our resources, we might be able to jointly achieve what individuals cannot.
• Code Review and Technical Support: This project will look at various options for getting an extra pair of eyes on your code in a trusted setting.
• Marketing Advice: This project will look at improving marketing of our efforts.
  We’re not marketeers, but most of us have learned a few things in the School of Hard Knocks. Before launching an enhancement, it might pay to get an unadorned review of your solution. Also, learn how to formulate a value proposal, how to make an offer they cannot refuse…
• A Shared Website: This project is about setting up and managing a shared web site. We need both ‘members-only’ and ‘public’ parts to the web site. The page you’re looking at is an early attempt. As you can see, it’s ugly. It can be improved!
• Recurring online meetings: This is about meeting with

Community Guidelines

Foundation: The Creative Coding Collective is a volunteer effort with no formal financial or administrative structure. We all share the load—some members cover costs, others contribute time and expertise.

• Guidelines: Be helpful – We’re here to lift each other up.
• Share knowledge – Your solution might solve someone else’s problem.
• Stay constructive – Complaining is fine, but bring solutions too.
• Respect experience levels – We were all beginners once/
• No gatekeeping – Users, accidental developers and experts all welcome.
• No preaching to the choir – The members of the collective are not your potential customers..
• Keep it real – Save the humble brags for LinkedIn.

We’re volunteers, not employees. Help when you can, ask when you need, accept when nobody responds.