Job Memo Post

R. Tyler Evans

Job Memo

Blog Post #1

June 2, 2015           

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            I am currently a design intern at a small t-shirt and sublimation printing company called Artist Threads. The company is located in Costa Mesa, California just about forty minutes south of Los Angeles and started a few years ago by two brothers from Southern California. The company focuses on discovering, signing, and promoting artists through clothing and apparel.

            The employees of the company attend gallery openings, art walks, and attempt to meet as many people as possible in the art community. The Talent Acquisition Team works to sign artists to the brand and allow the company to use their work for manufacturing. There are three interns for the summer that all work closely with one another in the same office and often on the same projects.

           

            Artist Threads also manufactures and designs work for various skate and clothing companies such as Stussy and Adidas. The company currently owns a printing and cut & sow warehouse where most of the products are designed, manufactured, and shipped from. The company sells the majority of their work through their website and through selling mass orders to other larger companies. Although the company is relatively young, they are growing quickly and are planning to launch their official cell phone app this week.

           

            As an intern my job has a few specific responsibilities. I work as both a product design intern and as a graphic design intern. As a graphic design intern I focus on the online platform of the company and the branding of newsletters and social media material. I am responsible for selecting and photographing new products with my boss, one of the founders of the company.

           

            I then design newsletters and promotional print advertisements that are either emailed or given away at events, skate competitions, or galleries. It’s an important part of the business, especially early on, to promote and present the company correctly in order to attract a demanding market. The company is also about to release the official app this week and I have been working over the last month with another interns to design the layout.

           

            As a product design intern I work to come up with new ideas for potential products and sketch designs. After working on numerous designs and products the best ones are selected and discussed with the founders, other designers, and interns of the company. Only a few of my t-shirts have been selected so far, but it’s a start. Products include t-shirts, sweatshirts, socks, shorts, hats, bathing suits, and posters. I also work hands on in the printing process and learn how to operate the sublimation printing machines shadowing one of the co-founders, Zach.

            To create t-shirt designs, newsletters, posters or any other product that I may be asked to work on I sketch ideas and then use mostly Illustrator and Photoshop to edit and finalize printable graphics. A lot of my work as an intern includes editing and finalizing the illustrations of the main Artist Threads designers and preparing them for the printing process.

            Sublimation printing uses a dye-sublimation printer, which utilizes heat to transfer dye onto fabrics. Dye-sublimation creates images that do not fade or peel and are permanent. Designs are printed with continuous tones and gradients that cannot be achieved by other ordinary textile printing methods. With sublimation printing the company is able to print exceptional colors due to the special dyes.

            The company also hosts a cut & sow factory with hired workers to manufacture products on the other spectrum of apparel. The cut & sow industry produces a more handmade, authentic product than photographic imagery produced with sublimation printing. As a product design intern I get to work with various applications of design and a wide range of different fabrics.

           

            I work very closely with the other designers and founders of the company because the company is still very small and growing. As an intern it is a great opportunity to get to work hands on in every aspect from conception to production in running Artist Threads.