15 Awful Mistakes Made by Designers in the Music & Apparel Industry

Great article written by our boy Jeff Finley.

http://www.gomediazine.com/industry-insights/15-awful-mistakes-designers-music-apparel-industry-part-1-of-3/#comment-125726

Features quotes from

Rob Dobi
Chris Sandlin
Dan Mumford
Derek Deal
Jimiyo
Geoff May
Justin Ryan
Laurie Shipley
AJ Dimarucot
Jimmy Heartcore

1. 

   MykeCatastrophic said 2 months ago

   Words to live by: Under promise and over deliver. ALWAYS.
   - Geoff May

2. 

   Secret Agenda said 2 months ago

   Excellent read!

3. 

   derekdeal said 2 months ago

   first quote.....face!

4. 

   sockmonkee said 2 months ago

   2nd quote...eff

   he even forgot my name in the list :(

   GAHHHHHHHHHHHH JEFF!

5. 

   kyleisez said 2 months ago

   gomedia hates me.... its awesome

6. 

   jimmyheartcore said 2 months ago

   Rules.

7. 

   ryanmiller said 2 months ago

   i feel left out haha

8. 

   kyleisez said 2 months ago

   ryanmiller said: i feel left out haha

   come on now... COME ON NOW

9. 

   Time Without the E said 2 months ago

   AMEN to #5

10. 

    justinryan said 2 months ago

    Fourth quote?

    This is a great read for the young guns and also awesome for the vets.

11. 

    jsheldon said 2 months ago

    good stuff.

12. 

    a killer wombat said 2 months ago

    very good read indeed, should help a lot of new people to the business.

13. 

    basil said 2 months ago

    good good read

14. 

    justgeoff said 2 months ago

    MykeCatastrophic said: Words to live by: Under promise and over deliver. ALWAYS. - Geoff May

    boo yeah!

15. 

    justinryan said 2 months ago

    Yeah that was a good quote, Geoff.

16. 

    justgeoff said 2 months ago

    justinryan said: Yeah that was a good quote, Geoff.

    Thanks. Someone wiser than me told me that long ago and I’ve always kept it in mind. Ya gotta set yourself up to succeed.

17. 

    Stephan.GFX said 2 months ago

    Wow, I found this article and read it (not through this link.) And I was about to post a topic linking to it as well. Very good article. Points out some very important things.

18. 

    cajun metal said 2 months ago

    Can’t wait for the next installment. Controversy!

19. 

    Ben Danger said 2 months ago

    ohhh my spot got blown up

20. 

    jfinley said 2 months ago

    Thanks to those that contributed to the article, I really really appreciate it. It took me forever to edit and summarize what the common points were. I wanted to include everyone’s full list of 5 things, but then people wrote so much!

    Also, if you guys ever have any new ideas for an article or want to help contribute to the next one, let me know. I am open to ideas. Send me an email with your big idea and some talking points and we’ll go from there.

21. 

    basil said 2 months ago

    jfinley said:I am open to ideas.

    building the perfect portfolio?

22. 

    Stephan.GFX said 2 months ago

    monuments said:

    jfinley said:I am open to ideas.

    building the perfect portfolio?

    +10000

23. 

    i came from nothing said 2 months ago

    great read...my little thoughts below

    no1 is a delimema, as many very talented designers here under selll there items, by selling tees for less than $20.

    As production costs all over the world differ so much.

    It devalues your work...

    Just today online I have seen new UK designs selling tees, with 1 colour small vector outlines for £25 ($50) per tee. Way over the top for the design input. (some of the outlines were just inches big)

    But on the other hand... I see amazing quality illustration based tees on sale for less than $15

    Where is the middle ground...design over proffit or proffit over design.

24. 

    conor said 2 months ago

    Quality article Finley! I especially agree with "Ignorance is only your fault!" I have no problem saying I can’t do something when I really can’t, but it won’t stop me from trying!

25. 

    godmachine said 2 months ago

    Great stuff guys- I learn a lot from GoMedia and its contributors constantly. Thank you

26. 

    Cole said 2 months ago

    yessss i was used as an example... a real bad example...

    fuck.

27. 

    Jon Kruse said 2 months ago

    i came from nothing said: great read...my little thoughts below no1 is a delimema, as many very talented designers here under selll there items, by selling tees for less than $20. As production costs all over the world differ so much. It devalues your work... Just today online I have seen new UK designs selling tees, with 1 colour small vector outlines for £25 ($50) per tee. Way over the top for the design input. (some of the outlines were just inches big) But on the other hand... I see amazing quality illustration based tees on sale for less than $15 Where is the middle ground...design over proffit or proffit over design.

    The only way the person can sell a 1 color small vector outline shirt is if they have mad marketing and advertising. I don’t think you have factored the costs of that into the equation.

    Also if they have the ability to reach a larger audience and print more t-shirts for cheaper it just makes sense that they can lower their prices because production costs are lower.

28. 

    Jon Kruse said 2 months ago

    Cole said: yessss i was used as an example... a real bad example... fuck.

    The past is the past. Now your typography is going to be killer for fear of the JFin back hand.

29. 

    Randomentity said 2 months ago

    Cole said: yessss i was used as an example... a real bad example... fuck.

    man, i was so waiting to be seen as a bad example.

    i can’t wait for the rest of the article.

30. 

    Dave!PTS said 2 months ago

    Aww I was left out :( although I went on about a lot of different points to the general consensus, which leads me to believe I missed the point.. This is a brilliant read though.

31. 

    jaynajaynajayna said 2 months ago

    A great read, I can’t wait or the other 2 parts

32. 

    jfinley said 2 months ago

    Dave!PTS said: Aww I was left out :( although I went on about a lot of different points to the general consensus, which leads me to believe I missed the point.. This is a brilliant read though.

    Dave, that’s another article buddy. I haven’t written that one yet. That one is going to be next.

    Cole said: yessss i was used as an example... a real bad example... fuck.

    Sorry Cole! I didn’t mean any offense, you’ve had my back for awhile. However, I did a search on emptees for "hate the type" or something along those lines and yours came up.

    Anyway, let it be some encouragement!

33. 

    Ameeee said 2 months ago

    jaynajaynajayna said: A great read, I can’t wait or the other 2 parts

    Thanks for putting all the time you do into these. Fantastic resource!

34. 

    collisiontheory said 2 months ago

    The article just got featured on notcot.org. Congrats! http://www.notcot.org/

35. 

    Boycott Christian HC said 2 months ago

    "Typography is not something to be slapped onto a design at the end of the design process."

    ... Ha! That’s exactly what I’m doing.

36. 

    Robmcbride said 2 months ago

    Very good article, usually I find shit like this way biased to certain discussions I’ve read, where people agree band wagon hop on opinions.

    However this was alright.

37. 

    hunty said 2 months ago

    This is really, really good. Thanks for stuff like this... Can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.

38. 

    Reliique said 2 months ago

    very good read

39. 

    Tonteau said 2 months ago

    Great stuff! Thanks a bunch for this, dudes.

40. 

    vonmonkey said 2 months ago

    Just discovered the gomedia site, so much awesome stuff on there, especially for clueless types like me- thanks guys!

41. 

    i came from nothing said 2 months ago

    Johnny Kruse said:

    i came from nothing said: great read...my little thoughts below no1 is a delimema, as many very talented designers here under selll there items, by selling tees for less than $20. As production costs all over the world differ so much. It devalues your work... Just today online I have seen new UK designs selling tees, with 1 colour small vector outlines for £25 ($50) per tee. Way over the top for the design input. (some of the outlines were just inches big) But on the other hand... I see amazing quality illustration based tees on sale for less than $15 Where is the middle ground...design over proffit or proffit over design.

    The only way the person can sell a 1 color small vector outline shirt is if they have mad marketing and advertising. I don’t think you have factored the costs of that into the equation.

    Also if they have the ability to reach a larger audience and print more t-shirts for cheaper it just makes sense that they can lower their prices because production costs are lower.

    I would agree with you if they were a large label selling in store etc like BBC or BAPE, but the designs I see selling for twice the normal emptees costs are just small guys just like us.

42. 

    justgeoff said 2 months ago

    I’m bummed. Some dumb chick commented on the article and said
    "Are you serious? These aren’t designers and this isn’t the “apparel industry”.

    "Decorating tees is no different than going to the grocery store, buying a pre-baked cake, taking it home and decorating it with canned frosting (that maybe you colored yourself) and calling yourself a master pastry chef."

    I think it’s a pretty shitty and uneducated statement to make.

43. 

    gameyy said 2 months ago

    Man, if only I’d read this article a couple of years ago...

    I totally jumped into the apparel industry without a clue as to how production worked, why colors needed separation, etc. One of the biggest downfalls to not knowing the ins and outs of it was that I ended up getting gouged by a major imprinting company - they bank on their clients being as clueless as I was, and price high to fix the errors.

    What really sucks is that even as I got better on my end and made things easier for them, the price stayed the same, so I was being charged $12-14 per shirt! The profit margin was ludicrous, but I didn’t know better.

    Not only that, but the printing restrictions were absurd (though, again, I didn’t know it at the time) Their screens were only 12x16, they couldn’t print over seams, collars, sides, etc, and wouldn’t de-tag the shirts.

    Live & learn.

    Great article, by the way. ;D

44. 

    derekdeal said 2 months ago

    justgeoff said: I’m bummed. Some dumb chick commented on the article and said "Are you serious? These aren’t designers and this isn’t the “apparel industry”. "Decorating tees is no different than going to the grocery store, buying a pre-baked cake, taking it home and decorating it with canned frosting (that maybe you colored yourself) and calling yourself a master pastry chef." I think it’s a pretty shitty and uneducated statement to make.

    I agree, I get that she’s trying to draw a line between tee designers and fashion designers, but her devaluing of the contributor’s work is completely unnecessary. Obviously the article doesnt apply to her since she’s the only one trying to make that distinction. My wife designs for a multi million dollar women’s apparel company, and i get heaps of respect from the people she works with when she shows my stuff off. Not trying to boast, just want to illustrate that you can have mutual respect for the different facets of the industry and that Katherine is isolated in her close mindedness.

45. 

    herky said 2 months ago

    Awesome information and invaluable knowledge. Thanks for sharing this.

46. 

    justgeoff said 2 months ago

    derekdeal said:

    justgeoff said: I’m bummed. Some dumb chick commented on the article and said "Are you serious? These aren’t designers and this isn’t the “apparel industry”. "Decorating tees is no different than going to the grocery store, buying a pre-baked cake, taking it home and decorating it with canned frosting (that maybe you colored yourself) and calling yourself a master pastry chef." I think it’s a pretty shitty and uneducated statement to make.

    I agree, I get that she’s trying to draw a line between tee designers and fashion designers, but her devaluing of the contributor’s work is completely unnecessary. Obviously the article doesnt apply to her since she’s the only one trying to make that distinction. My wife designs for a multi million dollar women’s apparel company, and i get heaps of respect from the people she works with when she shows my stuff off. Not trying to boast, just want to illustrate that you can have mutual respect for the different facets of the industry and that Katherine is isolated in her close mindedness.

    Yeah, it just makes no sense to me why she would even bother posting that. To say we’re not designers is retarded. We’re not clothing designers, we’re graphic designers, but designers nonetheless. Also to say we’re not part of the apparel industry is stupid. We design graphics specifically for apparel. Her comment is completely baseless and classless. She’s trying to be an industry elitist but failing miserably at it.

47. 

    Randomentity said 2 months ago

    kathleen can go to hell, i just commented.

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