As we announced before and as you’ve seen on our new homepage, a few things are changing at Spreadshirt. Especially visually. Our (fairly) new Creative Director Do is responsible for most of that change. To give you a better insight into her work and the upcoming changes, we sat down for an interview.

Who are you and what are your tasks here?

My name is Do Kil and I’m Spreadshirt’s Creative Director. I’m responsible for the visual direction at Spreadshirt. That means: what the brand is saying, what it’s conveying visually, as well as what our website and marketing materials look like.

So why are we changing things – and why now?

The web is constantly changing. Spreadshirt was a bit behind and needed a facelift to convey a fresh message and be up to date on the modern web standards and trends. I don’t think that the old site, the old logo, or even the old brand achieved that. We wanted to build a more trusted brand. And consumers always have an eye for companies that have a modern feel. That’s why Apple is so popular: they are always cutting-edge. And sometimes it takes a bigger step forward and not smaller steps. That’s the reason I took the entire brand and reformed it. I felt like the “old” brand itself was not conveying who Spreadshirt really is as a brand. There’s so much energy within the company that needs to be transformed onto the site. That creative energy wasn’t visible online.

What are the key changes to the new startpage?

One of the key new features of the startpage is the main graphic. I felt that a story was missing. We want to put our designs and products into context, so they have meaning even to new customers. Having a bigger teaser and putting the models or products in context gives a consumer a bit more of an emotional connection – to create your own shirt you need to access those emotions.
Currently, the content of the new homepage hasn’t changed, but the style has. The designs have their own spot with more prominence and clarity. That way, customers can focus section by section and have a clear idea what each section is about. For example, the partner section has become much simpler and the illustration clearly shows what it’s all about.

A lot of people like the illustrated scribble style but question if it fits Spreadshirt. What do you say to that?

I think it does fit Spreadshirt. Spreadshirt is a place for great designers and partners, but it should also have a personality of its own. In the old style, Spreadshirt was a bit bland and dated, I feel that Spreadshirt should showcase our partners work in the best light. These little illustrations are not super polished, very scribbled, like the beginning of a sketch. The idea is that our partners and our partners’ designs are the ones in focus – this is why our sketches are black and white. Their designs should be the ones in color, not our sketches. The sketches add an element of fun and playfulness that enhances a lot of the designs and helps to showcase them.

How do the new homepage, the Spreadshirt collection and the new logo go hand in hand? And why is it all happening in separate steps?

We have built up a relationship with our partners and consumers – they know Spreadshirt. But if we just completely launch a new brand without taking them through the process, I think it would be a big shock and people may not recognize us anymore. So we don’t want the people that have been a part of Spreadshirt from the beginning to get lost in a huge relaunch. We’re taking steps and involving our partners and consumers in this process. It takes time to develop good things. We really have the consumer and partner in mind while we’re refreshing the brand. It’s all about how you showcase designs. If you just throw them out there without showing them love and care, they will get lost. We really want to acknowledge good designers and highlight them.

What are the next steps?

We want to work on the newsletter template, the product packaging as well as different functions within the site. We’re constantly working on improvements especially on web consumer needs and user tests are very important for all of this.

The homepage Do redesigned was first tested in the US and had great results with our customers. We’ve seen increases in clicks to certain parts of the website increase by 20% to 40%. Even the overall engagement (percentage of visitors who clicked anything) increased by about 10%! We are quite happy with these results – thanks to Do and her team!

One basic marketing element for a shop partner that is often ignored but never should be is writing a good product description.  Your customers need to know what they are buying and a good, concise product description is fundamental here.  Another reason why a good product description is necessary is the need for great SEO. Google looks for information relevant to customers and the more relevant information you have on your page the better.

So what should your product description include? Obviously, it needs to include what the product actually is. Specs on the products are always useful, a description of what designs are shown are great too. Remember to write clearly and concisely about your product. It cannot be long winded nor can it be full of grammar mistakes. Overall, your description needs to be short, precise and easy to understand.

As mentioned before, the product description can be used for other purposes such as SEO. Include keywords that are relevant and you are trying to be competitive for within your product descriptions. Furthermore, you can use your product description for cross-selling purposes. You can put related products and services in your product description naturally and increase your basket size easily. However, make sure it is naturally worded and not forced. You cannot force in SEO keywords nor links to other products into your product description as that would turn your customers off and possibly ruin your sale.

A good product description could mean the difference between finding great customers and ranking highly on Google and losing sales and visitors. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes and think about what they would like to know about your product before buying it.

Nelson was 13 years old when he was disposed of. He was in no physical condition to still oblige to his watchdog duties, so people were quick to pass judgement on him. So he was tied to the banisters outside a pound before he was abandoned. This happened in the middle of the night.
Nelson is no singular case, hundreds of dogs and cats experience the same fate every day. A lifetime friendship between people and pets often gets disrupted when family environments change. People get married, break up, move to different place, have children or just have less time – all of which often leads to their four-legged friends losing their home.

Animal shelters are brimming with creatures that have never done anything other than giving their owners all of their love and devotion. These animals all have their own back stories. These may be certain characteristics and personality, physical deficiencies or simply a history of bad luck – and now the life of most of them has ended in a place of no return. Trust is something that needs time, and if you show heart and decide for a pet – like I did with my 12-year old dog Leila when I picked her up in a pound in 2006 – you can experience a friendship that is very rare between people.

It was the same with Nelson when he was adopted by my family, aged 13. He may have only had another 6 months with us, but these 6 months really meant a lot to everyone in our family. We experienced a loving, caring and devoted friend at our home. In the end this is what counts a lot.
(For you Nelson. I kept my promise to give you a voice.)

Petra

I’ve been a Giants fan since childhood. I never had a chance to be otherwise. It was a rite of passage. Every Sunday afternoon you could find me watching the New York Giants, yelling at the television in hopes that someone on the team would listen to me. Of course, no one ever would. But that never stopped me. I had my lucky jersey, like every football fan, that I wore during every game.

There were a couple of rules for wearing the shirt:

1. The same shirt must be worn at all times during the game.
2. The shirt cannot be washed during the season. If it is washed, all the luck is washed away with it.
3. One can only change shirts after the end of the season. Once a new season begins, a new shirt can be worn.

My New York Giants shirt was my voice for the entire season. It was my way of connecting with other fans and feeling a sense of unity and purpose. That is the power of the t-shirt. It made me feel like I belong to something bigger than myself, mustard stains and all.

In fact, the messier the shirt the luckier it became. My mother would yell at me to throw my dirty shirt in the laundry and even threatened to wash it while I slept. She never did. Deep down she understood its inexplicable power to alter the course of sporting events, even if it never actually did.

Adam

One of my favorite things to do, “hobbies” so to say happens to be gardening. I certainly will not say that I am a “green thumb” by any means but if I happen to only kill one or two plants throughout the spring/summer growing season I look at it as a big success! I suppose I started to get/grow a “green” thumb around the young age of 5. I grew up in more of a rural area and was always helping my parents with the typical yard work of cutting grass, raking leaves typical “non-fun” stuff as most would consider. However, I actually really enjoyed these mundane tasks and would prefer to be outside doing them as opposed to helping my mother inside with laundry or washing the dishes. From as long as I can remember my parents have always had a very large vegetable garden and flowering pots throughout our yard. When I got a place of my own, I wanted the same type of green environment.

So now I spend the majority of my free time, outside tending to my small garden. I don’t have the space for a large vegetable garden so I instead planted many different types of flowers and shrubs including irises, lilies, hollyhocks and maybe my most prized planting possession my rose bush. Thanks to the good use of Pinterest, I have found some really cool ideas on how to transform a small yard space into a garden with the use of different items for pots and raised cement blocks to create the perfect small herb garden. It’s quite a good feeling when you get the chance to see something so little grow into such a beautiful thing even if it’s just from your own garden.

Kristina

We’re honoring fathers from around the country in this edition of the Weekly Spread.  Check out some of these designs and don’t forget Father’s Day this Sunday!

Gladditudes shows us the hero in every dad.  Artbya wants us to know how strong dad can be.

Stimpy’s Tees wonders why some kids keep calling him dad.  Robin Lund is a top dad.  And Funny Meme Shirts has a funny Star Wars moment.

Congratulations to all our wonderful designers featured above!  And Happy Father’s Day to all!

It’s almost 4 years ago that I received an invitation for an interview with Spreadshirt, and I still remember how nervous I was when I had it. Of course I was eager to try and convince my interview partner of my knowledge, love for t-shirts and enthusiasm for work in general. And since I knew I was going to be quizzed on email marketing, I knew I had to be prepared and wear a t-shirt with a snappy slogan displaying my eloquence. It had to be neat and catchy. Best of all some kind of witty pun. Well, if you know my newsletters then you are aware of my penchant of picking from an embarrassment of riches So I took a long shower (that usually helps to clear my head), and – BOOM – there it was, the idea. A plain black t-shirt with the slogan “Klasse Einstellung” (a double meaning of great hire and great attitude) – what better way to convey what you are made of in an interview?!

The slogan worked very well as a plug in all those conversations that I had with everybody I talked to, this much I can say. Although I must say that on walking through Spreadshirt sacred site of t-shirt production and administration, almost everyone I saw was wearing some type of uniquely personalised garment, not to mention the fact that everywhere you looked there were printed t-shirts used for decoration. On having seen all of Spreadshirt’s premises, I was seen off in a very friendly and cordial way, and it only took another two days until I received a phone call. The words that made my day then were “Maria, you are a great hire!”

The outcome of this event made me very proud, and whenever I wear the t-shirt that paved my way I do so in a manner that’s not lacking in vanity. A t-shirt can say more than a thousand words!

Maria

“More than just a pretty face!”

Yes, I am. But why would I write that on a t-shirt? There is this old cliché that women who a) wear lipstick before 7pm, b) have their nails made or c) put on more than just a bit of eyeliner are shallow and… stupid. This type of girl shrieks at the thought of having to go out into the rain without an umbrella, and probably she’s a bit of a humourless tart.

Actually, this is exactly what I thought until one day I realised how much fun it is to have a keen eye on good make-up, and that it isn’t bad at all to look a bit more staid at times. I like putting on lots of make-up, and I’d say that this makes me stand out when compared to plain Jane. It’s not that I don’t think I could leave the house without make-up, I simply like colour as well as change. After all you can always be what you want to be; whether it’s purple hair or silver teeth or tattoos everywhere – all that counts is that you’re happy, and that you show it. So it’s fun to show off that there is more to me than just looks!

Melanie

Everyday life is easier to take when your wadrobe offers a bit of a choice. And what do you do when an everyday outfit just doesn’t cut it for a special occasion? Think sport events, nights out and family gatherings – different events require different styles. And you can express different ideas on each event. Show support for your team, blow your own trumpet and say something only people close to you understand. The sky is the limit to your imagination, you can be as extreme and eccentric as you like. Within the boundaries of good taste, you can make a show of a chant for your club, pass comment on a political development or tell your little sister ”Our dog’s called Lassy, Olivia! Don’t forget the L!” These are my top 4 slogans, check them out: A t-shirt, jumper or top for special days:

Even a simple slogan can cause quite a stir when worn on the right occasion. A couple of years ago I wore my plain white “I love Marathons” when I went to watch the London Marathon. On this day, heaps of smiling athletes gave me sympathetic looks, and I was happy to be able to show my support for the sport. The best moment of the day was when one of the participants asked me – while he was running – whether I felt like stepping in for him out so that he could go for a pint instead. I told him that he had to wait until later when he could meet me at the King’s Head, and that made a fair few people around me break out in laughter. Maybe this gave the guy added motivation to get to the finish line faster, who knows…

So my t-shirt did a good deed on the day, and that’s at least something. You can surely do the same. What is the slogan that you would print on a t-shirt to get other motivated?

Eike

“When you dance, the hardest part is to express the beauty of the dance whilst making it look easy.“.

This is the slogan that I first read when registering with my dancing school. And it hits the nail on the head, because most people underestimate how demanding this beautiful sport can be. How often did I hear people say that “prancing about like that is no real sport”. Very well, I’d like to counter this notion with a relevé, a grand plié and finally a grand jeté. And I’m only able to do this after 6 years of hard work.

This is why I truly admire all this grace and ease that professional dancers express when floating across the dance floors of professional dance events around the globe. This is something I will most likely never achieve, but dancing is still a very important part of my life. It gives me confidence, stamina and a lot of relaxation. What’s more, you get in touch with others who feel just like you, and this is why my fellow dancers have also become my friends. Dancing bonds!

So, I want to take a stance on dancing, and I want to tell the world how much I love it by showing it on my t-shirt. Despite all the stress that goes with rehearsing and travelling to events, life is better when you dance your way through, isn’t it?
And even if you don’t dance your way, you may skate, bike, kick or ramble some of it, and this should be the thing that makes your daily grind that much easier to take. Show what you’re made off, and print it on your t-shirt!

Nicole