We’ll also be distributing buttons and postcards throughout London. The postcards are nearly blank, so that you could sketch in something (there’s a filled out one here: http://flickr.com/photos/spreadblog/237644561/). And, yeah, that comes with the requisite prizes (goods, coupons, shirts).

How have you promoted for “the draw”? Has any particular method proved the most successful?

 

We’ve promoted through our other design competition The Derby, and our blogs. The “authorised” tracks design schools, for example, and our (official) blog, haven’t proven the best method. So far, our success has been through contacting design blogs pretty directly interested in the design competition. That’s been amazing, and logical: they want interesting content, and we want interested people. It’s a great filter for a targeted audience.

 

You’ve signed up both Protein and Icon, what do you think partnerships with more traditional media/retail brings to La Fraise/Spreadshirt?

I won’t tell protein and icon that you called them traditional. They’re not really: they’re sort of the dynamic, flexible, young style we just match with. What we’re looking for in these partnerships: to expand our offer to designers. That is, to connect them to a bigger, more diverse, offline platform. And to encourage bottom-up design: unique shirts by individual designers rather than the design team of h&m coming up with safe trends.

There are a lot of design contests around, why should we submit to “the draw”?

Well, I mean, we don’t really care about monogamy (you can date other design competitions). The obvious answers are the cash (£750) and the extremely limited edition we’ll be printing of the designs (100 pieces). The softer reasons the broader impact: you’ll get recognition online and off- in Berlin, Paris and London. And we’ve got other plans in the works with our partners (icon magazine and Protein store), but I’ll tell you about them when they’re more concrete…

 

How many designs have been submitted so far?

250, and counting.

 

What’s your favourite entry and why?

Oh, that’s hard. Can I pick three? From three sort of design streams:

 

 

1. Coffee () because the illustration is catchy and really, really well done. You see that the designer can draw and has a good understanding of forms and shapes.

 

2. House eater (http://www.spreadshirt.net/contest.php?op=ldfgallery&submission_id=1289): fun idea, done well.

 

3. sk8r grrrl (http://www.spreadshirt.net/contest.php?op=ldfgallery&submission_id=1561) – because I have a soft spot for a bit of grunge. And the illustration style is nice and unique, remember forms and shapes (channelling Bob Ross)…

To give the budding designers out there a helping hand, how about a few pointers on what your looking for?

We’re not just looking for unique, since you can’t reinvent the wheel. But the design should have a nice idea, message, just make us laugh. Or they should be good designs (for example: not just tracing something in Illustrator): we should be able to see the designer’s signature, not the design programme’s. Remember the keywords: shapes and forms, light areas and dark areas, contrasts, use of colours.

We decided at the beginning not to let every design in. The idea was to set a high bar, and to collect some of the best designs out there. “From all of us here, I’d like to wish you happy painting…and God bless my friend.”