In the second half with the basics already covered, Jason and I can a little deeper talking about the competition, whats in it for the designer, platform additions, mystery VC backers and other probably less interesting things….

The new t-shirt Design Contest “Design By Humans” has recevied a fair amount of press since its launch, being credited as a serious competitor to Threadless and even a likely reason for the recent Threadless prize rise and reprint announcement. I talked for a long time with one of the founders Jason Gutierrez.

In this half we discuss how the site was started, the founders background and the printing options. Part 2 is coming up with more about the contest, the t&c’s and the competition.

So its been a few months since I checked in with my old mucker Miles at Innertee. I’m a fan of their platform and approach. I chatted with Miles about how things have developed, how scale-able the model is and whats suprised him since the launch.

There’s a lot of talk about business models and tshirts on this site, but little discussion with designers and design communities. I spoke to Nick from Amateur Illustrator, an illustrator community started by two british students. We talked about the process of starting a community, the goals of the site and whether its harder to build one a community in the UK than elsewhere.

Anyone that knows me will agree that I’m a frustrated entrepreneur, given too many good opportunities to give up the day job and take the full time plunge just yet. Thats probably why I’m interested in the process of creating a brand or setting up a store and tend to ask those sorts of business type questions in my interviews. I’d seen my next interviewee UrbanRetro mentioned on a few blogs and interviewed them briefly about their progress in establishing themselves in a crowded marketplace.