Threadless-T Group Project Description

The Threadless T group project involves designing a t-shirt that has something to do with creativity/innovation. The t-shirts generated by each group will be voted on by the class and the team with the winning t-shirt will have the opportunity (if they choose) to submit their design to Threadless T.

Purpose of the assignment.

The first group assignment is intended to give you some hands-on experience of how cultural and organizational influences affect creativity and innovation.

This will be accomplished by participating in Threadless T's "Threadless 101" project.

What is Threadless?

The Threadless literature that comes with the Threadless 101 pack says the following:

"Artists within the Threadless community (over 800,000 so far) submit original tee shirt
designs online to the Threadless website (www.threadless.com). Each design gets it's
own page for voting and comments, and over a period of 7 days, the Threadless
community scores the design on a scale of 0 to 5 and comments on the submission.
Based on the scores and comments, a small percentage of submitted designs are selected
for printing and sold through both our online store and our retail store in Chicago. On
an average week, Threadless receives around 1000 tee design submissions. Each week,
the staff selects new designs to be printed at a later time, and launches new designs every Monday."

The same process will be used in this class to pick a winning design from all the groups' designs.

"Winning" the class vote

You will be given a script to use in Second Life to sell your tshirts. This script will allow you to set the price for your t-shirt (from $0L to whatever price you or the buyer chooses). It will also keep track of how many t-shirt are "sold" and the amount of money you made selling the shirt (dont worry - you will also be provided with video tutorials). Whichever t-shirt makes the most money wins (or maybe it will be the t-shirt with the most downloads?).

What is won? Your generous professor will award $1000L to the winning group/individual.

How will you win in this project? You could win by designing the most desired t-shirt. You can get an idea of what desirable t-shirt are by going to Threadless.com and researching the types of t-shirt that are best liked by the public. You need to do this research for your presentation, so you could also use the information to create or modify a design so it will be desirable to the most people. You could also win by using a creative marketing or advertising strategy. How about creating a t-shirt with special properties? Can you think of other creative ways to end up with the most downloads/purchases of a t-shirt or to make the most money from selling your t-shirt?

Choosing a group

You will be able to choose your own group. However, in making your choice, keep in mind that having a diversity of skills (artistic, organizational, research, creative, presentation..) across your group members will facilitate successfully completing this group project.

You also have the choice to do this project by yourself. It would allow you to do things when and how you wish. However, the downside is that the t-shirt creation, marketing the t-shirt, doing the research on Threadless.com for the presentation, creating the presentation and presenting your work to the class is entirely up to you. This can be a good thing or a bod thing depending on your personality.

The final product

The final product of the Threadless T-shirt project will be

• a version of the t-shirt made into a t-shirt for Second Life avatars

  • Second Life t-shirt template

    • Second Life t-shirt making tutorial (for those with some knowledge of Photoshop-like programs)

    • Second Life t-shirt making tutorial that even Photoshop novices (like your prof.) can follow to create a t-shirt

• a short (~10 minute) explanation of the process your group engaged in to create and market its t-shirt. During this explanation you will address:

• Your t-shirt design (its meaning/creation/etc) and your group's reasons for using that design. (This taps into the source of an idea)

• The results of your research into the characteristics of the designs that get the highest user ratings on Threadless and whether they are the best shirts or the most creative shirts. (This taps into the social/cultural norms and values)
  

  • Actually do the research. How did you evaluate the designs? What themes did you notice in winning designs?

• How your group modified the t-shirt design to reflect your research. If your group chose to ignore the research, explain your reasons for choosing to ignore the research. (This taps into the effects of social/cultural norms on creativity/innovation)

• How you chose to market/sell the t-shirt. (This taps into product/process/marketing innovation)
  

• • How did you decide on pricing?

  • Did you advertise or use a particular marketing strategy? Why or why not?

• How many t-shirts you sold and how much money you made

• An explanation of how your group made its decision concerning how the profits from the t-shirt sales and potential prize money shall be distributed amongst group members. Your explanation should reflect consideration about real life copyright/intellectual property issues. (Obviously, this taps into issues surrounding ownership of an idea or product)
  

  • Who owns the intellectual property of the design? Can they continue to sell the t-shirts after the project is over?

  • Will the profits/prize money be distributed equally? Why or why not?

  • How did you make your decisions about how intellectual property and distribution of profits?