Billabong
Apparell / T Shirt Graphics
Creative Direction / Mark Henderson / 2000-2006
Design and Illustration / James Alley (Working for Billabong)
Element
Apparell / T Shirt Graphics
Creative Direction / Yvette Brown / 2002-2006
Design and Illustration / James Alley (Working for Billabong)
Von Zipper
Apparell / T Shirt Graphics
Creative Direction / Yvette Brown / 2002-2006
Design and Illustration / James Alley (Working for Billabong)
CASE STUDY – VON ZIPPER
While working for Billabong in my role as graphic designer the opprotunity came up for me to create some concept illustrations for Von Zipper T shirt Graphics. This is in about 2001 or 2 and Von Zipper were just launching into the Australian market. They had a “quirky” image and sold sun glasses. Our brief was to convey this “quirky and offbeat” image on the t shirts and boob tubes and other crazy garments. This was really fun and I was able to present a range of ridiculous shirt graphics that were pretty experimental and fun. Yvette Brown and Paul Bow were running the show back then and I think they thought I had a broken mind but they liked my drawings and printed them anyway.
EXPERIENCE
So I started working for Billabong in 2000 and have been designing T shirt graphics ever since. I have worked for Billabong , Element, Von Zipper and Puma among other brands. I like to do Threadless submissions from time to time as well. I’ve probably design thousands of shirts and had hundreds printed, it’s always fun and I still get stoked when I see random strangers in the street wearing something I drew.
STRATEGY
When I illustrate a t shirt I like to think about who will be wearing it. Something I think you learn from experience is that what looks good on screen wont always look good on the shirt, dress, jacket or whatever. The greatest thing about illustrating for garments is that fashion changes so quickly. It’s a challenge to create an image that will capture the imagination of someone enough for them to want to wear it.
