Before dashing out from the starting line some of the most important things to determine before even mentioning the event to anyone is figuring out ( The order is not important, this all needs to be brainstormed together ):

What is my event going to be about?

( Benefit, Charity, Fundraiser, Party, Celebration, Promotion, Advertising, etc )

What should I call my event?

It is always better to choose a name that has a minimal amount of words, this makes the event easy to remember and easier for friends to tell other friends. A few examples: ( Coachella, Voyeur, Cream Fields, Nocturnal, Rehab, Intervention, Knight Vision, Wet Republic, Bonaroo, Love Fest, Addix, etc ) The name does not have to be the description of the event, it simply needs to be something memorable, a description comes a long with the body information of the event.

Determine a budget

How much do you want to spend on the event? This will determine the caliber of venue you can try and sign,

Where should I throw my event?

Choosing the proper venue determines the all around feel of the event. It is important that the feeling matches the intention of the party. If the intention is to throw a networking event, then having it in a night club would be a terrible idea. Night clubs, Bars, Hotels, Parks, Yachts, Community centers, Warehouses, and club houses are usually available for a fee, to lease for a short amount of time. Keep in mind while choosing the venue, the included facility features. Does the venue come with security, how accessible are the bathrooms, is there a supported amount of parking for the anticipated attendance, is the bar priced accordingly for the demographic, is the sound and lighting ( if included ) capable of producing what’s desired for the event, and does the floor plan allow for easy flow? ( Ease to walk around even when approaching capacity )

What is the expected attendance?

The most important thing to understand is that it doesn’t matter how many people you would like to come to the event, it’s how much you can actually bring, through the right promotion, timing, and advertising. Let’s say you would like 200 people to attend? This does not sound like a lot of people, but it is a LOT of people to bring from their homes, or other social lives, to do what you want them to do, and also ( if the type of event ) pay money to do it. You bring these people by showing them something attractive.
Which leads me to my next step pointer:

What do you want the flier to look like?

If you cannot design yourself, it is important that you relay the right direction to the designer that will be creating the flier. This will set the entire tone of the event. A few things to relay:
The color scheme
The size of the flier ( full page, half page, quarter page, sixth page )
Print style ( the industry standard is 14pt / uv gloss / full color / cmyk )
The typeface to use ( make sure the font is CONSISTENT, a huge mistake a lot of designers make is using a billion different typefaces )
FILE PREP is so important, based on the experience of the designer, make sure he designs everything in 300dpi & CMYK color process. This is because you don’t want any pixelation, also you want the colors to match properly when being printed.

An example of a flier that we created for an event Damascus is throwing called “Beats for Breasts” is displayed below. It is for breast cancer awareness, the colors are pink / white / grey. The talent that is being featured is in the genre of House Music.

The tickets that we created to go along with the event look like this:

I will go over promotion on the second part. Exploring the type of website to choose, areas to advertise, sponsors, and how to print the material.

-Nate Khouli

“But Jarrad, you haven’t posted in almost 2 weeks! How is this weekly?”

The answer is simple. Bus pass. Of course I’m kidding, so don’t worry. All the missing interviews will be added! With Damascus Media growing at such a rapid pace, the blog took a back seat for a few weeks. So of course, there will be some big news in the coming weeks for Damascus Media! I digress however, onto the real story!

So on this given Saturday, 8/28/2010, I had the pleasure of seeing a couple of very close personal friends of mine. These very talented gents are Dominic Escalante (Dom) and Josh Dohme (Jedi) who form the DJ tandem, UggaChakka! Their slick beats and edgy riffs capture all forms of music enthusiasts. Being able to see them grow and progress during our personal friendship gives me the pleasure of being able to share them with you, and I can absolutely say that the electro music scene has a fast up and comer who’s about to make their mad dash for the big time!

I was fortunate enough to catch a few words with them, aside from our usual banter and drunken tomfoolery. I was able to kidnap them for a few short moments in between their very busy daily lives and music genius.

Jarrad “BNJI” McCarthy – So Guys, how long have you guys been DJing?

Josh “Jedi” Dohme – Well, surprisingly enough, we just started back in July of 2009! We’re still babies to the scene, but we hope our musical style inspires those who listen to it!

BNJI – So, of all the thigns going on in your DJ career, what inspires you most?

Jedi – I draw inspiration from a lot of places, but as far as electronic music goes, I’m inspired by the guys who go all out and aren’t just standing behind the table hitting the play button at the right time. Within electronic music there are so many possibilities that you’re always learning new things and building upon things you’ve already learned, so it’s inspiring to see others fleshing out those possibilities, because going to a DJ set isn’t just being at a show, it’s seeing how someone else does the same thing I’m doing, but they’re doing it way differently. I hope that makes sense.

BNJI – Honestly guys, when can we expect a CD release?

Jedi – As far as a release goes, were not under contract with anyone and there are no plans right now for a formal release. Music is being made though, and can be listened to, commented on, and downloaded from soundcloud.com/uggachakka. We feel our music speaks for itself, and the CD will come with time, once everyone falls in love with our sound.

BNJI – So guys, what is your FAVORITE part about being a DJ? Except for life in the fast lane, of course.

Jedi – Well to be honest, we want to move people! DJing has a lot of parts that vie for the title of favorite, but what I enjoy most is the energy of a wildly dancing crowd, because in the end that’s why were DJing, cause music isn’t interesting enough on it’s own for people to crazy dance to.

BNJI – . Where do you see yourself as an artist 5 years from now?

Jedi – It’s tough to say exactly where I want this thing to be in five years, because of the endless possibilities, I’ve thought of having multiple different types of acts associated with the name UggaChakka but the thing I’m most excited about is grabbing a couple extra people and a drum set and doing the techno band thing. There’s not a whole lot of that out there, and live techno is too beautiful to happen so infrequently.

Once again, UggaChakka rocks the house with their amazing melodies and with such a short career under their belt, expect the tandem of Jedi and Dom to take the electronic music scene by storm!

So this week for our very first every Weekly Music Interview & Blog, we picked a real winner! This week I visited Knight Vision in San Diego, the free weekly Drum & Bass event at Kadan’s in Northpark, Located on 30th and Adams!

Naturally, if there’s good DnB, I’m there, however this week was special. Knight Vision brought down some stellar DJs and MCs from Orange county and LA Area, Dirty Deeds, Danny Thunders, Nesquik, Tie, Gum-B and MC CSD!

Fortunately for me, I also got a chance to talk to Josh “Animate” Koger, the main brain behind Knight Vision.

Jarrad “BNJI” McCarthy – So How long have you been doing Knight Vision?

Josh “Animate” Koger – We started our first show in July 4th, 2007 and we just had our 3 year anniversary, it’s been a really great run and it’s great to see Knight Vision as a staple weekday event!

BNJI – How do you find the talent you have play here?

Animate – Well a lot of it is word of mouth. Sometimes a DJ will be handing out a mixed cd, or someone who I know or who has performed here before refers someone they feel is making an impact on the drum and bass scene. For instance, DJ Baggins I’ve never heard before, but the club owner referred him as well as MC CSD and Reactivity. So i asked him about his track selection, and his music was totally on point. He spun here June 30th and totally killed it! Doing so well, he is booked again for September.

It’s moments like that that make Knight Vision what it is! Getting the talent out there, and having great music!

BNJI – With Knight Vision’s growing popularity, do you feel like possibly expanding? Perhaps a new venue with a higher capacity?

Animate – Never, Kadan is as much apart of Knight Vision as Knight Vision is apart of Kadan. We created the name around Kadan, with the Medieval weapons on the walls and chess boards everywhere and what not. Now thats not to say we might have similar events in bigger places, but weekly Wednesday Knight Vision will always be residence to Kadan!

I then proceeded to have MC CSD (Organised Grime, SD) buy me a beer.

Nonetheless, Knight Vision on Wednesdays at Kadan 9:30pm-Closing time, is always a blast. Of course it’s 21 and up, so dont bring the kids, but the atmosphere is stellar, the people are amazing, and the talent is truely remarkable. Backed by one of the best guys in the biz, Knight Vision looks to explode all over the DnB scene, and San Diego better be ready!

Check out upcoming line up for Knight Vision:

sdravers.com;

facebook.com/knightvisiondnb;

junglescene.com

-Jarrad “BNJI” McCarthy, Damascus Media-

Kadan

4696 30th Street
San Diego, CA 92116-3247
(619) 640-2500

Now that the basic elements are in place, its time to finish the design.

• Compile some high-resolution Photoshop brushes, or make your own.
• Experiment with different brushes to get the feel you are looking for. Keep in mind the balance, color, and concentration.
• The design should be balanced either symmetrically or asymmetrically. Even abstract work has balance. It is much more aesthetically pleasing.
• The image should also have a consistent and coinciding color palette. (Keep in mind that each color needs its own screen, so sometimes less is more for screen-printing.)
• Also keep in mind the concentration of the design. Stand back and look at it and make sure you are not getting too brush-happy.

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If you downloaded some new brush packs, unzip the files and put them into a single folder. (Only put the brush files into this new folder, not any other files that came with them.)

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Open up Photoshop, select the Brush icon (B), then open your brush palette by either clicking on it in the top toolbar, or right clicking anywhere on the canvas.

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There should be a small arrow in the top right corner of this window. Click that, and then click “Load Brushes…”. Find the folder that your brushes are in, select them all, and hit “Load”. Your loaded brushes will now appear in your brushes palette.

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I wanted to keep this design relatively simple, so I only used a few brushes in the background of the logo. I made sure to keep the name of the organization very clear and easy to read, as this is the focus. (A shortcut to decrease/increase the size of the brush is ‘[' and ']‘ respectively.)

• After adding a few darker colored brushes underneath the logo, I overlaid some white brushes on top so that the logo was visible.
• To make it pop a bit more from the background, I also gave it a white stroke. (Double-click layer > Stroke).

After the design is finished, it is time to prepare the file to burn onto the printing screens.

The first thing I always do before adapting my design for the screens is to (File > Save As > myfile_PrintReady.psd). This way I always have my original file in case I need to make changes, since in the next step you will be flattening any layers that you have.

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In order to prepare the document, the layers must be flattened so that each color has its own layer. Make sure each layer only has a single color on it. If there is more than one color on a single layer, select those elements and move them to their own layer. (Screenshot shows separation of charcoal from blue on logo layer.

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To accomplish this next step, I find that it is easiest to start from the bottom layer and work my way up. What you want is to have one layer per color, and all the elements of a single color flattened onto a single layer. The problem is that some colors sit on top of other colors. So we need to remove these intersections.

While flattening layers, keep an eye on your design. It should look exactly the same at the end of this process.

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Not including the background fill layer, start by selecting the very last layer in your Layers Palette, and hold [SHIFT] while you select the layers above it in the order that they appear as long as they are the same color. Stop when you come to a layer of a different color.

• Pressing [APPLE+E (macs) or CTRL+E (pc)] will flatten the layers you have selected. Your image should not appear any different.
• Its OK if there are layers of the same color higher up, we will get to them.

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Move up to the next layer and repeat step #7 until you get to the top layer. (There may be multiple layers of the same color at this point, but they are not next to eachother.) We will fix this in the next step.

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Now we want to remove the intersecting colors as well as the layer with [white] which is the shirt color. We want the shirt color to show through; the white will not be printed.

• While before we worked from bottom to top, this step works best from top to bottom.
• deleting the intersecting areas beneath it.
• A simple way to do this is to (APPLE > CLICK LAYER THUMBNAIL). This will select the objects in that layer.
• Then while the white objects are still selected, simply click on the layer underneath and (DELETE). This will delete any part of that layer that was intersecting the white objects.

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If there are layers of the same color, but they were not flattened because there were intersecting colors, use the process in step 9 to select it, delete that area from the layers beneath, and then move it down to flatten.

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Each color should have its own layer and there should be only a single layer of each color. You can also delete the [white] and [background] color layers now, as they are not part of the design. There should be no shirt-color left on the canvas.

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Crop to edges of design using the Crop tool, then label each layer with the name of its color.

Now your file is color-separated and ready for screen-printing! Contact Damascus to print your awesome apparel!

Rachel Michalkiewicz
Damascus || Graphic Designer

An organization has a university in an area where it get’s really hot more often than not, and the majority of their events are held outside on a park or courtyard. They would like to order 85 2 color fronts on dark green shirts to wear when they meet. The president that is focused on strictly price will ask for the cheapest shirt, which would be a scratchy feeling, shrinking, heavy weight, dark green 5.+oz, bad cut ( meaning it doesn’t fit modern, it fits how shirts used to fit 10 years ago ), it does not hold the ink properly, and it leaks when you wash it.

Now, the president that is focused on quality, will understand the collection of an extra 3 dollars per shirt will significantly affect the long term wearability of the organization’s shirts and affect public impression. ( bud light don’t sue us ). A light weight modern shirt or tank top would be much better suited, it will breathe in the out doors, it is light weight, it has a modern fit, ( they look good on the person wearing it, which makes them feel cool, which ultimately makes them enjoy wearing the shirt ) it holds the ink on the shirt, and wont shrink when it is washed repeatedly. These are the reasons why people wear regular shirts purchased from online stores and malls, it looks good, feels good, and has repeat wearability.

Shirts that have a real longer lasting quality requires less frequent purchase to maintain the appearance of quality.

-Nate Khouli

If you are creating a design from scratch using a program such as Photoshop, there are a few things to keep in mind in order for them to be print-ready:

Start by creating a print-ready document.

• (File > New…) There are a few things to check in the pop-up box to make sure the document you create will be printable.
• Find out the size of the screen you will be using to print with, and set the width and height in inches. This way you know the design wont fall off the edge. Our printing screens are 12×13 inches.
• Set the resolution to 300dpi (dots per inch). The higher the resolution, the crisper the image. (Web resolution is generally 72dpi.)
• Set the Color Mode to CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black). This is the color-mode for printing, while RGB is for web.

A few things to keep in mind before you start designing.

• Less color = cheaper print. Each color needs a new screen and set-up, so the fewer colors you use, the less expensive it will be. (Also keep in mind that you can use the color of the shirt in your design, so you will technically always have two colors to work with.)
• Positioning. Think about where the design is going to be positioned on the shirt. Wrap-around designs are complicated to set-up and can be expensive, as are most non-traditional printing areas. Generally, things are printed centered over the chest, but it is also fairly simple to print in the bottom left or right corner.
• Transparency can also be difficult to accomplish, and must be achieved by creating separate screens. I would avoid this when possible.

Time to start the design!

For this tutorial I am using a design I created for an organization called Oceanborne. The organization is all about ocean awareness and “looking deeper”. (Make sure you always do some research on the client so you create a design that fits their needs!) I chose to use a nautilus shell as the main focus because it can stand for many different aspects of the organization. The nautilus itself (research/ocean life/deep-sea), the shell pattern (waves/ocean tides), and the shape (O for Oceanborne), etc.

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First, I use the Fill Tool (paint bucket) to make the background the color of the shirt you are printing on. This way you have a better idea of what colors you can use (and which might not show up). We will be printing on white for this tutorial.

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Next I try to find the imagery that I wish to use, or create something myself in Adobe Illustrator. Because the pattern on the nautilus shell is so precise, I want to make sure I get it accurate. I find a good picture of the shell, and even better, it is already in black and white with good contrast. (image credit: fineartradiography.com)

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The image is the basic shape that I want, however, I want it to be in vector format so I can resize it, and I will also be making some adjustments. The process I am going to use in Adobe Illustrator is called Live Trace. Just to make sure it works properly, I bring the original picture into Adobe Photoshop and adjust the levels and contrast so the black is blacker and the white is whiter. (Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast or Levels). Live trace works best on simple, black and white images.

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Save the modified image as a JPG, and open in Illustrator by right-clicking, open with, Adobe Illustrator. (Open image into the program instead of pasting onto a new document. This preserves the original quality.)

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Select the image in Illustrator and click (Object > Live Trace > Make). It sould convert the image to a solid black shape. In order to get adjustable points, make sure the object is still selected and click (Object > Expand…). A box will pop up, make sure Object and Fill are checked, and hit OK.

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Now I want to make a few adjustments to the shell, so I hold [ALT] and click and drag a copy over to the right. I usually drag a copy over in case I mess something up.

Notice that if you select it and try to change the color, the entire block changes to that color. This is because the live trace also included the white in the picture. I used the keyboard shortcut [A] to get the Direct Selection Tool, and selected the white areas of the image (holding [SHIFT] to select more than one). Then just hit [Delete].

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I now have my basic shape, in a solid color, with editable points. Using the pen tool, I add a few shapes to it to get the effect I am looking for. I want the shell to have more of an O shape, but still appear organic.

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I chose a font that fit the same style, adjusted the colors, and brought it into Photoshop simply by selecting the entire object/s, copying, and pasting it onto my blank 12×13 document. A box will pop up asking how you want to paste the image. Make sure you select Smart Object. This keeps the vector-asepct of the image so you can resize it larger without it getting blurry.

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Check out Brush King for some cool brushes to use in your design. Part 2 of the tutorial will finish the design and prepare it for burning onto the screens. :]

Note: Make sure every image you use is high-resolution or vector. You should not be resizing images larger than they originally are. This causes them to become pixelated and will show in the print.

Part 2 will explain how to finish up the design and color-separate it in Photoshop so that it can be burned onto screens.

Rachel Michalkiewicz
Damascus || Graphic Designer

A google search or scan through websites like www.emptees.com or www.t-shirtforums.com will show you that you need:

• A cool thought out website that has consistency and matches your brands theme
• A grasp on all of your social networking tools like facebook, twitter, personal blog, digg, threadless, and myspam

• A somewhat custom coded store front that displays the product nicely with personality
• Having a thought out design / illustration process that easily portrays the message you are trying to show the people

I support ALL of this, it is a must to have these things to create a “capable” brand, although by having just these things does not make people want to buy your clothing or even know to buy your clothing.

In my journey thus far in the clothing industry, I have come to realize that it is more important to focus on business development FOR the brand, instead of focusing generally on just brand development. This means before you go claiming to have this bad ass new clothing line you must:

• Register a TAXID immediately and get a sellers permit from your cities board of equalization ( not only will this make you legit, but it will also motivate you )
• Start opening as many wholesale accounts as you can off the bat, it is good to have options and inexpensive samples to make sure you are creating a product that you originally had in mind ( mission imprintables, san mar, beimar, nissin, american apparel, alternative apparel, js apparel, and many others )

• What type of shirts do you plan on using off the start? ( heavy, medium, light weight, burn out, heathered, slim fit, baggy, mixed blends, crew necks, vnecks, tanks ) Initially these decisions will determine the demographic that will actually wear your clothing, besides your social circle of friends and family
• Once this is figured out, what back-brands do you want to use? The most popular are the most popular because they print the best, they fit the best, and have the best reputation. One thing to realize is that you are always going to be PAYING for the best. This is not easy in the beginning unless you are funded from another source. (note: if this is an inexperienced source, the money isn’t worth it because neither of you will know what you’re doing, you will have a bunch of polished off shirts collecting dust on the shelves.) You don’t have to go to the best from the start, use cheaper shirts to learn, I suggest Tultex, Gildan Soft-Style, Hanes, AAA, and Anvil.
• Find a GOOD reliable printer, unless you plan on printing everything in house or through a friend, it is VERY important to find a company that can give you below average pricing and still deliver consistent quality. ( A simple Google search will give you tons of references to call around. The printer is what determines the entire look and feel of your brand. It is a great idea to learn about the process, how they handle the art, the types of presses they use, how they prep the screens, who they have spreading the ink, are they using good dryers, are they flashing the dark garments properly?
• Have you gone to your local bank and opened up a business checking account, to start receiving transactions from paypal / other sources as a real business? The minimum requirement is usually $50 for this.
• Have you established a shipping method, and purchased the right kind of packaging for shirts from www.uline.com?
• Do you have a method of creating customer loyalty? ( fliers in packing, stickers, discount codes )

All of those bullet points listed above can be completed in a couple days, it is very easy to take care of and once it is, you will be real.

A clothing brand eventually becomes a living breathing thing that has a heart and soul in itself. People wear it to feel good, to represent something, and to make a statement. A lot of people can draw a zombie throwing up on a fish, but not everyone can ship fast, respond to customers quickly, provide shirts that actually look like their mock ups, and get people to actually feel great wearing their product.

Part 2 will go over internal brand funding and networking.

-Nate Khouli – Damascus Apparel

[ Back to Our Work ]

Here you can see our design process in detail! This will give you a better idea of how things work from start to finish.
Click here to view a gallery of our Apparel Design examples!

Coming soon!

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Coming Soon!
Click here to view a gallery of Everything Else!