Thursday, October 07, 2010

Rejection


The discussion on removing rejections

Designs that get rejected are typically submissions that do not follow the instructions of Shirt.Woot or that do not fit the requirements of the derby. There can be other reasons for a submission to be rejected but ultimately it is up the people who manage Shirt.Woot.

I like to see the rejections. They usually are not very well presented but it is entertaining to go through them. Some of them however, I wish would just be redone the correct way and resubmitted because their design is great.


Just follow the instructions on the submissions page and you should be fine. Any other questions concerning your piece can be email to service@woot.com.

Derby #167



The derby this week is about the satirizing of American culture by memes. Mostly focusing on YouTube related “overnight stars”, the mocking of what society olds in high esteem is the theme of these shirt designs.
Derby #167 I believe has the capability of producing some very interesting designs. With all the random, crazy, awkward, stupid, idiotic things and people that are making it big because of a video or some other communication output. There are a lot of chances to be creative.
Looking through some of these designs, two memes that seem to be appearing in a majority of submissions are cats and the dramatic-look chipmunk.



This chipmunk appears on the Viral Video Chart website

With other submissions coming in, it’s fun to recollect the myriad of memes saturated in our society’s media and culture.

Today’s Winner


Everyday there is a new shirt! Everyday there is a great deal! The day a shirt wins it is only 10 dollars. Shirts sold after on others days may very but the reckoning shirts are still only 15 dollars.


The day’s winning shirt also comes with a short, informative, and entertaining narrative. In this description, most everything you need to know about the shirt is presented. For instance, it mentions the colors that were used, the designer’s name, a discussion about the new Woot shirt, and sizing information.


It can be confusing to some people because the Shirt.Woot winner of the day is actually the winner from the last derby therefore has nothing to do with the derby that at the time maybe going on. There is this over lap to give time for designs to be submitted and voted on. Only the top three voted pass into distribution.


The designer does get paid. His pay though, depends on the profit his winning shirt brings in or does not bring in.

Wednesday, October 06, 2010

Fog

After a derby is announced and the submissions start coming in, voters start voting. The top three voted shirts are produced and sold. But this will not be announced till the end of the week. So to keep the interested buyers on their toes, there is this thing called the Fog.


You are allowed to see how many votes a submission has unless a submission is in the top nine voted. The top nine are in the Fog. They call it the Fog because you are kept unknowing how many votes these nine have acquired. This is to prevent voters on from expecting a certain one to win.


As the Woot writers put it, if you knew the top three before they were announced then that would be much fun!

Colors and Other Nitbits

Here are some of the guideline that you must follow to if you want to submit a design. These are also found on Shirt.Woot.com and under FAQ for their site.

  • Maximum 16" x 20" design dimensions
  • Use our official shirt templates as a guide:
  • Use Pantone Solid Coated color swatches for your design or else we will have to convert your colors
  • Maximum of 6 spot colors
  • Gradients and halftones are strongly discouraged (for now)

Along with some PDFs and other files, everything is provided to make sure that you have the right information to submit your design properly. They will not except anything less than.
The reason for only allowing six colors is for cost efficiency. The more colors printed on the shirt the more it is going to cost. If the shirt is only going to be sold for 10 dollars than this is very vital.

The reason to avoid gradients and halftones is because of print also. However, instead of this being a cost issue, it is more because it will be printed on a t-shirt. Meaning, to print, a special t-shirt print is used. This printer prints using little dots making gradients impossible to print. So if you are going for that effect then try using a pointillism method.

Tuesday, October 05, 2010

Reckoning

The (Current) Reckoning

Reckoned Woot shirts are just the top shirts from sales. They are listed from 1-20 with seven in the danger zone. The danger zone includes the shirts that are at risk of being pulled at the next reckoning.

There is a new reckoning every week. The more the shirt is bought the better chance it has of staying on the charts. A shirt on the list cost 15 dollars.

There are some shirts on the list that are new and some that are classics. The longest running shirt is Nevermore from derby #36-using text as art which has been on the list for 130 weeks now. The most sold shirt is The Binge from derby #111-Blues which has sold 32,834 shirts as of now.


Make sure to keep your favorite shirts up on the list by buying them and giving them as presents if you would like! The next Reckoning is coming!

Monday, October 04, 2010

Buying an Older Model

The only way to buy a previous winner is to go to the Reckoning page. If the shirt you are looking for is not on the list, then I’m sorry but you are out of luck. Woot will keep a shirt around as long as it is selling. A winner the day it is announce will be sold at a lower priced until the next winner comes around. Then that shirt is taken down and in the running for the Reckoning. If it is not making it in the reckoning then it is to be taken down seen no more.

Sunday, October 03, 2010

Discussion

If you enjoy looking at all these entertaining and incredible designs and wish you had someone to talk to with about them, join in on many of the discussions that are going on now!

There are many topics and debates that people of Woot are talking about. Don’t see one you like? Start a discussion of your own and get people talking about what you want to talk about!

Read up on what people are saying and learn more on how you can better create your own submission or how to find what you are looking for. Look at what my opinions are on my favorties on my Favorites post.

Saturday, October 02, 2010

Favorites

There are many really great designs that are submitted into Shirt.Woot everyday. Sometimes it’s a wonder how all of them are submitted within one week! However with all the great designs out there, some will still stand out more than others.

The Reckoning page (as talked about in my The Reckoning post)lists the favorites from Woot buyers. They are in a order but to me there are some that stand out more than others.

I agree with the number one of Reckoning #164. The Five Second Rule is so funny to me because of the irony of the rule that most people follow is that germs will wait five seconds before attacking a piece of food dropped on the floor! So because of the great observation, illustration, and ability to relate that this piece has, I agree that it deserves first right now.


However there is one shirt I do not agree with were it stands right now. Error- Cuteness Overflow is to cute to be in the danger zone! And as ironic as that may sound, The illustration and the computer error pop-up just make for a very interesting shirt that makes me and I would think others laugh. The only reason why I might would understand why it is in the danger zone is because it is a lot of cuteness on one shirt! Most men would probably not want to wear such an non-masculine shirt.

Friday, October 01, 2010

Woot Woorkers

The people of Shirt.Woot seem to really like their job. If you just read the things they write rather it be the derby, comments, or just the general information of the website, you can just tell that these people enjoy their jobs.




It is really entertaining just reading the comments they put for Today’ Woot. “Wear this shirt:” “Don’t wear this shirt:” “We call this color:” are all creatively written for the reader to enjoy.


There are also some funny remarks on the FAQ. This makes reading all that information more enjoyable because it is not like a robot typed it up. It is almost like having a conversation with that person.


Even when a submission is reject, the reason is given as to why it was rejected is simply put. There is no general tag put, but a personal reason. It gives the site much more of a personable feel as opposed to an electronic-drone feel. The site because of their fun creative workers becomes a more amusing-fun site.

media@woot.com