The Skreened Blog

We recently launched a complete overhaul of our website checkout process making things even easier and giving you more options for how you want to pay.

The Big Stuff
We’ve added 2 new payment options, PayPal and Skreened Credit. For many of us, PayPal is a great way to handle sending and receiving money online. According to PayPal there are over 100 million of us with PayPal accounts, which certainly opens up more of a market for Skreened shopkeepers.

Likewise, Skreened Credit is a new way to get amazing, ethically custom made t-shirts, kids t-shirts and other apparel from Skreened. Anyone who has a shop on Skreened has the potential to earn commission from the sale of their designs.

These commissions add into the shopkeeper’s ledger and can now be used to make purchases at checkout time. It’s super easy, you just have to be logged in, or log in during the checkout process to pay with your Skreened Credit.

The Little Stuff
In addition to the new payment methods, we made a handful of website usability modifications to make it even easier for customers to navigate through the payment process.

We’d love to hear your feedback about this mini-launch and other features you’d like to see. In addition to this blog, you can always send us email, visit our Skreened Facebook Page or interact via our Skreened Twitter account.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Love,
The Skreened Team

Comedy Summer at Skreened continues with this guest Post by Nicholas and Elizabeth Dekker of Wild Goose Creative.

Timing. It is the cornerstone of a good joke or story. Mess up the timing, and it doesn’t matter how good the set-up is, how witty your descriptions are, or how punchy the punch line hits. The joke will fail, every time. So how do you use timing best in designing something that is obviously visual, like a funny T-shirt? Well, you learn how to manipulate the way someone takes in the visual joke.

There are two forms of humor that rely most heavily on timing: the one-liner and paraprosdokian humor, made famous by the likes of Mitch Hedberg. This refers to a short joke with a surprise ending. The beginning sets you up for the joke, the second half surprises you by taking the thought in a different direction. Probably the most famous one is Henny Youngman’s “Take my wife, please.” One of our favorites is Mitch Hedberg’s “I don’t have a girlfriend; I just know a girl who’d be mad at me for saying that.” On a T-shirt, this is a text-based joke, so it’s pretty straight-forward. Choose something short and to the point, or something overly long and drawn-out – stay away from the in-between. It’s always better to do too little or too much in humor. If you choose to add an image, add it to the bottom, if possible. This way, your reader will have the visual hit after they’ve read the joke. Why? Well, I’m glad you asked.

In Western culture, we read from top to bottom and from left to right. This means that the first place someone automatically looks on a newspaper, book, sign, poster, or T-shirt is the upper left-hand corner. Their eyes then zig-zag to the bottom right of the image. Using this upper-left power position to your advantage will land the best joke; it is easiest when using one-liners or paraprosdokian humor, because people are obviously reading the joke. With visual puns or word/image mixes, aim the “beginning” of the joke at the top left, and then design the image from there, when possible.

Speaking of visual puns… it has been said that puns are the lowest form of humor. That may be true, but puns are, strangely enough, some of the most revered and respected jokes, especially in mixed company. Make a pun in front of your father-in-law and there is a good chance you’re on his good side… at least for a while. Designing a good visual pun, especially one that is over-explained to the point of ridiculousness, or a smart one that hits a few seconds after you take it in, is difficult, but not impossible. Start with something unknown as opposed to the more mundane. Anyone can take a picture of a horse, add wings and bug-eyes, and expect the observer to get “horsefly,” but there is little funny in that. However, take a masked man dripping in milk holding a pointed spoon standing over shredded cereal boxes and broken bowls, and you’re on the right track.

To be concluded. . .

ABOUT WILD GOOSE CREATIVE
Wild Goose Creative is a multi-disciplinary arts company located in central Columbus that creates and promotes relevant, surprising, excellent art. Columbus comedy has found a home at Wild Goose Creative with a full line-up of improv shows, comedy classes, open mic nights, and Columbus’ own Monday Night Live – sketch comedy and local music show. They are also the creators of the first ever Columbus Comedy Festival, which premiered in February of this year. The second installment, Columbus Comedy Festival 1.5, is coming this September 9, 10 and 11. For more information about Wild Goose Creative’s comedy line-up, visit wildgoosecreative.com or email info@wildgoosecreative.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Nicholas and Elizabeth Dekker are co-founders of Wild Goose Creative and have been described as the “forces behind the Columbus Comedy Festival.” Nicholas teaches theatre at OSU and also writes the food blog BreakfastWithNick.com, and Elizabeth is the general manager of Wild Goose Creative. They live in Clintonville with their son, the source of most of the hilarity in their lives.

Comedy Summer at Skreened continues with this guest Post by Nicholas and Elizabeth Dekker of Wild Goose Creative.

The perfect joke catches you off-guard, lands on a number of levels, and takes a surprising new look at a topic, a person, a phrase, or an event. Over-analyzing what makes a person funny is always uncomfortable; looking too closely at what makes a joke tick can destroy the fun and the surprise. But it’s good to know what makes people laugh, and more importantly, how it makes them laugh. Fortunately for you, we’re here to help.

Telling a joke is one thing. But it’s a whole different ballgame when you’re not standing in front of a crowd of people, who can analyze your carefully chosen facial expressions, body language, and inflection. When you only have the front of a T-shirt, landing that perfect joke can be nearly impossible. The German theatre director Bertolt Brecht (read: a dead guy) kept a sign above his desk that said: “Simpler, with more laughter.” He may as well have made T-shirts. Simple, and packed full of laughs – that’s the key to comedy in T-shirt form. Someone has to be able to get the joke while they walk by you. If you try telling a joke that starts with, “Two nuns in Alcoholics Anonymous T-shirts walk into a bar…” you won’t even get the opening line out before the moment has passed. The T-shirt IS the punchline. So, simple and funny is the key: use a few words and an image. Perhaps a picture of two drunk nuns, with the phrase, “Two nuns walk into a bar…” See? Poetry in motion.

Some of the most obvious, but successful, T-shirt jokes are current events. Hitting people with a new way of looking at an event they’ve heard all the mind-numbing details about is a sure-fire way to get a laugh. T-shirts joking about current events are everywhere, from Sarah Palin to oil spills. A great example of this: the iconic Obama “Hope” posters. People recognize the image instantly. That image now spawned imitators that play on the stylized design of Obama’s image and the single word “hope.” Examples include pictures of Pope Benedict XVI with the word “Pope,” a picture of John McCain with the word “Nope,” or even a picture of Luke Skywalker with the phrase, “A New Hope.”

Anyone can put a direct quote or a logo on a shirt, but the key is to approach the topic in a new and exciting way. What are people NOT saying about an issue? What is the current event indicative of? What additions can make the joke timeless? Whatever you decide, it’s important you jump on your idea! A good rule of thumb is, if you have to ask “Too soon?” after you make a joke, then it’s probably going to work great on a T-shirt.

To be continued. . .

ABOUT WILD GOOSE CREATIVE
Wild Goose Creative is a multi-disciplinary arts company located in central Columbus that creates and promotes relevant, surprising, excellent art. Columbus comedy has found a home at Wild Goose Creative with a full line-up of improv shows, comedy classes, open mic nights, and Columbus’ own Monday Night Live – sketch comedy and local music show. They are also the creators of the first ever Columbus Comedy Festival, which premiered in February of this year. The second installment, Columbus Comedy Festival 1.5, is coming this September 9, 10 and 11. For more information about Wild Goose Creative’s comedy line-up, visit wildgoosecreative.com or email info@wildgoosecreative.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Nicholas and Elizabeth Dekker are co-founders of Wild Goose Creative and have been described as the “forces behind the Columbus Comedy Festival.” Nicholas teaches theatre at OSU and also writes the food blog BreakfastWithNick.com, and Elizabeth is the general manager of Wild Goose Creative. They live in Clintonville with their son, the source of most of the hilarity in their lives.

BONUS OPPORTUNITY
Come visit Wild Goose Creative in person in Columbus, Ohio for their Columbus Comedy Festival 1.5 being on September 9, 10 & 11, starting @8pm each night. Tickets are only $10 at the door. See the Wild Goose Creative website for details.

It’s been just over a month since a dear member of our community, and beloved radio DJ for CD101, Andyman Davis passed on. After hearing about his passing, we decided to give all the money from sales of CD101‘s Andyman Is My Homeboy t-shirt already on our site, to the Andyman Davis Memorial Fund.

We’re happy to announce today that your contribution to the Andyman fund totaled $482.30

I’m so thankful that the community came together in so many different ways to support his family. From benefit concerts to donations and help of all kinds.

My request is that you continue to keep his family in your thoughts, prayers and actions as they continue to work through this difficult time.

IMPRESSIVE ALREADY
We’ve been impressed with the continued steps Anvil has taken in the realms of Social Responsibility. Recently we learned that in addition to sourcing transitional cotton and recycled Post-consumer P.E.T. for their cotton / poly blend sustainable tees, they have gone a step further in their commitment to sustainability.

CARBON OFFSETS
Anvil has now secured carbon offsets via carbonfund.org. While there is some debate about whether carbon offsets are the BEST way to reduce your carbon footprint, we feel that it’s an important discussion to have.  Which is why we’re bringing it up here  .

EVEN MORE
Given our commitment to responsibly sourced apparel, Anvil as a company endured our due diligence process and difficult questions about their manufacturing practices and conditions before we felt comfortable offering them as an option on Skreened.com.

BEING A RESPONSIBLE CONSUMER
Everyone in entitled to their own set of criteria when it comes to what they will buy and from whom. Some love to buy local, some buy organic, some vegan, while still others consider price and aesthetics or availability when making purchases.

We would like everyone who comes across Skreened to be encouraged to take a thoughtful look at the whole cost to our earth and society when we make a purchase.

For many of us, there is no perfect choice all of the time. But by being aware of the hidden factors surrounding the purchases we make, we can become more conscientious in our quest to build a more sustainable society.

AND NOW, A SLIDESHOW

Video Slideshow about where some of the cotton for the Sustainable Edition Tee is grown.