Fresh from editing and refining their original music videos, it was time for the young artists taking part in the Strange Times project to immerse themselves in the world of design and branding, with business owner and entrepreneur Adam Sugiarto, and CAN Marketing Manager Rebecca Lyon Augustus and General Manager, Miranda De Baughn..

After a workshop with Adam in which they developed their personal brands, the artists were excited to try applying their artwork to t-shirts. The anticipation increased when a box of black and white t-shirts was lobbed onto the table.

Each artist’s artwork was transferred onto iron-on vinyl using a Cricut machine, ready to be applied to a t-shirt. Seeing his logo “EMER$E” appear on the screen, ready to be printed, artist Jaiden Goddard said, “It looks exactly how I wanted it to!” The other artists circled around him with support and encouragement.

The young artists took to the design process with enthusiasm. After a little mentoring, participant Holly jumped on a computer, downloaded a graffiti font of her choosing and started setting up her artwork in Adobe Illustrator. She’d never used the software before, but was able to problem-solve her way through to a design and completed a t-shirt within the one workshop. This is the first time anyone in the group had used a Cricut machine, and they navigated their way through the tricky vinyl cutting process, then meticulously removed excess vinyl from the design (weeding) and ironed their unique design onto t-shirts.

Very soon we’ll be sharing the finished music videos… we can’t wait to share them with you!

Strange Times is presented in partnership with Swan City Youth Service and supported by the Creativity and Wellbeing for Young People Pilot Program, a joint initiative by the WA Department of Creative Industries, Tourism and Sport and Healthway.

Pictured top: (L–R) Strange Times artist Jaiden Goddard and business owner and entrepreneur Adam Sugiarto // credit CAN Team