May 22, 2013 9:30 AM

Gallery: How Disney and Threadless Built a 200K-Person Design Team

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One of 487 submissions in the Threadless/Disney design contest, the winning submission, shown here, earned its designer $2,500 and some serious bragging rights.
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Designs in these competitions cover a considerable range of design styles from impressionistic interpretations to hard, flat, colorful representations.

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Opening up valuable media properties to crowds can be dangerous; this design references posters that came out of the drug-fueled psychedelic scene of the 1960s, but more overt references to substance abuse, sex, and other adult matters are strictly prohibited.
An image from the interior of TROLLS (Text copyright © 2012 Wendy Froud; Illustrations copyright © Brian Froud)
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Disney and Threadless have figured out how to unlock the potential of a global creative team, creating value for all of the stakeholders.

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Subtlety is a common theme among designs that win these competitions. None of the marquee characters are present in this design, but fans would immediately recognize the reference.
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While some designs push the envelope of content or style, others are just well executed interpretations of the characters that could have easily originated in Disney's famed "Imagineering" labs.

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*Monsters Inc* is the latest Disney title to get a Threadless contest, but they've previously sponsored design competitions for *Iron Man*, *Muppets*, and others, birthing new t-shirt designs like this expressionistic watercolor, an homage to *Iron Man* that would almost certainly be rejected at a Disney design review.
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*Iron Man* meets *Low Rider* — another design that would be unlikely to come from Disney's officially sanctioned design team.

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This minimal design subtly evokes *Iron Man*, without featuring decidedly uncool elements like a logo.
The author's copy of FAERIES, the seminal fantasy art book by Brian Froud and Alan Lee, first published in 1978 (Photo: Ethan Gilsdorf)
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Global media brand meets hipster ethos in this DIY-inspired design.

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