Last week we were honored to participate in the VTEEA (Virginia Technology and Engineering Education Association) 2015 Summer Conference to share our thoughts on how to add Arts to the STEM equation.
Consider how students think about their design process in traditional science, technology and engineering classrooms. How can we help them think in a new way?
One way is by putting the gears and gadgets aside and teaching students basic design principles through fun, wearable art.
Direct-to-garment printing is a fun technology making its way into graphic arts, multimedia, and Technology Education classrooms because it allows students to explore their creative side in a new way.
Unlike other methods that transfer images to fabric (screen printing, heat transfer, sublimation), direct-to-garment printing digitally prints images to fabric, similar to what an inkjet printer does with paper.
This one of a kind technology allows students to really focus on the design process. They can design complex digital graphics, are not limited on color choices and can use whatever design software they are comfortable using.
The process essentially involves designing a custom graphic in your own design software, dragging and dropping the image in the printer software, and then pressing print.
Here’s how some of our projects turned out at the VTEEA Conference:
So how are schools using this technology?
Show Your School Spirit
Need T-shirts for your next school fundraising event? Charge your students with designing a T-shirt that screams school spirit and select a winning design for the event.
Robotics and Engineering Competition Team Gear
Operating a FIRST Robotics, SkillsUSA or other similar competitive teams is basically like running a small businesses. Direct-to-garment printing is a great way to print team shirts – but also to create T-shirts that can be given to corporate sponsors, mentors and coaches involved. It can give the kids a short break from designing their robots to design marketing materials for their team.
This isn’t limited to competitive teams either. After school science clubs, SGAs and sports teams can take advantage of the technology in the same way.
Want to learn more about direct to garment printing? Check out materials from the workshop we hosted at the VTEEA Conference:
