Once upon a time there was a product : from the graphic designer came the creation

Dear fans, in order to thank you for your loyalty and your inspiring passion, we offer you a journey to get closer to the people who work at ABYstyle. Go behind the scenes and discover how we create our products.

Today, for our first appointment, we are meeting Laure and Antoine, who are both graphic designers for ABYstyle.


It is in part to them that you owe the creations on your t-shirts, mugs, etc. Alow us to tell you a little more about the job of the two people without which nothing would be possible.

First, in order to understand when the graphic designers are involved, let’s focus on the genesis of a product.

The product manager asks the graphic designer to create a new t-shirt for example. He provides the graphic designer with some guidelines to respect on top of constraints imposed by the right holders. Based on this brief, the graphic designer will have to offer multiple versions (mock-ups).


This is where the creation process begins.

True expertise

The work of our graphic designers requires true expertise. Indeed, far from offering a mere copy of the visuals of the graphic charts, they make the most of them in order to offer an original version close to the fans’ sensibilities and desires.


Because they too are fans!
While Antoine is our Master Capello of the Tolkien universe, Laure has long since fallen to the dark side of the Force !!!

But another important job awaits: adaptation to the medium. Indeed, because of production constraints, certain visuals need to be reworked, notably concerning colours, while still maintaining their original aspect and quality.

It’s a challenge they face every day and it requires a good deal of skill and creativity!

Once the mock-ups are done, they will be validated by an internal selection comity. After this phase, the chosen visual will be sent to the right holder so they can give their approval.

What is the right holder?

This technical term represents those responsible for the licences. ABYstyle isn’t the owner of Star Wars for example. Indeed, the brand only bought the rights to use de licence. The right holders are the only true owners of all the exploitation rights in order to create their products.

Once this agreement is put in place, the graphic designer receives the Style Guide, a little digital book indicating what they can and cannot do with the licence.

Everything is in the Style Guide. You can generally find the fonts, the logos to use, the copyright, a large number of visuals to exploite… In short, the Style Guide is the graphic designers’ Bible!

In the heart of product creation

The right holder indicates what they approve of and what they don’t approve of. In that case, the graphic designer will make all the necessary modifications. Once the graphic concept is approved, a prototype is manufactured and sent to the right holder so they can once again give their approval for the start of production. When the final GO is given the production process can start.


The graphic designer prepares the final files and sends them to the screen printers or printers working closely with our production service.

As you can tell, the profession of graphic designer is very complete. Laure works so much she doesn’t know how many designs she makes in a year.

Creative and passionnate are important qualities to constantly find new ideas (so as to never disappoint you!). We have asked Antoine for key words to define his profession and he said « Style Guide, Copyright, Trimming, Fascinating and Cromalin ». No he doesn’t speak Elfish or Klingon… Or maybe… you don’t know in which universe you have arrived…

Can you keep the secret?

This is where the first installement of the great « ABYstyle Inside » saga ends! The whole team hopes to see you soon for new adventures!!!

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