# CREATED BY THE SWARM — IMD merch library, step e

Five invented art lines, four product mockups per line. Files use `LP.png`, where L is the question/line and P is the product within its set. Every image is a square 1254 × 1254 pixel PNG (`image/png`).

## Design and production notes

Workers derive from the IMD mark: an outlined square containing a smaller centered diamond, extended with small limbs. The image artwork deliberately contains no words, numerals, labels or other brand marks. All presentations are flat lays or isolated product still lifes with no people.

These are visual merchandise concepts, not upload-ready production templates, embroidery digitizations or manufactured samples. Non-visible backs, reverse sides and seam alignment cannot be certified from a single mockup; final production needs the selected product's template and a physical sample. Fluorescent and pearlescent appearances are full-color illustrations, not promises of luminous, metallic or specialty inks.

Catalog family mappings use the [public Printful catalog](https://api.printful.com/products), retrieved 2026-10-15. Product detail endpoints were unavailable during this run; exact variant dimensions and printable-area templates were not verified. The grouped catalog in the assignment supplies the print-method constraints.

## 1. Microchorus

**Question:** What does the swarm look like under a microscope?

**Answer:** Under a microscope, the swarm is a living chorus of square-bodied workers moving through luminous cellular rings. Cyan, lime and violet colonies turn thousands of tiny coordinated gestures into one fluorescent field.

**Style:** fluorescent microscopy illustration: cyan, acid lime and violet luminous colonies on black, swirling cellular rings and little square workers.

**Palette:** Black #090D16; electric cyan #20D8F1; acid lime #BCF444; violet #9A6BE8.

| Image | Product | Catalog family ID | Group | Placement | Print method |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [11.png](11.png) | heavyweight tee | 508 | WEAR | center chest rectangular bounded print on black tee | DTG |
| [12.png](12.png) | AOP tote | 84 | BAGS | edge-to-edge every fabric panel, including gussets, black tote with luminous colonies | AOP |
| [13.png](13.png) | white mug | 19 | DRINKWARE | full-color wrap around cylindrical white ceramic mug, keep handle white | SUB |
| [14.png](14.png) | mouse pad | 518 | DESK + TECH | edge-to-edge on rectangular black neoprene mouse pad | SUB |

## 2. Inner Isles

**Question:** What would a postcard from inside the swarm show?

**Answer:** A postcard from inside the swarm shows a sunny island city whose canals carry workers between shared workshops. Square-and-diamond beings ferry materials across arched bridges beneath a warm paper sun.

**Style:** sunwashed midcentury travel postcard, cut-paper shapes and grainy risograph, coral, butter yellow, sky blue and warm ivory. A whimsical island city INSIDE the swarm, tiny square-outline diamond-center workers ferrying across canals between stacked square houses, playful palms and arched bridges, abundant warm negative space.

**Palette:** Warm ivory #F4E8CB; coral #DA785B; butter yellow #E8BD64; sky blue #76A6B6; muted palm teal #496F6A.

| Image | Product | Catalog family ID | Group | Placement | Print method |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [21.png](21.png) | AOP button shirt | 659 | WEAR | edge-to-edge repeating island city across front, collar, sleeves and all panels of short sleeve button shirt | AOP |
| [22.png](22.png) | AOP reversible bucket hat | 654 | HEADWEAR | edge-to-edge island-city print over crown and brim | AOP |
| [23.png](23.png) | beach towel | 259 | HOME | full rectangular face printed with one postcard-like city vista | SUB |
| [24.png](24.png) | postcard | 433 | DESK + TECH | postcard face printed with warm ivory border, front only, no postal writing | PAPER |

## 3. Difference Loom

**Question:** If the swarm had been invented in 1890, what machine would it be?

**Answer:** In 1890, the swarm would be a cooperative difference loom that turns many small motions into one continuous fabric. Square-and-diamond operators tend its gears, shuttles and belts, making collective work visible as a mechanical rhythm.

**Style:** 1890 copperplate engineering engraving, intricate sepia-brown ink on parchment cream with restrained oxidized copper accents. A fantastical mechanical swarm loom with belts, flywheels, brass gears and shuttles, operated by small beings whose bodies are upright square outlines with centered smaller diamonds and jointed stick limbs. Victorian patent plate aesthetic but absolutely NO text or numbers.

**Palette:** Parchment #E9D8B7; sepia #68482F; dark umber #36271C; oxidized copper #74988A.

| Image | Product | Catalog family ID | Group | Placement | Print method |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [31.png](31.png) | crewneck sweatshirt | 145 | WEAR | bounded central chest engraving print, oatmeal crewneck, blank sleeves | DTG |
| [32.png](32.png) | laptop sleeve | 394 | BAGS | engineering engraving across front face of cream laptop sleeve | SUB |
| [33.png](33.png) | enamel mug | 407 | DRINKWARE | sepia engraving wrap on white enamel camping mug with black rim | SUB |
| [34.png](34.png) | hardcover journal | 867 | DESK + TECH | engraving centered on cream hardcover journal cover | PAPER |

## 4. Hadal Choir

**Question:** What does the swarm look like at the bottom of the ocean?

**Answer:** At the bottom of the ocean, the swarm becomes a quiet choir of square-and-diamond divers tending ribbon kelp. Pale workers drift through cobalt currents, their shared labor lighting the dark seabed.

**Style:** Japanese-inspired gestural indigo ink wash, mineral cobalt, deep midnight blue, pearlescent white and muted seafoam; abyssal ocean floor with square-outline centered-diamond IMD worker beings as delicate luminous deep-sea divers tending flowing ribbon kelp in wide negative-space water. Elegant wet brush, sparse fluid strokes, no coral-colored or neon microscopy appearance.

**Palette:** Midnight #10243E; mineral cobalt #315E91; ink indigo #1D3E64; seafoam #A8C4C2; pearl #E8EDE4.

| Image | Product | Catalog family ID | Group | Placement | Print method |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [41.png](41.png) | AOP wide-leg pants | 604 | WEAR | edge-to-edge ink ocean over both legs and waistband, all panels covered | AOP |
| [42.png](42.png) | slip-ons | 574 | FEET | ocean ink art edge-to-edge over canvas uppers of a pair of slip-on shoes, white rubber soles | AOP |
| [43.png](43.png) | throw pillow | 83 | HOME | ocean artwork edge-to-edge across the fabric panels of a square pillow | AOP / SUB cut-and-sew |
| [44.png](44.png) | phone case | 683 | DESK + TECH | full back print on slim phone case, correct camera cutout | UV |

## 5. Thousandfold

**Question:** What would the swarm tattoo on itself after its first thousand jobs?

**Answer:** After its first thousand jobs, the swarm would tattoo a worker holding a needle inside a diamond-leaf wreath and a closed rope loop. The emblem celebrates practiced craft and a bond that holds through repeated work.

**Style:** bold traditional tattoo flash in black ink, brick red and aged ivory only, very thick confident outlines and solid flat fills. One heroic IMD worker built from an upright square outline body with smaller diamond centered inside, short strong limbs, holding a curved sewing needle, surrounded by a laurel wreath of many small diamond leaves and a tied rope loop, a permanent badge for its first thousand completed jobs. No numerals, no words, no gradients, no fine hairlines.

**Palette:** Black #181816; brick red #A23E32; aged ivory #EADFC7.

| Image | Product | Catalog family ID | Group | Placement | Print method |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [51.png](51.png) | zip hoodie | 692 | WEAR | small 7cm embroidered emblem on left chest of black zip hoodie, 3 thread colors, thick satin stitch, no huge graphic | EMB |
| [52.png](52.png) | dad cap | 206 | HEADWEAR | small 5cm embroidered emblem centered on front of ivory dad cap, 3 thread colors, bold stitches | EMB |
| [53.png](53.png) | AOP drawstring bag | 262 | BAGS | ivory field and repeating tattoo emblems across every fabric panel; black drawcords | AOP |
| [54.png](54.png) | die-cut stickers | 957 | SMALL | single die-cut vinyl sticker with white contour border, laid flat on pale gray surface | UV |

## Prompt set and generation

Generated with the built-in image_gen tool, one call per image. Shared prompt: premium photorealistic square product catalog mockup, entire product visible on a light neutral studio background with soft shadows and plausible materials; apply the line's style and palette to the table's product and placement, respecting its print method; every worker has an outlined square and smaller central diamond; no people, text, labels, watermarks, frogs, politics, pricing or other brands. Each line's style above and each product row specify the individual prompt variation. The tattoo embroidery uses three colors, heavy outlines and small chest/cap placement.

## Review and limitations

All 20 final images were opened and visually reviewed for worker geometry, line identity, product presentation, print placement and prohibited content. The postcard was corrected to a landscape card within the square canvas, the cap embroidery was reduced to a small front emblem, and the drawstring bag was revised to an edge-to-edge repeat appropriate to cut-and-sew production.

No unmet visual requirements were identified in the rendered views. Hidden product surfaces and exact manufacturing dimensions remain unverified as described above; the mockups are not evidence of completed physical production.

Local structural check: PASS. Exactly 20 image files plus this manifest exist; every PNG signature and chunk CRC is valid, every complete image stream decompresses with valid row filters, all dimensions are square and exceed 1024 pixels, all image hashes are distinct, and all 20 manifest image links resolve. No extra runtime dependencies are required to view the delivered PNGs.

| Files | Dimensions of each image | Format |
|---|---|---|
| 11.png, 12.png, 13.png, 14.png | 1254 × 1254 px | PNG / image/png |
| 21.png, 22.png, 23.png, 24.png | 1254 × 1254 px | PNG / image/png |
| 31.png, 32.png, 33.png, 34.png | 1254 × 1254 px | PNG / image/png |
| 41.png, 42.png, 43.png, 44.png | 1254 × 1254 px | PNG / image/png |
| 51.png, 52.png, 53.png, 54.png | 1254 × 1254 px | PNG / image/png |

Scope check: four different catalog groups per line, 20 different products overall, one tee and one hoodie overall. Final deliverables are left untracked for the assignment uploader.