MATTHEW COURTER/Sun-Gazette The leaders and staff of the Graphic Hive use new technologies to meet the needs of their clients.

The Graphic Hive had a humble beginning as a partnership between three recent Pennsylvania College of Technology graduates, but as the business celebrates its 15th anniversary this month, owner John Yogodzinski has big plans to keep the innovative design company thriving.

“We started very small as an apartment-based business. We wanted to push the limits of what we were capable of, because we were fresh out of college, wanting to do some innovative, fun things,” Yogodzinski said.

At first the friends would meet up after work to discuss ideas for the business until Yogodzinski brought up the idea of setting up an office, initially setting up shop at The Pajama Factory, before moving downtown, and eventually their current location, 124 Reynolds St., Suite 2, South Williamsport, in October 2020.

“Since then, we’ve been on a fast track of investing a lot in automated equipment, getting new technologies and trying to keep up with the pace of how fast the industry is growing,” he said.

Those upgrades include a color temp station, an automatic prep, eight heads of embroidery and direct to garment printing.

“Now we have the capacity to take on anything, and we can turn things around quicker, more efficiently and in higher quality to make the end product better for our customers,” he said.

Like a lot of industries, Yogodzinski’s business faced difficulties during the pandemic.

“COVID was an interesting time, but we kind of took it and ran with it,” Yogodzinski said.

“A lot of our business has been events like 5ks, concerts and festivals, and when that first hit, we were like, ‘what do we do to keep the press spinning,” he said.

I had just put the purchase order in for the press, I was like, ‘am I doing the right thing, because we can barely get 50 t-shirts in an order, because there’s nobody doing anything,” he said, explaining that the company turned to webstore and fundraisers to get through the period.

The Graphic Hive offers a variety of printing options for a number of items, including hats, polos, t-shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies, as an embroidery option.

They function as one stop shop, also offering assistance in the artwork being applied to the various products.

“We’re a design first company, and if the design doesn’t work, then the product might not have the desired outcome in the end,” Yogodzinski explained.

“When we consult with somebody, we always ask, ‘what are we trying to do,'” he said.

I enjoy working with some of the high school bands, because they usually have a theme for their program. And we can come up with something cool that the kids probably want to wear, as opposed to just the band logo,” he said.

Apparel is far from the only service Yogodzinski and his team have to offer, as marketing is something he is particularly passionate about.

“We also offer web design as a service. If you’re a small business or you’re just trying to get the word out online, we can help you,” he said.

“I tend to geek out and have fun with marketing. Tell me your problems, and I’ll try and figure out what the solution is,” Yogodzinski said.

“It’s not like I just slap a logo on something and call it a day,” he said, adding that he likes to find themes in names or messages to play off in his designs.

Some of The Graphic Hives’ most prominent clients include Petticoat Junction Campground, Today Farm, a number of local school districts including Loyalsock, Hughesville, Williamsport and Montoursville, Bullfrog Brewery, and both Penn College and Lycoming to name a few.

“We do a lot of stuff for Frito- Lay, and they’re fun because we came up with an ugly Christmas sweater for Chester Cheetah,” Yogodzinski said.

“Each plant is allowed to have their own logo, so we came up with a Williamsport proud logo for them, and put that on a bunch of different things,” he explained.

The efforts of Yogodzinski and his crew have resulted in several awards, including Emerging Business of the Year in 2016, the Central Pa. Chamber Impact Award in 2018 and the Alumni of the Year Award for the 16th Annual Chamber Education Award.

As for what keeps a constant customer flow, Yogodzinski chalks it up to caring about what they do.

“I stand behind everything we produce,” he said.

“We take a hands-on approach and I always try to educate people on what’s possible and be more forward thinking,” Yogodzinski said.

“I want to try and be proactive and figure out, how do I present these new, trending products, how do I introduce this, so that people are aware that it exists,” he explained.

Among his initiatives is to make it easier for the public to see and understand the process of creating these clothing items.

“We have a live printing setup, so it’s kind of a smaller tabletop screen printing press and I have a small dryer. It kind of works like Subway, where you pick which shirt you want, the design you want, and then we print the shirt,” he explained.

“It’s something fun, and it brings awareness to how this is actually made,” he said.

“I’ve had little kids get super excited to do it. There was this dad that bought shirts for his two little girls, and when they looked up at the screen and saw their print on their shirts, it was like I did a magic trick,” Yogodzinski said.

Another plan is to repurpose an old box truck into a mobile print shop.

“It’ll be kind of like a food truck. We can pull up to an event, and have everything there and ready. That will make doing multi-day events much easier,” he said.