What? What you say? A tee shirt?
Yes, a tee shirt. I’ve been thinking about this for a little while… actually ever since my wife suggested that my spider WEB image image from last month would make a good ad for my WEB site. I started to inquire around about screen printing and since today was just an ugly, rainy day. I decided to work on a design for the tee shirt. I’m not really looking to sell these or anything. I just want to get maybe a dozen made up for myself, my wife, and my son, daughter and son-in-law if I can con them into wearing one. I’m actually thinking about maybe doing six short and six long sleeve tees. It’s all about shameless self-promotion!
So what do you think of the design? And importantly, what color do you think I should have them printed on. My first thought was black but them I started thinking that the black background behind the web would be lost and that would diminish the impact of the white web particularly without some sort of border. White seems too ordinary. Gray? Boring. Some other color? Orange, I love orange? Probably too Halloweeny. I could use some help with selecting a color for the shirt.
This image and tee shirt design is Copyright Ed Vatza 2009 and cannot be used without my permission.
What about green?
Preston and I have thought to do the same thing. I’d like to have several styles of Tee Shirts with our logo, or photo, and name. I like the suggestion by Addicted to the Click as green. The only way you are going to really know is when you see the T-shirt. Perhaps, if you could, have two or three different colors made and try them out to which you would like best. Have fun!
Aw, I love orange. It is such a perfect Halloween motif.
Not black? Not even with a white frame around the web. Maybe?
Definitely not white, or gray.
I’m not much help, huh? I’m not a big fan of green either. Hard decision…
As a graphic designer (who has done her share of t-shirt designs in the past 20+ years), may I make a few suggestions?
1) Change the typeface. I think it can be a serif or sans serif, but I’ve never liked that typeface.
2) I would delete the quotes around “My Corner of the Web.” Just leave it as your headline. I could see that headline in italic to set it off from the website.
3) Choose a typeface and use that for all the lines of text—whether it’s sans serif (like a Helvetica or whatever else is available in PC) or serif (Palatino, Times, etc.)
4) I would put the top headline like this (centered over each other):
It’s My Nature (bold serif)
Photography by Ed Vatza (regular serif italic—not bold)
All of the above tips will help each line stand out on a different level (rather than using the same typeface through).
Re: color of background—Since the photo looks primarily b&w monotone, I think I’d actually print it on a white or heathered gray shirt for a contemporary look.
I just did some t-shirts for a client and I used http://www.vistaprint.com. Very reasonable price for low quantity orders. They did a great job!
Just my thoughts from a graphic designer’s perspective. I’d be happy to look at your final design and give you some further feedback if you like.
Great photo, Ed!
How about putting a 1/8 inch or 1/4 inch white border around the photo? Then you can print all the text in reverse. I know that will cost a little more, but it certainly would have an impact!
I wouldn’t rule out white, though. Although Bo didn’t vote for either white or gray, sometimes simple is best when you’re working with a photo on a t-shirt. Let the photo speak for itself sometimes.
Ed, I just sent you a dummy sample of an idea using your photo on the black background t-shirt—sometimes it helps to see it in a mockup to make a decision!
I like Cindy’s suggestions. I was going to suggest a black t-shirt. I think this project would be a lot of fun to do. The photo is great!