This is a rather “old” design, but it’s not one I should forget. You can buy this tee here, but first, listen to the back story. This design has been the subject of lots of criticism and praise. When I originally designed it, it was for Jedidiah clothing back in 2007 but was not accepted. The design just sat in my portfolio for quite some time and people either loved it or hated it. They hated it because they told me it was unprintable, too many colors, and too big on the shirt. They told me I wasn’t being considerate of my client and wasting their time and money designing something that wasn’t even printable.
Well, for one, the design wasn’t approved (not because of the color or size, but because it “looked like Star Wars”). However, plenty of people said they couldn’t believe it was not accepted and they would buy it in a heartbeat. Everyone seemed to want the shirt to be printed, but I did not have the means to actually do it. I had some friends, like Jimmy Heartcore have a shot at it, but it was not practical and didn’t work out.
My fellow designers at Go Media wanted to launch a clothing line called “Go Mania” and this was going to be one of the first shirts. But since nobody I knew could print it without sacrificing the size, colors, or design integrity, the line never left the ground.
In 2008, I submitted the design to Design by Humans after a little pressure from folks over at Emptees. Basically, if it got enough votes and was well-received by the community as well as the owners of DBH, it would get printed and I’d get some cash. Only catch was they’d get rights to the design for a year or something like that. After I submitted the design up for voting, I did a little promo for it and told our blog readers and Myspace friends to vote for it. My friends at Emptees really helped me out and the votes on that shirt skyrocketed to record highs much to everyone’s amazement, including my own.
A month or so went by and the design had the most votes for a shirt ever, but still it was not confirmed a shirt of the day and I was doubting if it would ever be printed. Eventually I got an email on my 26th birthday from DBH saying that they had selected my tee as shirt of the day! It was then posted on the site for sale. They finally printed it! And what a good job they did! Take a look at my excited blog post about it here. It did pretty well and made shirt of the week. It eventually sold out and was restocked a few times to my knowledge. I think you can still buy this tee on the DBH site. Crazy, huh?
Man the design is awesome! Really, I liked it since I saw it back in DBH… I want one…
it’s funny how the story fits in so well with the the message of the shirt!
Thanks Jon, I didn’t know you checked out my blog! Sweet.
i would buy a shirt, but its sold out
http://www.gomedia.us/work/type/bold-is-beautiful/
YOU FUCKING THIEF!
@nondaz – check your link buddy – you’re accusing me of stealing the design from myself? Go Media’s my company, it was posted on our company website as well as here. It’s the same thing.
Is that printed in water based ink or is this a digital print ? how did they print such a wild tee?
They didn’t explain their entire process, but I think it was a 9-color screen print!
Absolutly beautiful Jeff…..
I love when people can combine vectors & typography in a way that is original. With so many vector based designs being churned out, it’s nice to see something original.
Not really a big surprise considering that if there was one person who logically would be able to combine them in a fresh way it would be the man behind gomedia.
Cheers!