T-Shirt

Discovery
T-shirt design is actually something I try to avoid. It's a very difficult process, as everyone has their druthers. If you try a simple, evocative design, some plead for an illustrative quality. Go too far in the creative direction, it can be unintelligible. Then of course, you have to pick colors. All a careful balance.

I started with sketches, bad first drafts mostly. I knew some people in the group had a visual preference for an image of Eleanor Roosevelt, as they wanted to move away from Franklin Roosevelt. A few drafts of it didn't seem to be working. Eleanor doesn't quite have a face that is easily recognizable, so I moved onward to another mentioned suggestion, Theodore.


Theodore Roosevelt didn't have anything to do with founding the group, but one could argue his policies embody a progressive spirit within the group. So, again, starting with the iconography of Theodore's face. Yet, I began to wonder about attaching ourselves to the imagery of someone who had nothing to do with The Roosevelt Institute.

A face is also not versatile. It's hard to put on a letterhead or publication, it scales down poorly. I began to gravitate more toward the iconography of his glasses, a shared trait between Theodore and Franklin actually. I started to use the two O's in Roosevelt as an old fashioned pair of spectacles, but, it started to feel like I was doing an optometrist's logo. Quite an esoteric reference as well.

But, what of other iconography from the time of Theodore?


The Bull Moose Party was Roosevelt's progressive third-party push to run against his former protogé Taft.


We aren't college Democrats or Republicans, we don't have the luxury—or burden—of co-opting a national image and forming an identity from that. The moose also reminds me of something from Hollister or the like. So how do we strike anew?

I began to think of what Paul Rand might say, shirts are as much for a group as they are an advertisement to others. A strong visual identity is important, yet trying to sum up what The Roosevelt Institute does in a t-shirt would be nearly possible. I became very interested in a conversation starter. Something uncomplicated, but related to the group in the way.


I began to think about the letter R, the way it could be stylized, expressive, but still simple.


Yet, thinking further, if the logo doesn't visualize what The Roosevelt Institute does, then what does the text truly add to it? Anna gave me the design guide for The Phillips Collection, a modern art museum in Washington D.C., and I thought it was interesting their choice of secondary logo had the subtext, which was reserved "For use only in special circumstances."


So what happens if I drop it from mine?


I think I'm beginning to get interested now. It's expressive, but a lack of text would make me want to ask this person what their shirt was about. Maybe combined with a more illustrative element in the background of the shirt, it could capture someone's attention enough for a short conversation.

What Next
This logotype and a shirt design in conjunction of it is going to be a continuing project with plenty of iterations. Making an image that says, "This is who we are," and binding yourself to it for at least a year is a huge step for a student group, one that should be done with careful consideration.

I'm still gathering information from the survey I handed out, but am beginning to learn some interesting information about who is in the group (92% plan on attending law school, 70% of the group is a third-year or more student).

Finally, I'm working on really nailing down my draft proposal, but after some of the meetings today I feel I'm in a comfortable spot.

How I Spent My Time
I think it can be seen from above I worked a lot on a t-shirt idea. It's become quite consumptive. I've kind of been bouncing back and forth between people in the group, and resources within IP for critique with it. Beyond that, I've been utilizing resources given to me by Anna from The Phillips Collection, and also pouring over some really wonderful original design standards manuals produced by Paul Rand for IBM (Photographed briefly in the above section).

And, of course, I formulated a draft of my proposal and a revision of it.