- Climate-Change Logo and T-Shirt
This idea came to me while I was working on something else in Photoshop, but Photoshop was not the right app for this kind of project. I needed to redraw it in Illustrator.
It can be tricky to clean up a sketchy version of something using a different app or medium. There are always nuances of the original that easily could be lost, and it's hard to keep an objective eye. I got the new version to an improved state, but it still had issues to resolve. After a day or two I felt fresh enough to try again.
Like whack-a-mole, each time I would solve one small problem another would come into focus. I still think I see things I could fix, but perfection can become the enemy of good enough, especially when making fine adjustments to curvy lines in Illustrator. I could change my mind yet again, but it feels finished for now.
I wasn't sure about adding text. Deciding what it should say, and in what typeface, were tricky. The wrong slogan or typeface could easily ruin it all. I went for the simplest phrase I could think of, and I was pleased by the resemblance of the typeface's rounded slab serifs to the corners of the earth's mouth.
The refinement process requires patience and persistence
Global Issues Require Many Languages
The essence of merch sites for creators is their ability to create merch as communications media with worldwide reach. Climate change requires collective action on a global scale. To be conceptually complete this design should be available in most human languages, without requiring a human, i.e., me, to make a separate file for each. That would probably be a difficult feature for merch sites to provide while maintaining users' creative freedom and control, but it would be useful to creators in addressing climate change and other issues of global or international scope.
This suggests the creation of an application layer between the creator and the merch site that provides a specialized UI for creating merch from specific design templates. For example, this design could have its own website with a UI to choose a language for the slogan. The site would then automatically produce the required design file and submit it to the merch site.
To complete the idea there should be a way for users to enter the language of their choice:
- Outcome
This project didn't start out as a serious effort. At times I've wondered why I was working on it. I've put it on this site before, and then removed it, but now it's going back in. I'm glad that I didn't give up on it. Its sales contributions to an eco-charity may amount to nothing, but climate change is a huge issue and there's no shame in bringing attention to it. The SAVE THE EARTH! merch is available here.
Maybe the idea of a website with UI to choose a language for the slogan is something I should take on as an extension of this project. Stay tuned.