{"id":58404,"title":"T-shirts, t-shirts, everywhere!","description":"Why t-shirts? It just sort of happened. I think it is the wearable nature of design that really appeals, like a tattoo, but one that can be changed.","content":"

\"AnthonyWhy t-shirts? It just sort of happened. Throughout my career t-shirts have always been something I did as part of the job. I think it is the wearable nature of design that really appeals, like a tattoo, but one that can be changed. Championing a brand, or a band, or a team, it lets other like-minded people know who you are and what you stand for - or won\u2019t stand for! Sadly, I didn\u2019t keep examples of everything I have created over the last 37 years working in the design industry, and t-shirts are bulky and tend to fall apart after so many washes, so they usually end up in the bin. Which is why I really like Teemill - their t-shirts can easily be recycled.<\/strong><\/p>

\"ZEDThe first t-shirt I remember designing was when I was still in college. For my final show I created a fictitious exhibit highlighting the problems faced by the Amazon rainforest in South America. Merchandising was a part of the self-set brief and t-shirts factored in there. Sadly, I have nothing to show here, I have lots of scribbles, but nothing final - this was in a time before we even had access to computers - well we did, but they were very basic!<\/p>

Jump forward a few years, and we had, at this point, started seeing the first \u201cMacs\u201d starting to creep into our work lives. I was working for a marketing company based in Manchester, it was my first job as a graphic designer. I remember having to battle with my colleague to get on to \u2018the machine\u2019, which we shared between us. We were working on a new premium beer launch at the time, and t-shirts were part of the brief.<\/p>

\"IAround the middle of the 90s, I moved into the computer games industry, working for Psygnosis in Liverpool. I was tasked with designing marketing materials for a number of games, amongst them were Krazy Ivan (see above) and Colony Wars.<\/p>

\"AA quick jump forward to the late 90s and I had moved on again, now I was running my own design agency with my business partner, but we were still heavily involved in the games industry. I had a bit of an unexpected shock one evening when I spotted a celebrity wearing a t-shirt I had designed on the TV. I had better not say who it was because I do not have their permission, but I will say that it was a t-shirt I had designed for the game \u201cTwin Caliber\u201d published by Rage Games.<\/p>

\"Street<\/p>

The next benchmark would be sometime around 2010, it would have been around this time that print-on-demand merchandising started to become a thing. I started to dabble with my own designs again. Then, I happened to suddenly find myself invited to be part of a group of like-minded individuals who were setting out to highlight the terrible persecution of Hen Harriers in the UK. I was one of the founding members of Birders against Wildlife Crime (BAWC). We were responsible for starting the Hen Harrier Day events - my role was to design the logo, which, alongside the associated messaging, got plastered across several hundred t-shirts and banners at the annual events. I finally felt like I was doing something meaningful. Sadly, the whole thing came to an end, and to this day I really do not know what happened. The logo was trademarked, and it soon disappeared after that.<\/p>

\"The<\/p>

A friend of mine, Jacha Potgieter<\/u><\/a>, is an artist, photographer, and conservationist. He has a real passion for Orangutans, apes and wildlife in general. We worked together to develop a number of new t-shirt designs for his gallery in North Wales. Visitors to the area may well recognise the image, it was taken from one of his own photos, and got adopted as the logo for the Hangin\u2019 Pizzeria in Betws-Y-Coed, which he also runs.<\/p>

\"Orangutan\"I have been running my own on-line shop for a few years now, testing out the different companies who offer the service. But the more I looked into it, the more I realised that Teemill really offered me something that was a lot closer to my own way of thinking. So earlier this year I decided to really push the boat out and put everything into this shop and see where I can take it. I really hope you like the designs and please get in touch if you have any questions.<\/p>

\"\"<\/p>","urlTitle":"t-shirts-t-shirts-everywhere","url":"\/blog\/t-shirts-t-shirts-everywhere\/","editListUrl":"\/my-blogs","editUrl":"\/my-blogs\/edit\/t-shirts-t-shirts-everywhere\/","fullUrl":"https:\/\/graphic-nature.teemill.com\/blog\/t-shirts-t-shirts-everywhere\/","featured":false,"published":true,"showOnSitemap":true,"hidden":false,"visibility":null,"createdAt":1790177208,"updatedAt":1790264030,"publishedAt":1790264030,"lastReadAt":null,"division":{"id":100615,"name":"Graphic Nature"},"tags":[],"metaImage":{"original":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/nh47uhyk8e2nungbzvoe4y3z3a4l4ozdnaakebxwpgvxg0lq.jpeg","thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/nh47uhyk8e2nungbzvoe4y3z3a4l4ozdnaakebxwpgvxg0lq.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/nh47uhyk8e2nungbzvoe4y3z3a4l4ozdnaakebxwpgvxg0lq.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"metaTitle":"","metaDescription":"","keyPhraseCampaignId":null,"series":[],"similarReads":[{"id":57990,"title":"Beauty in the beast - encounters with a White Rhino","url":"\/blog\/world-rhino-day\/","urlTitle":"world-rhino-day","division":100615,"description":"My love for rhinos can be traced back to an unexpected and very close encounter with a wild White Rhinoceros in the world-famous Kruger National Park, in 2010. And what I learned on that same trip tore a hole in my heart, but inspired me to want to do something.","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/8satvtytvp36bouw47fv438sbvpqmt64p8gr1tsoylhjqssw.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/8satvtytvp36bouw47fv438sbvpqmt64p8gr1tsoylhjqssw.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0},{"id":57103,"title":"Crazy Keel-billed Toucan","url":"\/blog\/crazy-keel-billed-toucan\/","urlTitle":"crazy-keel-billed-toucan","division":100615,"description":"What is my design process? That depends on which design we are talking about, but my Keel-billed Toucan tee shirt design has a particularly unusual story, and it started with a trip to Costa Rica in 2024.","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/ucplbl7tpfiiwpl7lnbwt8wmndl98z87g0wblpmjygrefajt.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855&z=1.4&fx=0.40160032477422&fy=0.59927493701231","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/ucplbl7tpfiiwpl7lnbwt8wmndl98z87g0wblpmjygrefajt.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440&z=1.4&fx=0.40160032477422&fy=0.59927493701231"},"hidden":0},{"id":57645,"title":"Living on a broken planet - African Penguin.","url":"\/blog\/living-on-a-broken-planet-african-penguin\/","urlTitle":"living-on-a-broken-planet-african-penguin","division":100615,"description":"I visited South Africa\u2019s famous Boulders Beach African Penguin colony in 2005, the species was already in decline and at that time it was listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. I was shocked to recently discover that the birds had since been listed as Endangered in 2010 and as then Critically Endangered in 2024.","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/ta2ylubpamqdls2q5fczvwygga4bg49tbr08hx6gxhecji7c.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/ta2ylubpamqdls2q5fczvwygga4bg49tbr08hx6gxhecji7c.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0}],"labels":[]}