Critique Tees

T-shirts are wearable art, but different. A good tee-design is:

- A design that looks great on
- A design with brilliant execution
- A design with good placement (think about the shape of people’s bodies!)
- A design that stands out
- A design that is ‘fresh’ and new

T-shirt design is art, but of a different sort, and some people need help working in this medium. Even the best conventional art might not necessarily work on a t-shirt – the Mona Lisa would make a bloody ugly shirt – and some designers simply don’t see that.

It’s not art for art’s sake. In fact, if it helps, don’t see it as art. Here we’re designers, and we design stuff for clients and consumers. When you submit to this group, you should WANT the feedback.

You WANT people to be straight with you. if they just say “nice design” then that’s no help at all. In fact it’s actually bad because it gives you false confidence and then you’ll get crushed when you find you’re not selling any tees.

If you worked in a design agency and your clients told you that they wanted to change your design, would you say no?

Finally, what makes a good tee- Originality. You are the designer and artist, it’s your original idea and you have a connection to it. If you have to change your work so much that you don’t feel connected to it, then perhaps being a designer isn’t for you.

Be yourself, take on suggestions and try to remember that even the most skilled artist is always experimenting and learning: tis the true beauty of art! One thing I like to keep in mind is the many facets of your artistic side. You can have personal work, commercial work, collaborative work, etc… Take on criticisms and apply what you see fit, don’t be upset by rejections or comments, because it’s part of the learning process.