Member for

14 years 7 months
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Recent Comments

Date Title Body
Reputation assault aside,

Reputation assault aside, does anyone legitimately fear punishment from the NCAA? If the past is any indication, I have to believe the UM program will be fine. Add a few directions to our school (N/E/S/W), subtract a decent amount of wins and trophies, and MAYBE we face a strict punishment.

We'll make it.

I love it! Great job, Six

I love it! Great job, Six Zero.

I love it! I say keep it

I love it! I say keep it strictly graphic, no text, and I like it off-center.

The only thing I might experiment with is the Heisman shadow. Have you played around with it reversed, so the stiff arm switches places with the ball/bent arm? The legs would also be switched. I don't know how it would look as a shadow under Woodson, but I wonder if that angle will make the Heisman shadow a little clearer. Play around and see.

Good shirt.

No problem, I'm just trying

No problem, I'm just trying to help where I can.

Actually, yes, I would have

Actually, yes, I would have aligned the front of the shirt along the left-- as in manually aligning the left-most stems of the h and the f, in "hello, forcier." That would be opposed to the computer default, where it just aligns based on character real estate (the left-most edge of the stem of the h and the cross stroke of the f). New alignment in turn would create a little more space between the dot of the i and the comma after hello.

The trick with lowercase "goodbye, tacopants" is the top word has descenders and the bottom features ascenders. Maybe then you align the g in goodbye with the first a in tacopants. Maybe you add more line-spacing and align the e in goodbye with the s in tacopants-- with care taken in either instance to ensure the comma and period maintain a consistent distance from their respective words.

And no, I didn't expect you to whip out a multi-columnar grid for two words. It's just some reading I thought I'd suggest because I believe the grid strengthens design in general, whether it's on a poster or a t-shirt. I think the tiny details make a big difference.

The kerning wasn't a comment on tight vs loose in general-- it was more in reaction to inconsistent kerning. Example: the space between the "ta" vs "an" in tacopants.

At the very least, I believe consistent kerning on a design looks like thought was given to the typography, as opposed to just placing straight text on a space. There are times when inconsistent kerning may be a design element (if you're trying to make a statement on disorder or division, for example), but I believe a non-purposeful lack of kerning takes away from a design.

From Ellen Lupton's Thinking

From Ellen Lupton's Thinking with Type:

--Kerning

--Grid

-Single-column grid
-Multi-column grid
-Multi-column grid with horizontal anchor
-Modular grid

What is the criteria under

What is the criteria under which submitted shirts move up to the MGoBlogStore? Do shirts have to receive a certain number of five-stars votes? A certain number of votes? X amount of comments? Or after Six Zero finishes unveiling his last shirt, will there be a final post displaying all the shirts, asking the readers to vote for the submitted shirts? I'm just curious how this will be done.

About the current shirt:

1) Visual quality: First, are you using different weights of that typeface, or are you stretching the face of certain lines? Using different weights to make text fit is fine, but stretching the face to make it fit isn't very professional. The form of letters in lines 3 and 5 look different than line 4 (mostly the 'has') and line 1, which is close to line 2, but subtly different. I could be completely wrong, but it just looks like there was some stretching, either horizontally or vertically. Second, the wolf looks unfinished because of the consistency of detail. The face has a lot of detail, but the body has less, and only up top. I do like that you nestled the wolf into the text. I get that.

2) Character/ humor: If the t-shirt is meant to be a PG shirt, then it succeeds, but if it's meant to inspire fear of hell and capture Barwis' badassness, I think it falls short. That may be because the shirt is wordy, because the wolf doesn't look intimidating, or because the wolf has a collar. Is it a fierce wolf? The level of fear diminishes as domestication increases. The collar makes me think the wolf is actually a dog, and to be honest, I didn't know it was a wolf until you told me (the tagline reads release the hounds).

The shirt doesn't have to depict gore and oozing entrails of victims, but I feel simple changes to the wolf could improve the shirt. Maybe you put the wolf in a stance indicating it's about to attack. Maybe the hair on its back is raised. Maybe instead of a collar, the wolf wears a broken metal chain around its neck.

Also, if you're going for fear/hell, then go for it--it may be as simple as you putting a clear, angry wolf under a giant BARWIS IS HELL/ BARWIS' GYM/ etc. Or ditching the wolf idea and going with skulls.

3) Michigan Pride: Mission accomplished. Love of Barwis is love of Michigan.

4) Mass Appeal: Here is where you have to be cautious. Does generic Joe Michigan know Barwis keeps wolves as pets? If not, would they wonder why we have a dog/wolf/canine on a Wolverine shirt? Does Joe Michigan know who Barwis is?

5) Marketability: Close, but not quite. I think a few loose ends need to be tied up in order to attract more buyers. It's a good start and has potential.

about face

Ah, I'm a fan of Helvetica, along with Univers, Trade Gothic, and Didot. And you can't go wrong with House Industry's script typefaces.

Cooper Black??
C'mon, Six

Cooper Black??

C'mon, Six Zero.

I don't know how accurate

I don't know how accurate these years are, but here are some older images--and you can see the Wolverine quality looks like crap:

http://www.sportslogos.net/team.php?id=750

First off, I wish UM still

First off, I wish UM still used the old cartoon Wolverine (here).

Secondly, I think part of the disconnect Uniquenam feels is a result of the move from cartoon Wolverine to Block M. The Block M has been used as the primary logo, the primary ambassador, of the Michigan brand. Suppose you're making a Michigan jacket. What do you put on it? The Block M--it has consistency and time behind it. If you were to use an animal image, well, no one really knows which one you would use.

Schools that can use cartoon animal mascots usually benefit from consistency. Texas has one longhorn silhouette. Georgia has a primary bulldog. Florida has a primary gator. Wisconsin has one badger. NC State has its wolf. UNC has its ram.

You get the idea. Michigan? Well, because the Block M has been the primary mark, we've seen less reliance on an animal image--maybe there's one, but it looks like clip art and that's why we don't see it. I'm sure if UM established one cartoon mascot, stuck with it for decades, and pasted it on everything, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

Notre Dame had an older "dukes up" Leprechaun and an updated version, but I know the school has made an effort to make the interlocking ND their primary mark, much like Michigan's Block M. You'll see the leprechaun time to time, but if ND had any say, you would see the interlocking ND.

I think Miami (FL) is adopting the U mark for everything, academics and athletics. I don't know how often the school uses Sebastian the Ibis.

I appreciate the simplicity,

I appreciate the simplicity, but I think the shirt could be improved with some alignment to the grid system. Right now it looks like it was pieced together as quickly as possible because there were entirely too many cooks in the kitchen.

No shirt you make will please everyone, so while I think user input is helpful, it is only helpful to a point. Also remember that not every viewer votes or responds via comment. I would focus on coming up with more conceptually strong, technically sound, creative shirts that can please a decent number of people.

I'm glad the graphics have

I'm glad the graphics have become simpler. I might even remove some of the adidas stripes from his shoulders, too, just to go easy on the eyes. Maybe two stripes (or those shorter cuff-stripes).

I almost feel you should

I almost feel you should write, on each post, daily, that you simply cannot use the block M or winged helmet. It's like no one reads the comments each time you have to remind them.

I look forward to seeing your portfolio! I'm a graphic designer myself and enjoy seeing the work of others.

Additionally, how much would the price of this shirt increase if you were to break the quote up-- first part on the front of the shirt, second part on the back of the shirt?

portfolio

Six Zero, do you have a separate website/ portfolio for your artwork? I'd like to see what else you have created. Thanks--

There are better ways to show

There are better ways to show the size and detail of a graphic than intentionally enlarging the graphic beyond what would actually be printed. I think showing the actual printed size would minimize confusion and may produce a more accurate response from the voting audience.

You can easily post a legit mock-up with an additional link saying "larger view of graphic here." I don't know why Six Zero chose to exaggerate the graphic size in the mock-up when he included a link to a larger view, too.

portfolio

Six Zero, do you have a separate website/ portfolio for your artwork? I'd like to see what else you have created. Thanks--

Meh

There's nothing wrong with being a Wal-Mart Wolverine.

I think the problem is when people get so worked up over sports that they have lost a greater perspective on things. Sports are great. Being a fan is great. But good lord, legit fights? "Not going" to UM doesn't make you any less of a person. Most of the world didn't go to UM.

hm

If you want to give voters a better view of the graphic, and if there is no intention of printing the graphic that size on the shirt, why can't we just see an actual t-shirt mock-up (in the intended size) + post an additional, larger image of the graphic to be used? This way it leads to less confusion and gives voters an idea of what to actually expect.

Further, if graphic were to be reduced in size, what effect would that have on the size and legibility of the tagline text? Minor/ negligible?

Six Zero, do you have a separate website/ portfolio for your artwork? I'd like to see what else you have created. Thanks--