Where to turn when designing from nothing? How about “cool”?

I almost quit the idea of starting my own clothing line altogether when I first started out because I literally didn’t know what to design. What could I put on my t-shirts? No one likes a shirt with just a logo on it–unless you’re Nike. I didn’t like semi-offensive parody shirts. I couldn’t use band names. I couldn’t afford any sort of licensing to use comic book superheroes. Essentially I was left with NOTHING.

The insecure designer in me was ready to quit

Not until I finally sat down and started listing things I thought were cool was I finally able to think of things that couldn’t be owned by anyone, that I could use as centerpieces to my work or at the very least hidden accents that would add to the detail. The finished list contained things that were cool for use in a t-shirt, that I would not get in trouble for using. My list ended up looking something like this:

Wolves are cool. Three wolves is better.

Animals

• Wolves (Mostly serious on this one)
• Cats
• Dogs
• Dead animal skulls
• Spiders
• Tarantulas
• Hawks
• Bald Eagles
• Bats
• Werewolves
• Giant Bugs
• Wolverines (Thank you spell check for this suggestion)

Cool Symbols

• Radioactive Symbols
• Stars
• Devil Horns
• Crosses
• Crossbones
• Poison Labels
• The Sun

Affliction has sort of (tm)'d this look.

Affliction-ize (if that’s what you’re into)

• Skulls
• Chainsaws
• Blood spats
• Lasers
• Barbed Wire
• Machinery
• Welding sparks
• Vampires
• Rays or bursts of light
• Broken Glass
• Grunge Textures
• Rust Textures
• Torn Paper
• Scratches
• Music notes

Military & Vehicles

• Atomic Bombs
• Airplanes
• Jets
• Guns
• Tanks

This also would have worked under the animals heading.

Nature

• Fire
• Explosions
• Floral Shapes
• Lightning Bolts
• Smoke

Other notable items

• Fist Pumping (in general this is a cool thing to do)
• High Fiving?
• Any sort of public domain imagery, or things over 75 years old

You get the idea. Are Pomeranians cool? Meh, but hey I’m sure that guy is out there who thinks they are… and I’m pretty sure he drives a bright orange Mazda Miata.

Feel free to add your cool things to the list at the bottom. Even if they’re inappropriate, which probably makes them all the more awesome.

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About the Author

Tim is the co-owner of Assault, and tends to think he can party twice as hard as anyone. Follow him on twitter @assault
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