Anything can become a t-shirt if you try hard enough
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Client
Role
Tools
Brandhouse Berlin is the company behind the T-shirts brand Vertere and On Vacation. I designed three different T-shirts: 2 for Vertere Berlin and 1 for On Vacation.
I blended meme culture, historical illustration, literature, and trendy design styles to create unique, narrative-driven pieces. Each design aims to spark curiosity and conversation through a modern twist on classic art styles.
Challenge
relevance
To choose culturally relevant topics that resonate with the brands and its clients
Originality
To create original and
edgy compositions
references
To find intricate concept references
Ambedo
My inspiration for this first design originated from The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, a project composed of a series of made up words to describe melancholic emotions that have no official name in the English language.
One of these words is Ambedo. It describes a kind of melancholic trance in which you become completely absorbed in vivid sensory details—raindrops skittering down a window, tall trees leaning in the wind, clouds of cream swirling in your coffee—briefly soaking in the experience of being alive, an act that is done purely for its own sake.
Both the pictures of the rain drops on a window and the tree being bent by the wind not only reference the description text in the design, but also contribute with the melancholic nature of the feeling being described
The structured Bento Box design gets more fluidity with the curved corners
The picture of the reaching hands reference the sensory experience described in the text
Beware the Hypnotic Rhythm
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The “Beware the Hypnotic Rhythm” T-shirt draws inspiration from the 1950s/1960s rock 'n’ roll moral panic, later revived as a 2000s meme. The many variations of the text have served as warnings against the perceived threat of subversive subcultures—first rock 'n' roll, and more recently electronic music—deemed dangerous by conservative elements of society.
In this composition, the warning is reimagined to caution against the 'hypnotic rhythm' personified by two supernaturalesque frogs. These frogs are directly lifted from the 19th-century demonology book Dictionnaire Infernal by Jacques Collin de Plancy, adding an eerie, historical dimension to the design.
To complement the concept and create contrast stylistic, there are two hands, one to each side of the dancing frogs. They symbolize the Hand of Glory, a powerful 19th-century artefact believed to immobilize anyone who encountered it - creepy!
The creatures’ fluid, almost human-like poses give a sense of rhythmic movement, visually reinforcing the concept of being drawn into a trance
The word "BEWARE" curves above the figures in an serif font, creating a sense of warning but with a subtle, almost sarcastic tone
The clean, modern sans-serif type for contrasts with the illustration, adding a contemporary touch and grounding the overall design in modern culture
Out Of Office
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The playful Out of Office illustration features a cheerful sun mascot holding a longboard, heading off to the nearest park or square. This design, based on my own sketch, embraces the popular retro cartoon style, which has been trending lately.
The combination of the title and illustration captures the brand's laid-back, vacation-inspired spirit, encouraging a 'holiday mindset' even when you're taking a day off, or after you just left work. It's all about embracing the joy of life, day by day, no matter the season.
The contrast between fonts and sizes gives a fun and retro feel to the title, matching with the overall feel of the illustration
The halftone shading all over the image is a characteristic of the retro cartoon style and adds a lot of personality to the composition
The sun's relaxed expression and laid-back body language perfectly convey his 'off the clock' vibe. He's the embodiment of taking it easy, spending his downtime in the most chill way possible
other projects
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