Sick and tired of having the same t-shirt everyone else has?

Check out Usman Haque’s Configurable T-shirt. The shirt lets you create your very own design by simply “turning off” pixels with a permanent marker.

Here’s the story behind its design:

I was asked to design a t-shirt for my country.

This presented me with two problems because, first, I am not a good designer and, second, I don’t have a country to support.

So I decided to design a t-shirt that encourages the wearers of the t-shirt to design what goes on the t-shirt and also allows them to decide which country to support (or perhaps not to support). This is an approach that I have always been interested in: how to design systems that are open enough to allow for other people’s designs yet specific enough to provide an intriguing starting point (it’s always difficult to design on a completely blank canvas).

So the point of this t-shirt is that YOU, the wearer, have to design it before you wear it. You can draw directly on to the pixel array to create your own designs….

A very clever design, but sadly, it’s no longer for sale. :-(

Don’t you think Usman’s concept is the perfect inspiration for a Threadless t-shirt design submission? Hint hint.

Posted in: Design, Lifehacks, T-shirt