Shirt Prototype

I've been having fun playing around with shirt designs lately. My family and I have been experimenting with different textile paints, stencils, silk screens, gocco, and even the sewing machine. I'd like to someday sell shirts on the website a la Panic, but with a distinctly handmade/ artisan perspective.

The above shirt (prototype) was inspired by the trend of recycling older materials into new items. For example, Re-Sails bags (made for sail cloth) and these Rice & Feed Laundry Bags. We also recently bought some hand printed shirts for the kids from Potato Playground which I totally dig and have been inspired by.

To print this shirt, I cut a large version of the new logo from freezer paper used an x-acto knife to make a stencil. Then I ironed the freezer paper stencil to the shirt and masked it to the seams of the shirt. Finally, I printed the ink using a sea sponge to give it an organic and worn looking texture.

By the way, the shirt is from Edun Live. Check out their intro video.

Let me know what you think!

New Bee Docs Logo!

Here is the new logo. Designed by Turnstyle in Seattle.

I think they did a brilliant job of capturing the brand characteristics I described last week as well as creating something that is beautiful in its own right. I hope you like it too!

Rethinking the brand

Thank you to everyone who left a comment on the two logos I posted. You didn't say what I thought you were going to say, so it was very educational to hear your first impressions.

As you may have guessed, I have begun a process to rethink the brand of Bee Documents. I picked the name and came up with the concept for the original logo (pictured here) in December 2002. At the time, I was working exclusively on a web-based document management system for lawyers, thus the "Documents" in Bee Documents.

In the last five and a half years a lot has changed. The focus of the company is now timeline software, I have much more business and life experience, and the company generates income to name the first three things that come to mind. I've decided it is time to update the branding. It is an ongoing process, but hopefully you will see some improvements to the brand in the coming months. Eventually the changes should show up on the website, blog, videos, product design, etc...

By the way, the black and white logo that I posted first was meant to represent the stamen and other inside parts of a flower. I had this ambitious concept that instead of making the viewer look at a bee, the perspective would be reversed and the viewer would become the bee looking at the flower. Out of the concepts that I have played with so far, this was my personal favorite but I can see now that it is too abstract for folks to grasp at first glance. So, back to the drawing board...

Logo #2 - Feedback Request

Here is another logo from Design Hovie Studios for which I would appreciate your feedback. Just to reiterate, the kind of feedback that is most useful is not what you would change about the logo or even whether or not you would personally choose it, but rather the feelings, connotations, and impressions that the logo gives you. Thanks!

Logo Design - Feedback Request

Here is a new company logo I had designed by Design Hovie Studios. Would you please a quick comment with a word or two that describes the your impression of the logo (For example, "breezy", "uplifting", "oppressive", "bubbles", "itchy", etc...). Please be creative and don't just say -liked it-.

There are a few hundred people subscribed to this blog so I would like to see at least 50 different comments on this one. It will only take a second... Please?!

Calling Card Color Study

I got a chance to work on my stamped calling cards again last night. I bought a new "sky gray" ink and tried out as many color combinations and I could make. I think my favorite so far is a black bee with the gray block.

Calling Cards Progress

I worked on my new calling cards some more Tuesday night. I was able to pick up the paper that I wanted from the craft store, but they were out of the stamping ink I wanted, so I went ahead and make a few dozen cards with the inks that we already had on hand.

The black and bright orange scheme is actually kind of rock and roll in a color-your-converse-shoes-with-sharpies kind of way.

Bee Docs' Shirts

The upcoming Apple WWDC Conference inspired me to create a Bee Docs' Shirt. Last year, the conference was mostly a sea of humanity wearing black shirts and jeans.

However, the Apple employees had brightly colored shirts that they wore every day. Aaron Hillegass wore his hat most days so he was easy to spot in a crowd, Allan Obgaard wore his Textmate shirt most days, and the Delicious Monster crew were easy to spot in their brown shirts they wore each day.

Other than that, there were like 3,000 people wearing black shirts. I remember the guys I listed above because they were different. This time, I want to be easy to identify and remember too, so I designed the orange shirt with my bee logo you see above.

In the old days, I used to make band shirts by creating a custom silk screen and printing the shirts in my parents' basement. These days, you can just design and order a t-shirt from Zazzle and have it in a few days. It is more expensive for large quantities, but it is great when you want something quick and you only want a few.