User:Wapcaplet~metawiki
- Real name: Eric Pierce
- Email address: wapcaplet88@yahoo.com
- Location: Colorado Springs, CO
T-shirts[edit]
I've sort of nominated myself to work on some designs for Wikipedia T-shirts. Since meta seemed like the best place for it, I've moved most of the pictures and other comments over here from my other user page.
I recently got ahold of some of those nifty inkjet iron-on T-shirt transfers, so I made myself a Wikipedia T-shirt. Surely someone else has made a Wikipedia T-shirt before me; there has been discussion of making them for some time, and I borrowed one of the design ideas from the discussion to make mine. It has a tiny Wikipedia logo on the front, and "Edit this page" on the back, along with the URL. If you would like to steal this image to make your own iron-on T-shirt or any other promotional merchandise, please do so - it's under the FDL! Send me a picture of yourself wearing it, if you do.
Eloquence was nice enough to set up a CafePress shop to make Wikipedia T-shirts and other merchandise available. Thanks Eloquence!
New Designs[edit]
I've made a couple of other designs in the GIMP which could be used for T-shirts, buttons, bumper-stickers or whatever. I've used the tagline "Do you know stuff?" in my signature on newsgroups (particularly on LinuxQuestions) in the hopes that it'll get some new people over here. Feel free to steal these images and any phrase contained in them! Of course they are FDL.
(Larger version, 39KB)
(Larger version, 11KB)
(Larger version, 89KB)
(Larger version, 35KB)
Sorry about the predomination of purple. I like purple! Also, it's the closest thing we seem to have to an official logo color. I wouldn't be at all opposed to making some versions with different colors, though. I promise the next one will not be purple! :)
Other ideas[edit]
If anyone has suggestions for other T-shirt (mouse pad, mug, bumper sticker, etc.) designs, please leave them at my Wikipedia talk page. Some that I'm thinking about:
- A yellow road-sign style picture of a person with the caption "Wikiped Xing," or something similarly witty. Not too funny, I know; I need ideas for a good pose or something for the person to be in, to clearly indicate that they are a Wikiped(ian). Hunched over a computer, or boldly waving a fountain pen around. I dunno. Then the "Xing" part doesn't make sense. Clearly, better ideas are sorely needed!
- Maybe a simple "Wikipedian", or "Wikipedant", or other label. (You gotta admit, just the word "Wikipedian" is sure to raise some eyebrows outside the Wikipedia community! Though, it's more likely to help Wikipedians identify one another, rather than draw anyone new to the community, which should really be the primary goal of the shirt/mug/etc.)
- Some kind of sequential design showing the process of editing in action. First a stub, then a slightly longer stub, then some rephrasing, then typo correction... has to be short and sweet, to make the point quickly.
The Philosophy of T-Shirt Design[edit]
It seems like many T-shirts (bumper stickers, mugs, etc.) today are deliberately antagonistic, in-jokey, sarcastic, or otherwise of a nature that is not likely to engender viewers of the shirt to the person wearing it. I am thinking here of the ones like "Stop inbreeding, ban country music!" or "Did you eat a bowl of stupid for breakfast?" or "I can only please one person per day. Today isn't your day. Tomorrow doesn't look good either." etc. You know the type. While some people may disagree with me, I don't think Wikipedia T-shirts should be anything like these.
I also don't think Wikipedia T-shirts should be anything like the ones you see on ThinkGeek. Yes, they're cute, and yes, since I'm a geek, I find some of them to be funny, but they're antagonistic and in-jokey in the same way as the ones above; things like "No I will not fix your computer" or "Go away or I will replace you with a very small shell script" aren't likely to win friends and influence people either.
Mostly, being in the esteemed position of unofficial Wikipedia T-Shirt Designer has made me begin to think about what kind of design or phrase is likely to get more people to come to Wikipedia. That's really what we want. We aren't trying to impress people with our knowledge of obfuscated code, or witticisms about procrastinating NOW. We want people to see our shirts (hats, mugs, mousepads) and say "Hey, this Wikipedia thing sounds intriguing; I think I want to check it out." That's what I plan to go for with my designs.