Shirts in Sync

There’s something about band season that is always exciting for me. Unlike normal band folk, I’m not excited about it for the early morning marching practice (wait. Are some of you excited about early morning marching?) or even the half time performances and competitions.

I, naturally, am in it for the shirts.

We get to work on a lot of really fun projects throughout the year, but when it’s marching season, I typically get to really stretch my creative muscles. Frankly, it’s almost anytime a client in the educational arts comes to me, whether it’s choir or drama, fine arts, dance, you name it. They typically hand over the reins and give me creative freedom. It’s a graphic designer’s dream.

With marching bands, I ask for a set list, costume inspiration, and then spend hours listening to the music, researching the background for their theme, and really tailoring the design to something personal. I want to pick out details of the way the music moves and communicates that the musicians who have invested so many hours memorizing and performing would recognize.

I also like to play with a lot of special effects, if the theme calls for it. We’ve done glow in the dark, UV responsive ink (changes colors in the sun), foil, 3D puff, raised gloss, glitter, all kinds of fun effects that we don’t get to tap into often enough. In a world where I’ve got a lot of constraints in the design being more reserved or the constraint of the garment itself, these projects tend to blow that out of the water and give my artist heart joy.