Design Challenge: Fusion

As you may recall from earlier entries, my friend Chanelle and I are keeping ourselves spry by sharing design challenges. She issued a challenge that her boss gave her two years ago:

• Design a T-shirt for the concept of fusion that uses only one color;
• is not white on black
• crosses no seams
• in no way highlights the female chest area (this was for a church)

Um...pretty tough, huh? 

Apparently, we both failed to understand the directions the first time. 

Here is Chanelle's first attempt (which can also be found at her blog: Wanderlust:

She says:

This is my original attempt before I knew we had printer restrictions. (I already did this project for my boss a couple of years ago.) I originally interpreted fusion with simple dictionary definitions: thus the molecules and the hodgepodge of elements.  The plan was to wrap this image onto the sleeve and across part of the chest. Then I found out that I had too many colors and that our printer couldn't do this. And my boss didn't like the bird. 

Funnily enough, I also misunderstood her directions, specifically the "one-color" rule. When I first heard "fusion," I pictured energy drink cans for some reason. So I went with this:

First attempts under our belts, here are our second attempts, which are remarkably similar in that we both realized the word had to be the art.

Chanelle's second version (which she says in retrospect, she would do a lot differently):


And my second version. I don't know why I went with orange, honestly. I think it reminded me of the sparks when things are fused together:


I think mine looks more like an ad for a breakfast drink. Hmm.

How about this week I issue the design challenge? Design a header for my fiance's blog: Eat. Sleep. Redskins.. Readers, if you're interested in joining in, send your results to newlydomesticated(at)gmail.com.