Howdy! Based on the success of the Overclocked Lemon shirt [goats.com], we're proceeding with additional super-advance t-shirt designs. Undoubtedly, much of the success of the first design is owed to the feedback we collected from you guys. So, we're gonna do it again.

The next shirt is the "Cold War Supervillain" design, featuring Staropramen [goats.com] (specifically the image in the last panel from this strip [goats.com]. I'll post the designs here for your feedback.

Specifically, I'm looking for answers to the following questions (although any and all feedback is appreciated ):

• Would you buy one of these (your answer doesn't constitute a commitment, of course)?
• Which color text do you prefer? Should we go with an even lighter color text (perhaps the lighter of the two yellow/grens we use in the illustration)?
• Would you prefer the URL on the sleeve, or is it okay on the front under the design? Would the position of the URL affect your purchase decision?
• Would you prefer to have the design on the back and the text on the front? Would you prefer this even if it meant the price of the shirt would be a couple of dollars more?

Thanks in advance for your help, guys. These t-shirt sales are helping us keep afloat, so your feedback directly impacts us.

red text version:

yellow/green text version:

I probably won't get one of these, so I don't know if my opinion matters. Having said that I think it would be best with:
Dark text, text and image on the front, with the url on the sleeve.
However, I probably still won't get the shirt. I'll wait for the Gregor Mendel edition.

I'm with VJaeger on the url on the sleeve.

Also, it might be more readable with yellow/gold text with RED border instead of BLACK border. But that's just a thought.

Also, I may not buy this one for myself, but I may buy it for others.

Woot I can answer this one as I will most certainly buy at least one of this one (assuming you do _exactly_ as I ask), so:

Which color text do you prefer?
The top one of the two, I like the red text. However the double L and A seems a bit blurry to my (admittedly not so great) eyes...

Would you prefer the URL on the sleeve
URL on the sleeve please. And also a little larger than on the Toothgnip zen T (that font was too small to make me feel like I was advertising). Having the URL on the sleeve kind of separates the advertising from the coolness and I just flat out love sleeve logos anyhow.

Would you prefer to have the design on the back
Design on the front please. I don't mind a blank back as I can't see it...

Can I also say that for some reason my future monkey shirt gets more looks than any other shirt I have ever owned. It is quite weird. Sometimes I feel like I must have great big bouncy boobs and no bra or soemthing, then I remember I only have small hairy and, usually, sweaty man boobs which don't tend to attract attention when covered by a shirt. It is even at the point where people walking with me notice that I am getting a bunch of looks.

In Response to tor (#5880):

oh yeah and is that roughly the size of the graphic? I wouldn't like it any smaller than that, bigger and dead centre in the chest is cooler (especially as I already have a shirt that color with a big red star in the middle...)

It's good, but unless the fabric is at least a 50% / 50% Cotton / Commie blend, I won't be buying it.
Seriously? I think it needs to be more communist. It needs to look more like those iconic propagando posters of old
The red on red is a better design, but it needs more RED!
Something more like this:

It needs to smell of borscht and 5-year plans!

my two rubles. ~Lemur

p.s. Yeah, that's Clarence Thomas.

In Response to lemur666 (#5882):

I originally wanted to do something like this, but then I realized it would require more effort. I like to avoid that sort of thing if I can.

In Response to tor (#5880):

However the double L and A seems a bit blurry to my (admittedly not so great) eyes...

I have at least slightly better eyes than that, and they look "hard to read" to me.

That was my thinking behind the yellow text with RED outline. Although it probably would work just as well with red text with YELLOW outline. The basic problem is that the BLACK outline provides too much contrast, and blows out the letters. At least with the current kerning - the letter outlines bleed together, and the high contrast blurs the shapes even more.

So either decrease the contrast by changing the outline color, or increase the kerning.

Pretty pretty please? With sugar on top?

In Response to tor (#5881):

I haven't decided on the final size; it'll probably be between 8-10 inches tall.

In Response to zamphir (#5888):

The letter outlines bleed together intentionally.

However, I can play with the colors a bit to see if I can get the contrast right. I think if we use a slightly lighter, less purpley red (such as the one in Lemur666's image [goats.com]), it might be a tad easier on the eyes.

But I hear your pain, and I'll figure something out.

Would you buy one of these?
He wasn't a favorite villian but I love the idea of the Cold War theme so yes.
Which color text do you prefer?
I like the red better than yellow/green. More Evil Empire feel and it stands out against the background color. I have to agree with the fact that the L and A are difficult to read.
Would you prefer the URL on the sleeve, or is it okay on the front under the design? Would the position of the URL affect your purchase decision?
I like the sleeve option, larger than the Zen shirt too. Under the design takes away from the uniqueness of the supervillian text and picture.
Would you prefer to have the design on the back and the text on the front?
Keep as much on the front as possible. Since I'm in a wheelchair the back designs don't get seen when I wear them. The OCL shirt is the exception for all of my shirts. The back design is in the perfect position.
And for what it's worth, The Zen shirt material seems better than the OCL material. I don't know if the shirt printer gives you a choice of tees to use or if there is a cost difference but the Zen is nicer.

• I might buy one of these. I especially like the possible shirt color.
• I like the red text better, but I find both difficult to read. It took me a few extra moments to figure out what the second word was. If I blur my eyes all of the letters get easier to distinguish.
• URL either place is fine. More people will see it on the front.
• I'd prefer text and picture on the front.

In Response to Rich (#5902):

The OCL shirts are by Gildan, the Zen shirts are Hanes. The quality is comparable, technically, but the Gildans run us a buck less.

Personally, I like the Gildans, but we could switch back to the Hanes if enough people want us to.

What do you guys think?

Thanks for all the feedback guys (and feel free to keep it coming).

We'll put the URL on the sleeve, larger than it was last time.

I'm going to try and redo the design to make the lettering more legible. I'm going to try a slight variation on the colors, maybe mess with the borders some, and see if I can figure out how to distinguish the Is and Ls a bit (I think making the foot of the Ls a bit wider would probably do the trick).

Alternately, I could try using a different font altogether. Anyone have thoughts about that?

Anyway, thanks again, and I'll try and have the next version available as soon as time permits (I'm swamped all weekend, so it may be a while).

In Response to jon (#5906):

Have you thought about using the font that John Allison used for his "Truck Power" shirt?

In Response to jon (#5883):

Effort? EFFORT?! If Clarence Thomas had felt that way he'd have stuck with his porn career, but just look at him now!

Okay, bad example.

I hear you on the effort thing, but I don't think it's commie enough to get the greenbacks out of my pocket. Without more communism it just doesn't fit into my completely unrealist self image of what's hip enough for me to wear.

Okay, that's another bad example.

Curse you, Jonathan Rosenberg, curse you!

Every time I think I've bought my final T-shirt, you sucker me back in with yet another excellent design.

I think that all the niggly points have been raised already (red font, easier to read font, url bigger and on sleeve). It's a good thing the Euro is doing so well at the moment or else I'd be whinging even more...

Staropramen is an evil, toilet-blocking bastard and should not be honored with his own t-shirt.

Needless to say, i will not be purchasing a shirt bearing his vile visage, but i think the URL on the sleeve is better.

Well, based on the actual bottles (sorry, beer nerd) (http://www.prazskepivovary.cz/content/cz/vyrobky/ staropramen),
you should probably go with the yellow-green variety.

Okay, here we go: three new versions. First off, let me tell you that every one of the changes I had decided to make completely failed -- futzing with border sizes, positioning, kerning, you name it. This is a hard font to work with. I ended up doing a version with slight modifications to the shape of the letters, but it's still pretty hard to read. The color change also helps some -- the red is now more of a Commie Red instead of a Pansy Purple.

I also tried out two other fonts; one is a good blocky Soviet-style font; the other takes things in a completely different direction and introduces a bit of ambiguity and playfulness (I can't believe I just typed that... our summer collection is playful and whimsical with a touch of michief... here's Heather to model our first item, an espresso stretch sateen capri based on what we think the pirates should have worn...).

Anyway, to sum up:

• Everything I tried (and I tried a lot) failed.
• These are the only things that were near-successful.
• Please tell me which one is your favorite.

In Response to jon (#6061):

I'm surprised, I must say, but 2f is a LOT more readable.

And I like it better than the other two, as well.

Also, you should have (if you can) one shirt printed up that has the "2F" on it, and send it to a random buyer. That would be funny.

In Response to samayg (#6059):

I was going to post something similar, but was afraid I was missing some joke. In other news, I now know that they have four beers, and not just three (was feeling very proud of myself the last time I was there when I had a dark one). Another reason for going back there...

In Response to jon (#6061):

2f is better than your first attempt with that font. Go with that one.
2d worries me too. The font makes StarOperaMan seem a bit femimine, far from a cold war supervillain. I imagine him singing to torture people vs. evil methods.

In Response to Rich (#6071):

Remarkable what a different font suggests:

2d makes me think of a Smashing Pumpkins t-shirt.
2e makes it look like he's about to burst into an aria.
2f looks like he's taking a dirty big shit that will stink your house out.

I think we all know which one to go for...

In Response to evilaltor (#6064):

The only joke you're missing is that Jon and Phillip drink a lot of beer - that is both lots of beer and lots of KINDS of beer.

And then write down what they say while drunk.

Which is almost as funny as the fact that we turn around and pay them for what they've written down.

In Response to evilaltor (#6072):

I kind of like 2e myself... Mind you at the moment I believe that weird things are happening in my ocular cavities as the forum text that has always been black and a single font size currently has random letters in blue and different sizes, except when I try to actually look closely at a single letter they are all the normal size and black...

On the basis of this state I'll put my money on 2f as most other people are down with it and I'll _know_ what it says when I wear it.