School-wide shirt design announced

By Scott Norgaard     11/19/09 6:00pm

For an organization that holds its meeting in a room often used as an art gallery, the Student Association does not typically take advantage of the inspiration surrounding itself. Well, no more. The SA recently held a Who Drew? T-shirt design contest, which called upon the student body to design a T-shirt that encompassed Rice's culture. The winner was Pawel Mikolajczyk, a sophomore at Sid Richardson College. Mikolajczyk's design features an owl holding a globe, a scroll, a baseball and beer, a parody of Da Vinci's well-known sketch of the Vitruvian Man with four arms and legs spread out.

The design contest was held Oct. 5-26. About 20 submissions were received by the SA through e-mails or physical submissions, SA Secretary Philip Tarpley said. Out of all the proposals submitted, the Executive Cabinet narrowed the choices to the top three Nov. 1. These three designs were submitted by Brown College freshman Bella Adamiak, Brown sophomore Libo Li and Mikolajczyk.

SA senators, college presidents and Executive Cabinet voted on the designs. In the final decision on Nov. 16, Mikolajczyk's design received 16 votes; Adamiak, three; and Li, one.

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Tarpley, a Brown sophomore, originally proposed the idea of the Who Drew? contest earlier this semester. The challenge was to create a T-shirt that encapsulated the essence of Rice's culture of that academic year in a single design. The overall goal was to get the entire campus mobilized toward something that would promote school spirit, he said.

"Let's get everyone involved in this," Tarpley said. "It'll be a T-shirt designed by students, for the students."

SA New Student Representative Christian Woo said she thought the design was fun.

"I think the design completely reflects Rice's character and personality," Woo, a Sid freshman, said.

The contest requirements were minimal. The design had to be a front and back design in two colors on a gray shirt, Tarpley said. Also, the SA logo needed to be present on the back of the shirt, along with the year 2009-10. Decisions were made based on design quality, visual appeal and whether or not the design encompassed Rice's culture. The designs could not have any particular college identification, nor could they solely focus on athletics. The designs also needed to be original creations that looked different than the type of apparel sold at the campus bookstore.

Around 800 SA-subsidized T-shirts will be sold next semester at the SA meetings, through SA college senators and a few times during lunch near Willy's statue. Tarpley said the SA is not looking to make a profit and plans to sell the shirts for about $5.

Designing a shirt that is inclusive of the whole student body is no easy task, at least logistically, according to Lovett College freshman Aakash Keswani.

"It is mind-boggling," Keswani said. "The shirt has to be gray and it is only with two colors. It is hard to represent what Rice is about [with those limitations]."

Keswani's company, California Lifestyles, will produce the shirts.

Students on campus echo those concerns. Sid Rich senior Anna Roberts said designing a shirt that is representative of Rice culture for the academic year is a difficult challenge.

"I think it is a pretty tall thing to ask for, a T-shirt that encompasses the whole year," she said. "I guess it would be just people's interpretations of the year."

Despite this challenge, Tarpley hopes the design contest will continue in future years.

"The goal here is [to represent] what Rice means to you," Tarpley said.

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