Thursday, August 31, 2006
Owl Slick
There's plenty of chuckles to be had when you peruse the ample content of the Cafepress "Humor" offerings. We have even been known to laugh out loud on occasion. But sometimes something very special happens... a snicker, followed by the thought, "man, that's slick." Today's Pick is a great example of one such design that received that particular reaction. Quite simple, but quite special.What makes it T-Slick?
- Like we said, it generated a solid snicker when we viewed the design, and is likely to do the same when you wear it out in the real world.
- "I'm a Hoot" is such an old person thing to say... which makes it due for a come-back amongst the kids. Bonus slick points have been awarded for predicting a trend.
- Widely understood reference won't leave many folks scratching their heads. Those that don't get it may need to be removed from the gene pool.
Congratulations are in order for Lush Laundry, the owner of today's T-Slick.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Slick Jerk
Ha! Today's T-Slick is downright rude... and frickin' hilarious. OK, we'll admit that we've seen this one before, so when we stumbled across it while going deep into Cafepress.com, it was an easy pick. A blast from the past, so to speak, given the retro style of the design, which states "The Jerk Store called... and they're running out of YOU!" next to a classic 50's clip-art image.What makes it T-Slick?
- It's offensive without being overly offensive. Not that we'd wear it to church, but you technically could.
- Read the text in the design. You know you want to say it now. It's like a movie quote that gets thrown around at the local bar on a nightly basis.
- Combines the classic 90's "so-and-so called" jokes with a great retro flavor.
Did you laugh? Chuckle? Well, if you're ready for more slickness, head over to Monkey Dan Tees to see their full stock of original geeky and retro designs.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Dragons = Slick
Today's pick was fun and quite efficient. Here's the scoop... we went to Cafepress and searched for dragon. Two seconds later, today's T-Slick appeared before our eyes. There may have been some mystic dragon-voodoo at work. Now were just talking loony.What makes it T-Slick?
- Clean vectored design without any unnecessary bells and whistles.
- Well-executed circular pattern that really pulls the eye in towards the dragon head.
- Looks fantastic with the black sleeve/neck accents on the Ringer Tee.
- Dragons are, well, slick.
You'll find today's T-Slick, the Classic Tribal Dragon, amongst the deep collection of designs at SKULL SHOCK. Our comments above apply to a majority of their work. We dare you to prove otherwise.
Monday, August 28, 2006
Planet Slick
Chances are that, since you obviously have interweb access, you know about Pluto's downgrade to dwarf planet status last week. This story was made for Cafepress, and the network of shopkeepers that provide content have not disappointed. Check out the plethora of Pluto inspired designs available (over 1,500 at the time of this post).We've picked our favorite for this T-Slick post.
What makes it T-Slick?
- Quality retro style with a touch of distressing.
- Nails the subject and really "pops" in the marketplace.
- It's our favorite (so far), dang-it.
The shop is Pluto: I Love Dwarf Planets, which is a "basic" shop that only features this design. Take a look if you want to see all the products available with our T-Slick design, or click here to browse all the Cafepress "Pluto" designs.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
All Your Base Are Slick
The minds behind T-Slick are deeply versed in the ways of gaming, and have been since the days of the Atari 2600. You'll likely see more than a few gamer shirts pop up on this blog, and today's T-Slick quest involved finding the slickest "All Your Base Are Belong To Us" design on Cafepress.com. No idea what the geeky reference is, in fact, referring to? Check out the Wikipedia background here.What makes it T-Slick?
- A well executed juxtaposition of the highly recognizable "Property Of" genre and savvy geekness.
- Proves that sometimes a text-only design can be truly slick.
- Obscure gaming references are a big part of our lives.
- We were able to use the word "Juxtaposition" in a T-Slick entry for this one.
A tip-of-the-cap to FlippinSweetGear for claiming this one as part of their deep and unique catalog.
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Pirate of the Slick Seas
A post over at Engadget.com yesterday got us thinking about digital music rights, piracy, and the way technology has changed the way we listen to music. No, we're making that up. This is a fun blog, not some sappy, reflective and serious rambling.So, truthfully, what our reading did do is inspire us to find a T-Slick music piracy design... which we present to our readers for your amusement and enjoyment.
What makes it T-Slick?
- Awesome pop-culture reference. Everybody has heard of "music pirates," right?
- Says it all without the need for any text on the shirt.
- Great vector-based look, which is quite the popular graphic style these days (ask the kids!)
- Pirates are cool... music is cool... cool+cool=Friggin' Sweet
Kudos go to the Strk3 Shop for today's T-Slick. Some of their designs are on the more offensive side, so avoid the click-through if you're light of heart. Don't say we didn't warn ya.
Friday, August 25, 2006
Hippy-Slick
We stumbled across today's pick and immediately fell in love with it. Who wouldn't fall for the line "Everything is Made From Dreams"? It implores the viewer to explore their inner love-child and make peace with the world. OK, we may be exaggerating the impact of this design... but it doesn't change the fact that it's T-Slick (and we want a hug).What makes it T-Slick?
- Top-notch "distressing" of the design.
- Positive, catchy message. A total hug attractant.
- Interesting usage of text as a complete graphical element.
- This was meant to be printed on an Organic Tee (color-scheme & hippy-chic)
Today's T-Slick winner is a well-known Cafepress heavyweight sporting a shop full of desirable and original looks. Check 'em out at KA Designs.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Slicker than your "Average Joe"
Movie inspired gear makes up a good portion of the Cafepress universe. A great example is the recent "Snakes on a Plane" craze. Today's T-Slick has nothing to do with snakes. Or planes. We're happy to present "Average Joe's" a tribute to the underdogs of Dodgeball, the delicious comedy from a few years back. This isn't one of the many "slap a movie quote on a shirt" designs, and we love the work that went into it. It also helps that we freakin' love the movie.What makes it T-Slick?
- Loving attention to detail and a slight hint of aging.
- Slick retro feel.
- It works as a great shirt even if you don't get the reference.
- See that smile on the graphic? That's how we feel about the movie, the sport, and the design.
OriginalGear.net, you've been T-Slicked. We also highly recommend checking out their other great movie inspired designs.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Slick-squatch
T-Slick gets a warm and fuzzy feeling over today's pick. Wait, no... make that warm and furry. What could make us feel this way? One word: Bigfoot. Our geeky guilty pleasure for this legend of the woodlands led us to "Believe: Bigfoot" on the Cafepress marketplace.
What makes it T-Slick?
- Cool font and graphic combo, all done in black and white.
- Geeky sasquatch reference.
- It's a fantastic conversation starter.
- We believe.
Credit goes to Live Loud Tees for putting this one together and keeping the Bigfoot dream alive.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
The Super-Slick
"Superstar" shirts seem to be everywhere these days, but this one is something special. Something different. Something very T-Slick. We immediately were impressed with the old-school style of the graphic. This one could have come right off the side of an early 80's arcade game cabinet. It's not certain whether this was the original intent of the designer, but they've pulled it off regardless.What makes it T-Slick?
- Throwback arcade style.
- Great layout of the individual design elements. Not too much, not too little.
- Top-of-class in the plethora of "Superstar" designs.
We tip our hats to the crew of Tinyninjas for earning a great big wet T-Slick today.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Monday T-Slick Escape
It's Monday. It's the summer, and you'd rather be on vacation instead of reading this blog at work (oops, hi boss!). Well, hop on the Planet Express and spend the rest of your day in the land of science fiction. Ok, we admit that this is another design that we've seen multiple times on the Cafepress marketplace. We also admit that we may have gone looking specifcally for this one since we feel it's worthy of an early T-Slick award.What makes it T-Slick?
- Clean graphic and solid font placement.
- The neat trick of extending the jet exhaust over the edge of the main design to give an extra feeling of size and depth.
- It's retro, geeky, and is a perfect example of what only three colors are capable of.
- Memorable tagline. Hey, we remembered it. Beat that.
You can find Planet Express and more at theboxthebox.com, our latest T-Slick honoree. They've also got ninjas, which is worth huge bonus points in our book.
First T-Slick Pick - Super Speedway Gasoline
If you know us, you know we love retro. Super Speedway Gasoline is just that, and we've seen it quite often while searching the keyword "retro" on Cafepress to see where our own shop's designs rank. So, when it came to picking our first T-Slick, of course we went retro. Would you expect anything less from us?What makes it T-Slick?
- Clean, polished graphic with a perfect touch of "distressing."
- Great color scheme that really pops on the black shirt.
- Have we mentioned it's so very retro?
- We love racing.
Congrats to the folks of Factory 69 for earning the first T-Slick award. Be sure to check out their other offerings if you're feeling this one.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Hola! T-Slick is born.
Greetings from the studios of Unimental Designs. We post here before you to announce our newest undertaking, "T-Slick" the blog. Our intentions are simple here: spend some time talking about shirts that aren't in our shop (we do enough of that at the Unimental Shop Blog) and add to the internet coverage of great designs that can be found on Cafepress. We know we're not the only ones talking, but we know that you know that we know t-shirt design.
So, without further ado, we plan to post daily (yes, daily) on our favorites that we've come across. Other features may be added in the future, so feel free to suggest something if it fits your fancy. Or if it's just fancy. Welcome aboard, and all that jazz.
