The Lore of T-Shirtism
While acknowledging everything is a remix, let me tell you about one of my favorite projects of all time.
Back in 2021, we were all hoping life would get back to normal. Something super-specific I was hoping to experience? The International Broadcasting Conference (or IBC) in Amsterdam.
Of course, IBC was postponed again that year. But when the NAB Show actually happened in 2022, anticipation for The Return of IBC was at an all-time high.
At the time, I was working for a software company based out of The Netherlands. I started out doing some content marketing for them. While my focus quickly shifted to helping customers with their workflow, I still did some marketing for them here and there. Also, a good chunk of my professional experience is steeped in live-event production.
Since IBC would be the first post-pandemic outing for lots (and lots) of people, I knew effective pre-event hype would be crucial. How could we show potential guests who we were and what kind of vibe they could expect when visiting our booth?
So, I went to work.
One of my resulting pieces was this:
Working at Hedge came with a high-trust, high-transparency culture. Yes, I could pick up and use the company megaphone, but with great power comes great responsibility. So I was only half-surprised when I received some DMs on that post from the executive team.
“Where did you get that shot?”
That’s when I showed them this:
Knowing we were all a bunch of like-minded music nerds, I thought, “Well, if I can pull off a believable image, I’ll either be loved or forgiven.”
Happily, it was well-received. 😅
But that post was just aspirational, nothing more. Or so I thought.
CUT TO: Pre-IBC 2023
The team was considering new t-shirts for the booth and that imaginary tee Questlove never wore became our top candidate.
Unexpectedly, quite a bit of discussion arose about modifying the shirt’s fundamental design.
I tracked down the article by the makers of the original John&Paul&Ringo&George shirts, a design team called Experimental Jetset. Where were they from? Amsterdam.
When I realized the connection – some work by a Dutch design team with global cultural impact was the springboard for another Dutch team to be used at an event in Amsterdam – I could only blurt out to myself (Keanu-style), “No. Way.”
Using that article, I successfully made the case to preserve the spirit of Experimental Jetset’s original design. Then another Dutch creative agency called POP (https://shop-pop.nl/about/) sourced and shepherded the production on these shirts.
One of POP’s proprietors is Lydia. Lydia hand-delivered these shirts – fresh out of the oven – to where we were staying during IBC. Let me tell you, these were not family reunion tees. The care and craft on these shirts blew me away.
Still jet-lagged, I clumsily walked Lydia through how these shirts came to be. That’s when she revealed: she was classically trained in typography by one of the founders of Experimental Jetset, so working on these shirts was a treat.
I think my face melted and she ran away from the ensuing fanboy behavior.
Like I said, “there is nothing new under the sun” with these shirts. Indeed, Experimental Jetset published a catalog of homage and parody to the original John&Paul&Ringo&George shirts back in 2005. The article’s entitled: T-Shirtism.
In my mind, these represent the essence of Hedge: a deep love of music, art, and pop culture coupled with Dutch design. I’m just grateful I was a small part of what became another submission to that glorious pantheon of t-shirts.
(And AFAIK, no, Questlove wasn’t at IBC that year 😄)