Pop Music: T-Shirts
In 1983, I was a graphic designer for OATS — a T-shirt printer. We were given the opportunity to give a couple of designs to the world's largest pop music merchandiser, Brockum CPI. Our first opportunity was for David Gilmour's "About Face" tour. I decided to take a very different approach from the conventional concert t-shirt design. One that would appeal to non-fans as well as fans. My designs exceeded sales projections by over 700%. Needless to say, my work became a mainstay of the concert business during that time, breaking all existing sales records. Designs that I did for Genesis outsold Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" tour — not designed by me. :)
In 1983, I was a graphic designer for OATS — a T-shirt printer. We were given the opportunity to give (not sell) a couple of designs to the world's largest pop music merchandiser, Brockum. Our first opportunity was for
David Gilmour's "About Face" tour. I decided to take a very diffeent approach from the conventional concert t-shirt design. One that would appeal to non-fans as well as fans. My designs exceeded sales projections by over 700%. Needless to say, my work became a mainstay of the concert business during that time.
I did graphic design for hundreds of the top bands in the world, and in the process changed the business model of the music business. Prior to the astronomical sales that my designs were gaining, music tours lost money, because ticket prices simply didn't cover the expense of mounting a tour. This was considered an "advertising expense," incurred to sell Lp's, and then CD's. Now, tours made a profit as a result of merchandise sales. This model continues to this day. Success is a combination of talent, hard work and dumb luck. They all played into the success of my concert designs.
T-shirt design for David Bowie's "Glass Spiders" tour
