No Lost Time T-shirt

This year the MSA Cranberry Plant celebrates over a decade without a serious injury. As a way to celebrate, they commissioned a t-shirt design commemorating this truly amazing accomplishment. They wanted a badge-like style that bore resemblance to prior commemorative designs but requested a few twists: one, make it look industrial, and two—if possible—include a specific reference to gas detection.

Origins

Ideation

While sketching ideas for banner elements, I realized that the shape of the ALTAIR io4—an MSA portable gas detection product—would work perfectly as the shape of the badge. I also decided to turn the outline part of the design (present in other badge graphics) into industrial pipes lining the graphic, adding an subtle but decidedly industrial element to the design. I also wanted to create a strong, angular, modern, and energetic ribbon feature, so that it leapt out of the center as if it had just broken the glass ceiling or reached its own amazing accomplishment.

As the project progressed, a few important specs came to my attention. First, the client informed me that the t-shirts were going to be black. Second, that printing in more than two colors was too expensive. And third, that they wanted the MSA logo itself present on the left chest (front) while the design was going to be placed on the back. There were also concerns about how large the MSA logo was going to appear within the graphic, and whether it was really feasible or in line with brand rules to keep it there.

Therefore, the graphic was converted to its final green and white version with a black base—which ended up working amazingly well because the graphic itself was agreeable, flexible, and forgiving! The MSA logo was also removed from the bottom. The result (featured below) is just as impactful as it was intended to be from the beginning.

Development

The Final Product