For a project, I was tasked with designing a gift for classmate in the form of a T-Shirt. My goal was to make it impactful.

Interviews

To first understand my classmate, who he is and what he cares about, I interviewed his sister, a friend, and him. I then wrote down those learnings in the form of a sticky note wall.

One of the things that struck me about him was his self awareness. He was very open and honest about the things that he enjoyed, struggled with, was challenged, confused, and scared by. He knew he had flaws, but was motivated to overcome them.

As a human, he was extremely passionate about all the things that he did. He followed his interests, with a single minded focus, and extremely motivated to make those things happen.

This classmate was surrounded by an extremely supportive friend group and family. They all expressed how thoughtful, kind, and fun this classmate was, how meaningful he was to their lives. But they sited that this passion and singleminded focus can hurt him. He can get overwhelmed with all his interests, his expectations for himself, and can be absent minded when it came to engaging in with the family.

Since he was passionate about his own personal growth, I decided to design a t-shirt that served as a reminder to not only him, but those around him, to help him see his faults so that he can them overcome them.

Defining the Problem

How might we help him become more aware of his expectations and his feelings and where they come from?

Ideating

The Solution

He has his faults, he can become blind by his singlemindedness. he has many gifts. That’s one of them. To realize that he is blind and to ask for help from his family is what I wanted him to take away. In a sybolic way that’s what the shirt design is about.

On the front there is a closed eye on the breast pocket. Which serves as a reminder that he is not able to see.

On the back of the shirt there is the text, “Show me the things that I cannot see.” A reminder to him that he can only see with the help of others AND a call to those around him to do just that. To help him become aware of his faults so he can grow and improve. 

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