Excerpt: Geoff Wagner
In honor of today’s California Supreme Court ruling overturning Prop 8, here’s an excerpt from the book, featuring Geoff Wanger’s “I am Californian (for) Equal Rights” T-shirt. Not only is the shirt awesome (I own one) but like the 2.5 tote bags mentioned in yesterday’s post, it was one of just 2 exceptions to our “no t-shirts, no tote bags” rule.
Geoff’s story appears on page 156 in the “reacting” chapter. Opposite are projects from Modern Dog and Rule29.
Californian for Equal Rights
Designer: Geoff Wagner
Like many designers, Geoff Wagner had something to say about the passage of California’s Proposition 8. But he didn’t want to just say it to his friends colleagues, he wanted to everyone to know. So he made a protest sign. The designer in him couldn’t help but make the sign typographically beautiful, and the people who saw it couldn’t help but notice. A few started asking him if they could get it on a t-shirt. And then more. And so finally he printed up a run and sold them on the corner. They were gone in an hour. And so he made some more. He funded the project out of his own pockets and donated the proceeds to an organization fighting to repeal the new law. Wagner is still negotiating the nuances of product design, production and promotion, but meanwhile the shirts keep selling and his message keeps spreading.