probably too much to share but kind of keeping a running diary to remember all the steps that led up to developing, will clean this area up...or will move it to a different area
city clues ...
city clues is actually the first t-shirt game I thought of ...
the idea was in the way back of my mind for a long time,
I don't recall sharing the idea of wanting to be wearing something interactive with anyone other than one of my besties from home who was visiting me in Sausalito back in 2008...
In 2012 it kind of came about as a result of needing to reinvent myself and trying to figure out what to do next ...
which matched up with my longtime wish to start my own business ...
at the time I really didn't have any other options to consider ...
b ing stuck on a layover in LAX in 2008 and wishing I was wearing something to help start a conversation inspired me to create
City Clues. I remember feeling like I wanted to b wearing something interactive... I even went shopping in Sausalito after the trip with my friend from home who was visiting but couldn't find anything....
and didn't really ever think about again ...
until the design concept came later to me in 2012 to put a text design together on a t-shirt that was actually a guessing game...
I first saw this cool ad online for a solid color t-shirt, I remember, it was orange kind of crumpled up t-shirt and had also been carrying around a drink ware cup that had a text design of a coffee theme and this got my creative ideas flowing and started to imagine a word game guessing game with an updated text design on the back of a t-shirt that had the look of b ing in a card game ... that was the kind of t-shirt I was looking for back in 2008
Cincinnati was not the first city I thought of but since I was living in Oxford when I decided to start my business I made Cincinnati first and actual product production came years later
this could be a fun way to inspire a casual encounter, a way to meet some new people while traveling. I thought it would work on a travel mug as well.
From my background and experience I am picking up on the trends of the increasing popularity of TV game shows, the ongoing popularity of online games and the continuing explosion of social media and thought to bring a game to a t-shirt.
Also from my background and experience. I can easily recognize identifiable motifs and intuitively wanted to pick clues that tell a story.
City Clues is an updated classic text design guessing game that includes the unique characteristics and interesting facts of the city. The clues come from the city's identifiable motifs: year settled, meaning of city name, words or phrases unique to the city, well known neighborhoods and areas, city motto, nicknames, area code, well know foods that originated from the city, pro team mascots, iconic buildings and bridges, well know festivals, etc. Capturing each City’s individual culture and character.
I initially started to put a design together for New York City in 2012, at the time I was thinking that I would maybe move there for better career options,
I always kind of wanted to live there but realized it wasn't the right time ...
I used to travel to New York quite a bit on business and always thought it would be fun to live there ...
but as I was formalizing my design concept and layout it took me back in time a bit and realized that the origin of categorizing different clues was inspired by visiting with my parents families in the big city of Detroit,
I think it was the city that made me slicker ...
both families were very social but in different ways ...
A lot of visits revolved around different family events ...my Mom's side of the family had a big band and my Dad's side of the family is in the specialty dining business first starting out with a supper club. Our parents took us to Detroit for family functions, holidays and vacations, going Up North, every year through out my childhood as a townie, exposing us to many different cultural events and activities and I still enjoy visiting the
"relations" in Detroit today.
This is where I learned a lot about the uniqueness of different cultures, different sides of town, learning to dance, different ethnic foods, playing cards and games, visiting the zoo, welcome signs, Belle Isle, a city nickname, outdoor city ice skating, festivals, favorite quotes, freeways and the miles, shopping, sporting events, different kinds of music, pro teams and their mascots, Lafayette Coney Island, pop, I went to my first movie and museum in Detroit....
the identifiable motifs.
We attended many different social gatherings and there were many more fun things we did and experienced with our family in the city of Detroit.
Early on my parents also took the family on many vacations to different cities, my favorites include Baltimore, Washington D.C, Boston, Toronto, Quebec and Phoenix.
For high school spring breaks I traveled with a good friend to Houston, Washington D.C. and also took my first trips to Chicago and New York City.
In college I took the typical spring break to the Florida cities, a fun trip to Raleigh, North Carolina and lived in Nags Head, North Carolina for a summer and vacationed in other coastal cities in South Carolina with the family.
This soon fueled the love of travel and learning about each city's beginnings, cultures, nuances, events and interesting facts that make a city unique.
Cincinnati is the first city that I moved to after college and I started traveling to all the major cities for various positions for over 20 years throughout the East Coast, Midwest, South and West Coast. And I took most of my vacations during this time to visit most of the major European cities with a few fun trips to a few cities in Mexico, St. Maarten, and Buenos Aires. As well as taking trips to visit with friends and family in various cities, some of my favorites were: Atlanta, Dallas, Cleveland, Saratoga, NY, West Palm, Hampton's, Vancouver, Tahoe, Lahaina, Palm Desert, Santa Barbara, Napa and Sonoma, Pismo Beach, Carmel, Newport Beach,
Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, South Haven...
I am always up for a fun road trip !
Like my Dad said "she got the travel bug early on", and there are still many more cities that I want to visit .
All of these experiences, along with living in Cincinnati, Chicago, San Francisco and Sausalito for over 20 years combined with some of my favorite classes in school-math, history, geography, art history and religions of the world and interests in food and wine, the arts and photography and sports and fitness have all piqued my cultural view and how I picked the clues to tell a cultural story of the city.
Screen printed gray on a gray t-shirt, preshrunk.
A t-shirt game...a casual Icebreaker...to name a few: fun for travel, conventions and meetings, runs & races, the gym, walks and bike rides...like social media share your "favorite" home team with a guessing game t-shirt !!!
Perfect for corporate sales meetings as an icebreaker, team building events and or welcome gifts.
Can also be used as a development tool for fundraising.
Post a "selfie" with City Clues on...create your own social media game:
Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat and Twitter...
or a fun video for YouTube!
City Clues is customizable for each individual city.
Ideal for online businesses and utilizing
social media and YouTube streams to reach
targeted customers.
townie ... Inspired by Forbes Magazine No. 1 Best College Town
Picking up on the trends of "sharing" posts of favorites on social media... I am a townie and wanted an Oxford t-shirt for myself because it was voted No.1 two years in a row ...
I wore my first townie t-shirt, Oxford, on a trip back to
San Francisco ... I explained to my friends that Oxford was voted the No. 1 college town that year and this is how I came up with... share it while you wear it!...
Post your favorite college city or town with a townie t-shirt on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, Twitter or You Tube...
townie ... long time resident ...customizable for any
College or University city or town.
Ideal for online businesses and utilizing social media and
You Tube streams to reach targeted customers.
what's your M.O.? ...
motto's often originate as a latin phrases and thinking back to latin class I became curious what certain mottos mean, they remind me of affirmations of today ... I thought a motto translation design would be an
updated fun way to share ...
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