Any time I’ve ever seen a submission with any form of text on it, there’s always at least one person crying out that they could “do without the text.” Very few designs require text to make their point. (Notable exceptions that come to mind include Cookie Loves Milk.) Even more designs are absolutely trashed (in many people’s opinions) by the presence of text displayed in an awkward typeface, bad position or with weird, misspelled verbiage. We’ve seen them all, and it’s rarely adventagious to include it.

That said, would artist’s just be better off submitting their primary design sans text? I think that having an alternate would be a great idea, because it’s hard to tell what the reaction would be, but flexibility is key, and no one (least of all Threadless) is keen to see you submit a duplicate “without text.” Take Tin Opener, by idro51. It features an illustration of a sardine can (tin) concealing a cassette tape, with a treble clef twist opener. Beneath it is the quote “Music is the tin opener of the spirit,” by Henry Miller. Setting aside the concern that, apparently, in this piece, music the the tin opener of the… cassette tape, could the design stand on its own? Will people be more or less drawn to purchasing it because of the text? I ask this, because I wonder about designs like this, where the text isn’t outright ruining it or anything like that. I’m interested in your opinions about the text-on-a-shirt concept.

What makes or breaks the text? Is it just the content? Not witty enough, pass-veto? Or will placement and typeface and the other elements I mentioned above significantly impact your decision to pick up a shirt? Do you find that you usually prefer a shirt withOUT text?

I think for the sake of this argument, we should exclude the Joy of Text-style designs: Designs built explicitly around the text itself, and its layout. The point I’m looking to clarify is people’s outlook on designs accompanies with text.

What do you think?