The 2006 Joystiq t-shirt

You bastards.

Seriously. Not just for choosing a 'Meh' design, but for giving us only 150. Shit, guys, you've had articles single-handedly recieve more comments then that.

I liked all of the finalist’s designs. Probably in this order:

# 1

The Space Invaders theme makes my old-school gaming self all atwitter. I also really like how the Joystiq logo is being shot through like the shields in the game. I think this one would have garnered the most attention from the general public.

# 12

I love this one. That Joystiq could be the next Mario, or something. Definitely works as a chipper mascot for the page.

# 15

Nostalgia for every gamer, while avoiding the “too-much-going-on” flaw that could have ruined the design. Nice one!

# 10

Still reminds me too much of the opening from “Attack of the Show,” but other than that it’s pretty cool.

# 9

This one made me feel all happy and proud to be a gamer. The shirt said, “hey man, it’s cool to game!” It also made me stand in front of the mirror and imitate the Fonz.

# 4

It took me a while to see the logo in this one. It was sorta cool when it did pop out at me. Like the old “Jesus” ones my grandma put everywhere at Christmas.

# 11

Good idea … for me to poop on! Sorry, having a Triumph moment.

# 6

Slap an Atari joystick on just about anything and I’m in gaming heaven.

# 7

I’m a big-time Pac-Man fan, and also love The Muppets. Still, I’d like this one better if it didn’t say “Wakka Wakka” (I realize that’s the Pac-Man “eating” sound, but it still reminded me of Fozzie Bear).

# 13

That one makes me think dirty thoughts.

# 3

The most basic of the bunch. Nothing too exciting, but has a nice clean design.

# 8

A little too busy. Nice idea, though.

# 4

The gamer looks a little too much like a World of Warcraft player after a week long gaming marathon.

# 16

This one’s saved from being my least favorite due to the fact that I think Chuck Norris is creepy.

# 5

This is such an inside joke, it may have flopped for anyone but the 200 people owning the shirt. I dunno. Chuck Norris is creepy.

I left out the URLs to the shirts, because it wasn't letting me post with them in, for some reason.

It would be nice if they were printed on white or kelly Gildan tees. I'm tired of ugly, nerdy black.

Just my two cents.

i like it because it doesn't say

"HI AM GAMER ASL FUK ME PLZ"

unlike most gaming t-shirts, it actually makes you look like a normal human being and not someone who thinks Hot Topic is a good place to buy pants.

I think it's a shame that the winning shirt has nothing to do with videogames at all. Of all the runner ups, this was the least videogame-related shirt, in my humble opinion.

Here's my opinion on all of the teeshirts:

1) Space Invaders- This was a good, simple design that had the Joysitq logo, and was game oriented. It was good, and the logo was just-enough recognisable.

2) Tetris- Yep, game oriented, and you could just about make out Joystiq. Still not bold enough, though.

3) Pong- This was the best in my opinion. A clearly readable logo, and clearly game oriented, and it worked for different colours. This one I would've bought.

4) Chuck Norris: Chuck Norris? If I wanted a Chuck Norris teeshirt I would've printed one myself. Terrible, can hardly make out "Joystiq" and not releated to Joystiq or games in any way. Next..

5) Atari Joystick: This one had a clear title, and was game oriented, but brown? Yuck. I'm sorry, you can't wear that teeshirt with anything else.

6) Pac-Man: Features a bold logo, is game oriented and is simple. Good, but it would've been better without the "Wakka wakka"

7) Timeline: This would be a great back design for the winning teeshirt.
For the front it's just unclear and vague.

8) Thumbs-Up: Not sure what a thumb's up has to do with video-gaming, it's not the strongest association I can think of. I like the logo on the arm though. Nice touch.

9) Godzilla: The second worst in my opinion. You can hardly make out the logo, and it's not gaming releated at all. People would walk up to me and ask me about Godzilla, rather than gaming. Is that what I want out of a shirt? No!
Ok, it's not GodZILLA, but it's clearly associating the teeshirt with the films.

10) Katamari: Shame about the sueing issue, this was one of the best as well. The tiny logo doesn't do any favours, as does the horrible colour, but this is the one that best represents the Joystiq generation. I think this is the one that would've sold the most, with some modification and some legal advice.

11) Robot: This was a good design, except the game references were too small and indestinct. The logo is too small, again.

13) Joystick: This was a good one, would definately look good on a grey teeshirt. The logo wasn't bold enough, but it was a superior design to most of the rest.

14) Nutter with Joystick: This had the best logo of all, but a bit of an unusual design. I don't think I would've worn this.

15) Arcade: This was a good one, featured lots of jaming references and a good logo.

16) News story: This would've been bad. It's no very imaginative, and on a black teehsirt would leave you with a big white square.


Sorry guys, I know people put a lot of work into this but I think you chose the design on your own preferences a bit too much. The fact that you're limiting the print run and giving a quarter to your own purposes shows that you're not really doing this for the readers at all, only as an afterthought. It was a good idea, but if it happens again, please try to give a little bit more to your readers. We're the ones that spead the word and keep the traffic flowing every day, and we're the ones that will spread the word through the teeshirts. Help us to do that, and we'll be proud to wear the teeshirt. Please try this again next year, I really want a decent chance at getting one and I really want one that says something about me.

Good Job, Philip. People need to learn how to be good sports and/or gracious losers. You have such talent!

sweet shirt design.

to the whiners: giant semi-robotic lizards attacking hoards of terrified humans has everything to do with this web site. just go with it :)

#12 was my own design, good to see some ppl like it :-)

Can't say anything bad about the winner, its a quality piece.

#14 (arcade line) was my design, i'm glad ppl liked it as well :D
i'm pretty much on the same page as Vithu- while it may not be my top pick, the robot/kaiju graphic is well done and kudos to Philip. my favs were the more simple designs like the #12 joystick, and i really dug the #11 joystiq character (which inspired me to enter the contest after seeing it in an earlier post). oh yeah, and of course the katamari design which totally made me go "damn, i wish i thought've that!" hehe

Only 200? I guess I am not getting one, then. I am guessing that you won't be printing Smalls in a quantity large enough for me to even have a shot.

It's a shame most posters feel the need to kiss the designer's ass in this thread. Yes its a pretty picture of something very closely resembling Godzilla, but there were way cleaner designs that actually conveyed the message that the shirt is 'Joystiq' better, and many of those used far more appropriate graphics to do it. The Space Invaders entry comes to mind.

And I'm not sure if I agree with the IP argument. Isn't Godzilla a pretty well protected property? IF you can go with that, you likely could have gone with many other protected properties that might have been infringed upon, and even used something that connotes VIDEOGAMES while you're at it.

And while we're on it, did I miss the post that explained wtf Godzilla has to do with Joystiq in the 1st place?

Bottom line: Nice design for a non gaming site, but I wouldn't buy one of these shirts if they were free. Missed the boat on this one guys, big time.