T-shirt art “Gentleman wear top hats.”

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T-shirt custom graphic art “Gentelman…

CLIENT: Elena Franchuk ANTI-AIDS Foundation, Kyiv Ukraine.

BRAND: «Naked Street Fashion» nationwide street wear design contest.

INDUSTRY: Social Initiatives, Sexual Education

MARKETING GOALS: Create bright and memorable t-shirt design, which motivates youngsters to have a safe sex with a condom.

Safe Sex t-thirt custom art for Anti-AIDS Foundation, Ukraine

THE PROBLEM:

Inside the target community, Ukrainian and Russian-speaking youngsters, “a condom” means something slimy and unpleasant, and teens are too shy to ask for condoms in local pharmacies.

To motivate them to use a condom, you must transform an ordinary condom visual into something funny and friendly, making them smile, not shy.

DESIGN STRATEGY: FROM SLIMY TO SMILEY

I’ve created the custom illustration and transformed the ordinary condom shapes into funny and colorful hats. Also, the support phrase “gentleman wear top-hats” was added — to avoid any verbal reminders of condoms.

As a result, it is a colorful t-shirt design with a funny declaration of safe sex principles.

Custom t-shirt design for safe sex campaign - gentlemans wear top hat - art director Mike Lytiuga

Why is the print in English?

Within this project, I created several different concepts, united by the same meaning but with other verbal parts, designed to account for different regions of Ukraine, with varying levels of general education.

For example, for areas closer to the Russian borders, where the general level of education and wealth is usually lower – a unique print was created using a Surzhik, a somewhat local pidgin for those who can not learn or use the Ukrainian language.

This print is designed for residents of cities with a population of more than a million and for the central and western parts of Ukraine, where understanding English is trendy among young people.