I’ve always favoured front prints for my designs. The vast majority of shirts are printed on the front and I guess it’s cool to clock other people’s reactions to the message/design on your shirt.
But yesterday I received an interesting email from a guy called Dennis who suggested that it is much better to put the message on the back of the shirt. His reasoning is that “After years of really investigating this I have found that when a person wears a message on the front if you are in close proximity to another person they will AVOID reading the message because they don’t want you the wearer to see them doing it, but when it’s on the back people pay close attention and will actually go out of their way or stay behind you, without being observed, to read the message, usually several times.”
And I think he has a good point – but more so with T-shirts that carry a very textual message. Most of the designs on Ban T-shirts have very little or no text (although there are exceptions, such as Be Afraid) – observers will be able to take in the visual message with just a glance – so I think front prints are still most appropriate for these shirts. But the only way an observer can read a text-heavy shirt is by either stopping the wearer in the street and asking to read their shirt (not very likely if they don’t know you) or by having the message printed on the back of the shirt. The text can be read from behind without the observer worrying that they are staring at the wearer’s chest. So if you have a message that can only be communicated in the form of text then a back print might be the best option.
Dennis also mentioned that he liked the Last Fish T-shirt but that he would prefer to see a logo (without text) on the front of the T-shirt and the full text of the design on the back. I think this would work well for that particular design. I went a similar route with the Global Warning T-shirt because I really wanted to get the (two words of) text on the shirt somewhere and I didn’t think they fitted in very well on the front, so I went for a big logo on the front and a small version of the same logo on the back with the text underneath.
We will always have our personal preferences for back or front prints, and I still think most of my designs work best on the front of the shirt – but Dennis certainly convinced me that the back of the shirt is the best place to put messages that carry more than six or seven words of text. What do you think?
the last fish t-shirt
I agree with the above, text heavy messages on the back. Graphics/paintings or simple 2 or 3 word messages on the front.
Comment by Andy Gray — March 2, 2010 @ 3:22 pm
It is true that the back allows for more wording, but for the best impact you want to put a design and a short slogan on the front. Why? Because of the sheer fact of jackets. Most people will wear jackets without buttoning/zipping them all the way up. This allows for people to see what t-shirt you’re wearing underneath the jacket.
While the uncomfortable bit of having people stare at your chest is a concern, people are also able to feel eyes on their back. You can’t tell if they are looking at your back or your butt, so you have uncomfortable feelings there too. I prefer having designs on the front of my shirt. Not because I like people looking at my chest, but because it’s easier for people to see the message/design I have there because I often wear my jacket.
PLUS, I am in a wheelchair so the front is all people can see.
Comment by Katie — March 2, 2010 @ 4:17 pm
I think the large print/front – text-heavy/back idea is a good one. Especially for women’s Ts. I imagine guys might want to read a text-heavy front but would be afraid of getting smacked for being a perv and staring at the woman’s chest.
Comment by Jade @ Tasting Grace — March 2, 2010 @ 5:15 pm