About the Author
Daniel Clydesdale
Digital expert, designer, typography pro & a strange fondness of 90s cars.
Making the Dunclyde Tees
We recently designed and made a set of Dunclyde tees. It was a good excuse to try our hands at screen printing - plus seeing one of our designs come to life off-screen was super cool.
Design
At the center of the design is the phrase “Create the world you want to live in.” It’s a motto we love at Dunclyde because it embodies our ethos: as designers, we have the power to make the world better - not just by making things that look good, but also in our ability to effectively communicate positive, meaningful messages.
For the typeface, we went with Bookmania, a revival of the classic Bookman by Mark Simonson. It has a timeless yet retro feel that fit perfectly with the vibe we were going for.
The design also features the Dunclyde web globe and our geometric smiley face, along with some versatile blob shapes. The blobs can be colored blue, green, or both - or just left out all together. We wanted to be able to adapt the design for future prints, so this gave us flexibility to use one, two, three, or four colors.
Process
Naturally, we went with a three-color design for our or our first screen-printing adventure. This meant three rounds of printing for each tee, and lots of time spent carefully aligning the screen before each print. It was a little time consuming, but seeing the design come to life as the layers came together was pretty cool.
Tees
The tees are locally made by LA Apparel. We wanted to prioritize quality - something durable and wearable that wouldn’t just end up forgotten in a drawer. The result is a tee that feels good to wear and is built to last.
Labels & packaging
To tie it all together, we added custom labels to each tee for that extra personal touch. We also wrapped them in tissue paper, making them feel like a gift rather than just a product. Because, to us, these tees represent more than just a design - they’re a little piece of Dunclyde in wearable form.
What’s Next?
This project was a fun exploration of screen printing and design in the physical world. Who knows? Maybe this is just the beginning of Dunclyde merch!
