One of the more fulfilling uses of my graphical abilities is when I can use them to help a good cause, in this case to raise money for the Autism Society of North Carolina.
As a member of the Knightly Order of the Fiat Lux, I spend a good amount of my time raising money through shows and events for charitable causes. Each year the organization host a gaming convention called the FGC, Fantasy Gamers Conclave, a weekend long event that raises money for the Autism Society, and they asked me to redesign the shirts that are sold during the event.
The implantation of the design was not that difficulty, from the start the group knew what they wanted to see so I was able to set up a proxy design that was refined through feedback during the meetings leading up to the print deadline. One of the catch phrases for the event is "Cheating for Charity" as you may make small monetary donations during the event to cheat at your games. It is viewed as the events construct so it became the catch phrase on the shirt.
Once the overall wording and layout where done the final step was the imagery. I went through several ideas from certain parts of the orders "Achievement" (our coat of arms basically) to various gaming icons, but after several votes we agreed on an image that wasn't really met with excitement. It was an offhand comment from one of the knights that sparked the idea for dice and the design was greeted with allot more enthusiasm.
The design I passed around for another vote originally had the date of the event on one of the die, but a desire to sell the shirts at other events and not tie it to a specific date had me change it to what it is now.
The Design was printed on the back of black tee shirts with the orders achievement printed on the front left breast, price required we keep the colors down to 2. The use of black for the shirts came from a comment we received from a event patron about how they 'don't buy white shirts" hinting that it was because they look cheap.
All proceeds from the shirts have gone to the Autism Society of North Carolina.
