October 2, 2006
Our TTC Swag Suggestions
Let's start of by saying how much we love the TTC. Sure, it's expensive and plagued with corporate infighting, but it gets us where we want to go (for the most part) and there's a soothing comfort in the gentle rumble of our slick red streetcars. There's also a certain pride that many TTC riders have; a camaraderie rooted in the shared experience of Riding The Rocket -- which is why we're distraught at the TTC's woefully bungled merchandise plan.
We really would want some TTC merch if it looked cool, like New York's or London's. We can't bring ourselves to buy any of the current overpriced stuff because we have a set of working eyeballs.
By ignoring Matt Blackett's ultra-brilliant Spacing subway buttons and dropping a cease-and-desist on RobotJohnny's anagram route map, the Commission marooned the best public relations projects in its recent history. Since then, the TTC has unveiled its hideous stock at their Union Station merch store -- called Transit Stuff to appeal to the cool kids -- and after encountering virtually universal dislike of the product, they go and renew their exclusive contract with Legacy Sportswear for another five years. Sigh.
So, while the TTC is offering dowdy pewter pins perfect for grandpa's fishing hat collection, read-on to see how we imagined some way more palatable swag that somebody might actually buy. We tried to keep it simple and familiar for mass appeal, but we'd also like to see what some of our local artists could whip-up for the more hipster vibe.
See these designs while you can, however, because we've seen how the TTC treats this kind of customer enthusiasm. We have a feeling that most of them are only going to be viewable for a limited time.
Related: Transit Tees Debut At Canzine (October 30)
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holy smokes, i love the "please move back...thank you" tshirt. i'd fricken buy that.
Andrew: There are soooo many situations I can think of in which that shirt could apply!
I love those! You should just go ahead and make some of them. Not the ones with the station and line names on them, since they're copyrighted, but "Please Move Back" and the little green escalator dude. And the ones with the pics of the streetcars -- I want one of those.
its frustrating that toronto is a city FULL of creatives and even a passing effort can yield results so much better than the TTC's official results that it becomes offensive that they offer us that legacy sportswear crap. I'll bet that if we held a 48 hour competition for best ttc merch design and offered prizes of just TTC month pass for the winner, week pass for second place, and tokens for runners up, i'll bet you we'd see hundreds of great entries. people seem to WANT to embrace the TTC more but the TTC isn't making it easy.
those are awesome! ALL of them.
i'd buy 1 or 2 for sure! i think the last one looks really slick ....
These are fantastic! I want one (or two, or three)!
Who designed these?
[heart]
How's about a "Ride the Rocket" shirt..or is that borderline-trashy-shirt-slogan style?
Is there a link to a high-res version of the streetcar on the top shirt? I'd love to get that one made for myself!
I designed them, Jerrold...but really quickly, so they're not all winners. I just added two more at the bottom that I thought of on the way home.
Athena: I intentionally avoided the "Ride The Rocket" theme because I wanted to try some designs that would never occur in the TTC boardroom (or at Legacy Sportswear, which apparently takes care of the fugly creative design). I really like the Ride The Rocket slogan, but I don't know if I'd wear it (unless it was on the back of the shirt). Plus, TTC has killed any coolness associated with that campaign.
Nadia: the white shirt designs with the line names on them are not copyrighted; just derivative designs of public signage (like at airports or on subways). The way the TTC does it in the stations is to have the coloured bar above the text for the lenth of the platfor and there isn't any design in that aspect ratio, so it's not a copyrighted design. Since the TTC uses the street names, that's not copyrightable either. The little green guy on the escalator is a public domain symbol as well, as is the arrow.
Just out of curiosity, if we were to investigate the possibility of making a limited run of some of these, would people be interested? Which designs? I realize they're pretty masculine. There's always room for modification. One person suggested the streetcar icon without the arrow.
I love the streetcar icon, Mind the Gap, and the St. George shield (maybe on a different coloured shirt, though.) Please, make shirts!
These are fantastic. And the more I think about them and look at them the more fantastic they get.
I'd totally buy these t-shirts! They're fantastic. I have a t-shirt that I bought in NYC for the "F" Train (partly because my last name begins with F) but these are the kind of t-shirts and swag that would fly off the shelves ... I would certainly buy some shirts if they were made!
Well done!
I love Escalator Guy, the streetcar, and Please Do Not Block Doorway -- they'd be great if they could come in ladies' cuts.
Marc - Do it! I'd get the escalator, mind the gap, please move back, maybe St George, I wish Christie had a logo like that.
i love the streetcar and arrow.. i'd buy one for sure.
I would totally buy shirts! Love the "move back"
"do not block doorway", "mind the gap" and streetcar designs.
And DWA. Is that streetcar silohuette-ish one at the top yours too? I'd get that.
How about one with the ninja-looking guy at the doors, as seen in streetcars? Or "Push to Open" from the rear doors on buses? (written vertically of course).
Thanks, y'all. Some of the designs could only be used by a TTC licensee, but others are fair game. Seems like we're doing some of the TTCs market research here, although you know they'd probably plaster something like "50 YEARS!" on it in Times New Roman.
Note that I also avoided their try-to-be-cool slogan "Toronto's Underground." It's not that I dislike it, but it's wholly unoriginal and just seems an inadvertent way of saying, "Like London's Underground, But Not As Cool."
Marc Lostracco, you're always coming up with the cool stuff. What would we ever do without you?
I'd probably buy one or two of those shirts if they came in a women's cut.
rawks! keep bringing it macro!
WICKED!
I'd buy one of 'em...
** Shaun **
clearly you're getting people excited with this idea. just think of how many others feel their excitement already reflected in the commments...
if you want to do this, try http://www.goodstorm.com/
you can set up a storefront easily and off you go!
also, Kagan McLeod at the National Post did a really awesome cartoon of the ninja guy from the bus door diagrams. it's pinned to my cubicle wall :-(
if you want to see it let me know and i can get it from him, or see if he'll do another for a t-shirt.
The "mind the gap" one is beautiful, I would buy that in a heartbeat. And "DWA" makes me smile - I've been told that it's an Etobicoke thing to actually meet at the DWAs, do people from other parts of the city do it too?
Marc, I'd fully buy the Mind the Gap and the little green elevator dude. I say make them, judging from the comments there's some serious cash to be made with these.
DWA could also stand for "Drivers With Attitude." :-)
If you do make them, I'd be happy to pay more for a good quality shirt (especially with the option of a ladies' cut), with possibly locally commissioned silkscreening ... none of that Cafepress crap.
I'll have to add votes for the St. George shield, Walk Left/Stand Right, and the pic of the subway train (without text).
I'm really excited someone's doing this ... and sad that the TTC messed it up so badly. Anyway, thanks, guys! Looking forward to how this goes.
I want a "garbage goblins" t-shirt.
haha! these are great! genius idea!
Great stuff Marc. These look great, some more than others but its definitely a step in the right direction. Someone should approach the TTC and show them that they can have cool designs on their merch and actually get these out there.
Hint
99 Kennedy. 99 Kennedy. :)
sorry about the double comment
WALK LEFT STAND RIGHT
I absolutely love it love it love it...i may just make one for myself...i hope you don't mind!
perhaps another saying:
WHEN YOU GET TO THE TOP OF A MOVING ESCALATOR, DON'T STOP AND START LOOKING AROUND...MOVE OUTTA THE WAY, THERE'S A MACHINE BEHIND YOU SPILLING PEOPLE!"
These are frigging awesome. I'd buy them for myself and boyfriends.
The streetcar, Don Mills and St. George are my favourites.
I added two more designs..."Push To Open" just for rek and my new fave, the Litter Pig.
Jorge: The TTC knows that people will buy cool designs, but they know absolutely nothing about cool design. Legacy Sportswear has an exclusive on TTC merch and you can see by their website that they aren't remotely good at graphic design either, so don't hold your breath.
My all-time hated TTC design monstrosity was their "Put Litter In Its Place" ad, with the trash can and recycling box that had arms and googly eyes. There were so many things wrong with that ad that I won't even get started, but it was the one of the worst Illustrator jobs I've ever seen (I won't even go near the font selection).
Second place for horrid TTC ads is the "They Are Here Among Us" one for new buses, which was obviously an attempt to be creative. It's almost insulting. More alarmingly, someone is getting paid for this stuff.
What's sad is that so many of the TTC's customers have a real sense of pride and really, really want them to do things well, and obviously the TTC needs this too. It's extremely clear that merch and design isn't something that should be done in-house, and that corporate merch contracts shouldn't be an afterthought.
Honestly, given the look of the current swag they have for sale, they would be better-off doing nothing.
I am sporting an NYC "F train" shirt today!
PLEASE make these shirts. I would definitely buy some for myself and for Canadian friends who live in the states. I'm sure they'd love them. Please make girly-style shirts, they can be the same graphics, just get a nice cut and you're all set.
I want the pig one so badly.
Added a back design for Litter Pig...hmm, that would be the LAST one of all of these designs the TTC would think of, but could be a bestseller because it's so obscure.
By the way, if anyone wants to call their band "Litter Pig" or "The Transit Commission," they don't seem to be taken! ;-)
Marc - If you think you could use another designer on this, I can volunteer my time (and some money), just email me.
If not, this is still awesome!
personally i like the idea of "toronto's underground: Like London's Underground, But Not As Cool."
i like the litter pig (very cool), "walk left stand right", and the "push to open" although i can imagine an article in the star appearing about how there has been a rise in random people getting pushed incidents ....
hell if you had a spadina streetcar one, i'd buy a few for my friends!
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These rule. Seriously, I would buy, like, all of them.
If I could make a suggestion: "Kiss & Ride".
Someone should contact Moscoe(David? You seemed to grab his ear when you did the Photo series...) and suggest these as an alternative. The Legacy stuff is just SO terrible...
These are all great! Though I wish there was a red shirt with white text that says
INNER
USE OTHER DOOR
DANGER
DO NOT TOUCH
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sillygwailo/236169013/
“Copyright” is not really an issue here (even if it were, you would win on the substantiality clause – what you’re adapting is not substantial). Trademarks, even unregistered ones, may be more relevant. Presumably the TTC will be hostile, clueless, and bureaucratic enough to make this an issue. If they do so, then what you do is make it an election issue.
I believe we are all tired of the complete undesign of the Toronto Transit Commission.
Also: TTC streetcars are “slick”? They weigh as much as a jetliner.
I would buy the stylized streetcar, Danforth Line, Eastbound, Sheppard-Yonge, and maybe St. George right now if they were for sale at Cafe Press or something. Seriously, by `Transfer Required' I had my wallet out.
D'oh, it doesn't show email addresses...
Oh, and broken engine is clearly right, `Kiss & Ride' needs to be done, and damn the lawsuits.
I love Please Move Back and the stylized streetcar. It's amazing to see stuff like this - the designs are quite simple and startling. Congratulations.
I posted the Spadina streetcar and "Kiss & Ride" designs as requested (and a Metropass one).
yeah!!!!
spadina streetcar!
make em, marc, make em!!!!
tkae that,city!
I like the kiss and ride one especially! ...and also the streetcar one, mind the gap, and the escalator guy. I would definitely buy one or two.
If this really gets off the ground (which it damn well should!) PLEASE don't skimp on shirt quality to keep prices ultra low. I'd much rather have a decent quality shirt that fits and lasts and spend $40 on it than have some low quality, poor fitting, fade and disintegrate shirt for $15. :)
I would be happy to donate the use of the Popfuel screenprinting studio to make runs of some of these shirts.
Just drop me an email and we can discuss it.
Wow Marc, you're prolific!
I actually don't care for the ads themselves much, but the "litter pig" one is hilarious! Another buy right there.
We need a Mowis Zone one too; it's all over the walls of that weird switching area coming north into St George.
I liked the stylized streetcar, Don Mills and the elevator dude. If you were to make the t-shirts, I would recommend having other subway stations on them, not just Don Mills.
What a great idea this is! I love the designs!
The ones with specific stations or lines on them were meant to be an example of others. For example, it wouldn't be just Danforth Line or Sheppard Line, but the others as well. Like those Spacing buttons, it's all about representing!
I'm warmed by the response that these are getting, mainly because it always gives me warm fuzzies when so many people stand up with so much enthusiasm for their environment and the people they share experiences with (i.e. public transit). The offers to donate talent and facilities are also just amazing.
I would buy a few of these! The TTC are so silly for not actually putting any effort into their designs. Take back the TTC for the people!
It's not as much that the TTC isn't putting effort into it; it's that they aren't equipped to do it effectively or with either insight or foresight. I'm sure there's nothing wrong with Legacy Sportswear as a company and they too are all hard-working people, but they are completely wrong for a contract like the TTC's.
They are also thinking with the wrong mentality and are oblivious to what the customer wants. I say cut 90% of the products from the line and focus on stuff like t-shirts, stickers, and baseball caps. Nobody wants a leather collegiate-style TTC jacket, shower radio, brass pin or a "woodyard jacket." The line would be cheaper to implement and much more profitable if it was pruned-down to essentials and well-managed on a design level, with a more daring aesthetic.
Unfortunately, I can't see that happening. The TTC would never do the Litter Pig shirt, the escalator or the Kiss & Ride, and even if they did, they'd splash their logo plus "TORONTO, CANADA" onto it, consequently ruining those particular designs.
Is Legacy too effin' cheap or clueless to not buy Quadra's TTC Subway Fonts?!
We should all start making our own unauthorized merch to show them how its done.