Boiling Down A Brand With Cubicoola

I was recently approached by a young and enthusiastic t-shirt label Cubicoola, they seem like a great bunch, happy in their work, determined in their creative vision with plenty of ideas for the future, and that’s when I know I have to tread carefully, the fact is I felt there positives and negatives in their brand, their store, designs and label in general that would need to be tackled.

I and Chris duly warned them about the content of this post and was impressed that they took my criticisms squarely on the chin, they are emotionally prepared, let’s hope I can somehow positively expound upon my observations and conclusions and offer a way forward for Cubicoola. Here are my aims:-

1) Justify my opinions, suggestions, and criticisms.

2) Enable them to build a better, stronger and eventually bigger brand that a larger slice of the t-shirt market can immediately identify as a winner.

So, you might ask, what’s the big deal, what’s the problem with Cubicoola. Well in truth, nothing in particular, nothing so glaringly obvious that the moment you enter their store you think, I’m off, I’ve had enough. No, it’s more of an accumulative effect, little things, details, presentation, their collection as a whole, the umbrella concept of the Cubicoola brand that doesn’t quite gel. I haven’t sat and thought about a t-shirt brand this long and hard in ages, usually I’m approached by more established brands.

I will begin at the beginning. The store and website design and how I believe it creates a confusing if not even a wrong impression to their market, a market that for now I feel isn’t being targeted precisely or effective enough to make a long lasting success of the brand. The header graphics are too large, too elaborate, too overpowering for a t-shirt store. When a potential buyer arrives they will first and fore mostly want to see the t-shirts above all else. Branding is important, hence the need for a strong and defined logo, however overloading the site with an excess of extraneous graphics will increase loading times, frustrating those on a slower connection, hog too much of the screen for those on a lower resolution, and test the patience of everyone else who is simply there to check out the products.

Funnily enough Cubicoola does offer a few logo-based t-shirts, yet rather than simply slipping this in to the header followed by a few pertinent links they have decided to elaborate on a ‘part’ of the theme of their brand to hammer home the message that you can expect to see illustrated t-shirts… soon – if you scroll down a bit. Don’t ever make a potential buyer work for their shopping experience, make it as easy for them as possible.

This is what their header graphic looks like right now:-

This is what most people would expect:-

Yes it seems rather dull but that’s down to a rather generic logo design, what’s important is that it will load quicker, take up less space on the screen, and includes navigation that will lead far more potential customers to identify with the brand long term. The most important of which is the ‘About’ page link, this is essential to building some brand recognition. People will arrive and take a quick look at the site, wonder why it’s called Cubicoola, what are the t-shirts about, who designed them, where are they, are they organic, screen printed, what’s the shipping, the list is endless. A blog can really help in this instance to forge a greater bond with the customer base, although they do have a Twitter and Facebook account, both of these should again be featured as small icons in the header to further the relationship between client and brand. I’m guessing the name is something to do with a beer cooler, a cubic cooler usually keeps food and drinks cool, if so then why not try a logo along these lines:-

Don’t let a potential buyer come to their own conclusions, work on a strong identity, that will help the buyer identify with your brand, make it as easy as possible for them to feel at home. However personally fulfilling a graphic header may feel when creating it, the fact is most people want to see the products first, then they will want to know a little about the brand, then it moves on from presentation to product design and quality.

So let’s move on to the products themselves, the main problem I have is that the site is a mish-mash of completely different styles that don’t seem to gel together, some far better than other, all fighting each other for some kind of visual precedence on the screen. Take a look at the last label I reviewed SharpShirter.com – they are a collective of all sorts of artists that work together on the label (a dozen at the last count) and yet even though there are vast differences there is a limit to the collection’s eclectic feel, I mean, they could still have been designed by the same designer except for slight variances in style, mood, colour, message and delivery. This is a great example of what a collection should do, how it should perform in the eyes of the visitor, and hopefully turn that visitor into a repeat customer, or at the very least repeat visitor!

I will omit the t-shirt designs that I don’t like and concentrate on those that I think do or have the potential to sell in greater numbers.

AK47 Rainbow Tee

The Rainbow AK47 Tee has the potential to be a very big seller, it’s a very cool idea, smart, clean, provocative. It’s a natural extension to the old “flower in the barrel of a gun” hippie concept, however it’s too simply and plainly drawn. I’m not referring to the spectrum of colours as much as the gun detailing. Take a look at a few images of an AK47 and compare, perhaps it could do with a hand drawn paisley pattern instead of the highly familiar spectrum gradient available in many graphic software applications nowadays. Perhaps it could stretch further diagonally across the front panel, it doesn’t matter if some of each end of the gun is obscured as long as the detailing around the magazine and trigger area are emphasized. It would only take a little black stencilling to complete the idea. To be honest I would like to see this image printed over one shoulder too, almost as if it’s too big for the t-shirt, emphasizing the realism of scale of the AK47. What’s more I have noticed each t-shirt is available in a whole range of t-shirt colours and styles, this isn’t necessary, when you have the right design, just a couple of styles and colours should be sufficient for a best seller.

Hug Me Tee (Pink)

The texturing of this design is great, however the perspective is slightly off, at first glance this is a perfect design and composition but it needs tweaking. Because of the enormous amount of detail in this image the dtg printer is over compensating tonally too. Illustration relies on a lot of “shorthand”. Gestures and marks that together give an impression of detail without needing to include every strand of fur of the bear. The legs seem too small, if the bear is sitting down the feet would be far bigger or the head and arms much smaller. Conceptually I love the idea though, it reminds me a little of a scene from the kitsch sci-fi movie “Barbarella” where painted Victorian dolls with snapping teeth attacked Jane Fonda. Needs work but damn close to a total classic – same goes for the original Hug Me tee.

The Eye Tee

The Eye Tee – this should be a fantastic t-shirt, the only problem I have with it is the scale of the print. Even the preview image gives the image of an enormous eye until you reach the product page and see this:-

I’d like to see it take up as much of the t-shirt as possible, and perhaps add a little more tonal shading around the perimeter, leaving less of the eyelid and highlighting the eyelashes with a slight white outline at the tips. Such a close one, nearly great again.

Cubi Cat Tee

I rather like this design actually, it’s really quite strange, it could do with being a tad larger as a print but it works. What doesn’t work is the fact that there are too few illustrated tees (apart from those I’ve mentioned) that have as strong a concept behind them. The detailing of the illustration is great, it’s well drawn and in perspective, it’s simple at first glance and pulls you in on closer inspection.

There is such thing as trying to say “too much”, I think many of the designs suffer from that, a clear idea for a concept, with no more than 2 or 3 well drawn objects sums up most messages. T-shirt design is rather like logo design, you have to say something immediately, people have to know (however weird the message) what’s going on. The more graphic design style tees actually suffer from the opposite, too little detail or concept or both.

It’s frustrating writing this review, I can see there’s obviously talent at Cubicoola, but the real problem comes down to locking down on your concepts, your core audience, your overall strategy. I’d say the strongest pieces are the simple subjects that have been highly illustrated and convey a surface and secondary message, a bear with teeth, a cat’s skeleton. Take a look at a few Jan Svankmeyer animations for inspiration, check out the weirder offerings on t-shirt voting sites like Threadless.com, especially the losers, they reveal the most about what the public want.

it’s much easier to steer a market than form a new one, I’d love to think some of my advice could be responsible for an explosion of activity and profit for Cubicoola, but only time will tell.