Syn(a)esthesia T-shirt from Design By Humans
Thursday, September 2, 2010 6:09
We’re having a language issue in the office right now. Not sure why, but every T-shirt that we pick is spelt differently in the UK and the USA. This one has an a in the UK but not in the USA but the really odd thing about it is that both of us have syn(a)esthesia. So we both want this T-shirt.
Designed by The Stray, it features the most common form of the condition, which is where music has colours for the hearer. Other forms of the condition mean that days of the week or numbers have colours or that people see sounds or hear colours. Weird, right?
Anyway, this is tee is a great example of making a concept concrete. The use of shape and colour and the stylised images that convey a sense rather than simply a visual are perfectly combined. If the colours came out of a iPhone, for example, you wouldn’t get the idea that the music is causing the neurological expression of the brain so easily. It’s the old school gramophone that makes the viewer step back from the pretty picture and think about what’s actually being expressed.
Also worth noting is that this is the first time I have ever picked a T-shirt with a sequin effect on it – and almost certainly the last. And that The Stray has possibly the best email address in the world. If you want to show your love you can email him on kissmyaesthetic@gmail.com
On the downside, the shipping from the US to here is $9, which feels a bit steep for a T-shirt that’s actually beautifully priced right now at just $15. There’s an end of summer sale at Design by Humans which means you can grab some bargains if you’re US based.
Post by Mikey who gets colours when he hears music and headaches when he hears pop music …


















The artist who’s produced the quality here is Bulgarian Dimo Trifonov who’s been a graffiti artist, DJ and a traditional artist and who says he is ‘inspired by the simplest of things. I try to find the complication in them, for example picking a subject or object and to go as deep as I can into it before presenting it as an outlet of my thoughts’ – I like that. And the T-shirt is about how color lives in us which is a brilliant concept for a T-shirt reviewer.







