So I’m on the Rock the Vote mailing list, (it was through them that I registered to vote) and here appeared this challenge: “Want to be a T-Shirt Designer?” “Of course.” I thought to myself. They were hosting a t-shirt design competition for health-care reform with an emphasis on youth and entry was free (always a good thing). The entries are narrowed down to 5 finalists and left up to everyone else to vote for the design that becomes apart of the Rock the Vote Store. Various prizes are awarded to the winner, but I think the most important one of course is having your design available for sale. It was worth a try.

Health and Death Sketch

I thought of health symbols that are instantly recognizable and settled on the rod with the snake entwined. I did a little research and found out two things:

1. It is called the Rod of Asclepius which is associated with the Greek god Asclepius who was the practitioner of medicine.
2. The Rod of Asclepius is most commonly confused with the Rod of Caduceus, a messenger’s staff which has two entwined snakes with wings.

Well I wanted to play with the idea of health and death so I drew the symbol to your right. The logo for the shirt is below. Even though I currently don’t know the finalists, this has certainly inspired me to start looking for more competitions such as this.

My T-shirt Design Entry