Remember
 

I'm planning to make a bunch of T-shirts and buttons to sell to raise awareness and money for womens groups in Toronto. I'm not really with any groups, but I feel I ought give some time and money to them. I originally designed something similar in the memory of the December 6th Montreal Massacre, but I reworked it a little.

Here's the design I was planning. I'd like to get some feedback.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...andle-copy.jpg

What do you think?

Fantastic.

Simple powerful image, clear identity.

Well executed.

I think it's an excellent design and well suited towards its purpose. It will look great on a T-Shirt.

that rocks. good clean lines, and a powerful message.

that is awesome.........nice job.

it conveys perfectly but in subtle lines! Well done! I love it!!

sweetpea

it's a great design, and from googling the December 6, montreal massacre, it's a fabulous cause...

One small suggestion... The design is showing up on my screen as pink, pink tends to be the color of breast cancer awareness... The ribbon color of the december 6th massacre is purple.... and violence against women the ribbon color is white...

Love this one Cello.. like everyone says above and I'd agree.

I think the colour, like mal suggests above, may be something to consider. That being said, I can imagine it looking great no matter what colours were used.

oooh yeah... black and purple is an excellent combo.

i love the lines you've got here.

i instantly feel the "vigil" emotion you're going for, but i don't get "women" from just the candle. would it possible to work the candle into a more feminine shape? or am i the only one who doesn't feel it. perhaps it would be better to keep the image as is and just convey the anti - violence against women message through accompanying text.

very nice work for a great cause.

beautiful and evocative - many messages in one. That which you have done here is rare.

Thats kind of why I suggested thinking about the use of color... anytime I see anything pink -- I automatically go to breast cancer-- that color is just ingrained in me with that cause... Though I'm not sure how easily identifiable purple is with the massacre )

had she not mentioned what the cause was... I would not have gotten that...
http://www.productsforthecure.com/pages/ribbons.html
(This site kind of explains the color and the cause - -purple has a bunch of different causes associated with it)

Though the lines on the candle are quite feminine so i do get women... (as compared to Amnesty International's candle which has much harder lines to it)

Changing the colour is an excellent idea! I can't believe that even as a wannabe design student I didn't consider my choice of colours! I think I'll make it purple, as I also have the design in inverse.

As for the feminity in the piece, I was hoping that the basic outline of the shape would bring to mind the venus glyph, one of the most well known signs for "female"

Thanks everyone for the input! I'll tell you where to get the shirt and buttons once I've got it done! ;)

I love it as well. The middle looks either like it's making a face, or a candle flame. Was this intentional? Good work as usual.

Asta!!

My intention for the piece was to have a candle, with the light being emitted create a circle around the flame. I then put in a horizon line to create the glyph. :)

I can totally see that now! Thats cool :D

Asta!!

That's really cool. Depending on the shade of purple, you might want to change your background color.

I really like the lines though, and the glyph was the first thing I saw.

I really don't understand this. What do the women's groups do, and what is their purpose? Does this reflect the positive aspects of their mission? To me it looks like a remembrance icon for people who have passed on. Please explain. Then maybe I can offer some useful comment rather than platitudes.

The Montreal Massacre was likely Canada's single worst act of violence against women.

from the CBC archives
I'd like to have the piece in rememberance of these women, and also in turn, all women who have suffered through violence. I intend on donating all of the money I make from this to centres for abused women around Toronto. I haven't decided on which one yet though.

I'll buy a signed print - you say when and where.

I absolutely love that you are doing this, I think it's an incredibly noble cause... and one person absolutely can make a difference...

When I was googling what the massacre actually was, there is at least one what seems to be a pretty large organization backed by United Way devoted to this cause. http://www.dec6fund.ca/ - If this is the cause you are supporting, maybe you might want to contact them because it could give your one small voice a much larger audience... (or perhaps even getting some funding towards creating of t-shirts or whatever)

I'd actually buy them as notecards... :)

Thanks for the Link maleficent!

I promise I'll mail out copies to those who ask for them! (especially if you promise to donate a bit of money to a local womens group!)

Perhaps I could make notecards as well! I have a lot of options, I'm just trying to figure out what's best! At least I know you like the design!

Thanks for the explanation, and the link to the news article. I hadn't heard about it, and it's really powerful. Does the new logo relate directly to Montreal or to more general domestic and other acts of violence against women? My feeling is that women would like to draw strength from the logo rather than feel they are victims, which is what the candle suggests to me. I have had a lot of experience with people with AIDS, and two things they resent is pity and charity, rather than being empowered to make the most of their lives.

Maybe you could consider a more up-beat image?

To be honest, I hadn't even considered that, Lewis.

I'd like this to be in rememberance of the women we've lost due to violence. I realize that many women would like a more up-beat image to represent themselves with, but I think it's also important to have something for rememberence of the dead.

Maybe I'll make an upbeat image next year! ;)

Yes, of course, that's important. Just a thought, but how about an up-beat image which you incorporatethe candle into as a sort of 'sub-brand' when you are talking about remembrance and then leave out when you want to move on to helping the living. Or am I giving you too much work here!? I just know that positive images work better than negative ones as we move on in life.

Lastly, I hope my comments are helpful thought-provokers. I don't want to sound critical of something you obviously care deeply about.

They have been quite useful Lewis! It's always good to have someone question your work. It helps you defend its purposes better.

And I've never really thought of a candle as a negative image either though. Perhaps a bit somber, but always hopeful and toward something better.

I'm going to leave this image as is, but I intend on working on another... the problem is that there's already an AMAZING image for women.

http://www.antiracistaction.ca/store/femfistpatch.jpg

(if I were to get a tattoo...)

Yes, it's nice, isn't it. If you're going to do something else though, maybe it's worth considering something that feels feminine, yet strong, and still uplifting. This image you have shown is probably a bit old-style-revolutionary, and would exclude (psychologically) a lot of mainstream women. What do you think?